Made In China

Category: Politics/Societal Issues
Source: Can Brand China Survive

It’s funny how civilisations rise and fall. In the 14^th century, China seemed well on its way to becoming a global power, while Europe was still in the throes of the Dark Ages. After an immense lapse of half a millennium in which Europe gained ascendancy, China is back on her feet and within a couple of decades running at a breakneck pace. In a few years China will overtake Germany as the world’s third largest economy, and soon after it will overtake Japan and be hot on the heels of the United States. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games will be a monumental showcase of China’s meteoric rise to become a new global superpower.

Recently however, the image of the Middle Kingdom has been smeared by a series of scandals regarding various Chinese products. With the Olympics just round the corner, it is a problem that the Chinese are anxious to clean up. To me however, these industrial embarrassments are but teething pains that all countries, even in the West, face during development. The industrial boom naturally leads to a shortfall in quality control since the private sector moves much faster than government regulation. What should be of main concern now is whether growth at such an uncontrollable pace is beneficial to China and the world at large.

China’s rate of industrialization is unparalleled, with towns turning into industrial parks in merely a year’s time. However, this rapid development in the context of Chinese industries’ poor energy efficiency has created an extremely polluted environment. Water and air pollution has caused 750,000 premature deaths annually, and air pollution indices across two-thirds of the country register high or extreme levels of pollution. Its carbon emissions are well under way to surpass that of the U.S, and with the ongoing environmental crisis, China is playing a negative part in efforts to ease the Earth’s burden.

China’s insatiable appetite for oil to sustain its development has also led her into Faustian pacts with a number of unsavory regimes. Her dealings with human rights abusers in oil-rich Sudan and Iran have come under heavy fire from around the globe. Even Steven Spielberg, the artistic director for Beijing 2008 has threatened to resign over the involvement of China in Sudan. With the highest death penalty rate in the world, China already has an abysmal record for human rights. Her dealings with such outcast regimes take an even greater toll on her image.

The rising status of China is a good thing in itself, especially for her one billion citizens. Yet as a rising superpower, China must temper her ambitions with a consideration for the inevitable impact her growth has on the rest of the world. Having stepped into the limelight on the global stage, China must also present herself as a responsible, civilised power with a greater concern for the welfare of human beings around the world.

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