China's Boom Times: Consumer Driven Genocide

Opinion

Barry Artiste, Now Public Contributor 

What an eye opener, Studies state 400,000 die annually in China due to air pollution, while 190 million get sick from China's drinking water.  Think of it, 190 million, why that is almost like the entire population of the United States of America getting sick all at one time.

Will China do anything about it? One doubts it when government and manufacturers greed takes priority over the cost of a human life numbering annually of a small city in any Western World.  If this happened in any Democratic country, there would be a massive outcry.  Who is to blame, well certainly Consumers place cheap over life of China's citizens come to mind.  Yet, we allow them to host the Olympics?

When Communism is the "Kiss of Death", for many, it seems the World is relatively silent.  Truly a tragic day and age we live in.

My Final Thought

Mass Ethic Murderers such as Stalin, Hitler, Saddam and others must be jealous as hell at China's accomplishments and the Worlds unwillingness to do anything about it, but buy more cheap chinese goods from it's dead citizenry, ensuring Communism remains alive and well.  But as long as Britney and Timmy get that "Dollar Store Toy" all is well in our world.

Quebec's Minister for Economic Development, Raymond Bachand, is on another trade mission to China this week - the third by Jean Charest's Liberal government.

The delegation includes representatives from 14 companies and five government agencies, as well as Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay, who will tout Montreal at a meeting of the World Economic Forum in the city of Dalian.

Such trade missions used to be big news, as companies were eager to penetrate the mysteries of the Chinese market and strike deals in the world's hottest economy.

But by now, the novelty has worn off. Doing business with China has become routine for many firms looking to expand markets or source parts and labour more cheaply.

Now that the first blush of excitement over doing business with China has begun to fade, it's possible to step back and cast a more critical eye on the relationship.

China represents a huge potential opportunity for many corporations. But we've also learned about the pitfalls that await naive Western firms, including: the threat to intellectual property rights, widespread corruption and a lack of transparency.

One issue deserving much more attention is the growing environmental crisis. Three decades of booming growth have led to a pollution problem of epic proportions.

Western firms operating in China do not fully understand the implications of the massive environmental degradation underway there, according to a recent article published in the Harvard Business Review.

Elizabeth Economy, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Kenneth Lieberthal, a University of Michigan business professor, write that the issue is barely discussed in corporate boardrooms.

Yet failure to factor the environmental issue into corporate decision-making greatly increases the probability that China's boom will turn into a nightmare for many firms, they say.

The authors point to a number of alarming signs.

A major issue is the high rate of transportation accidents involving hazardous chemicals, toxic waste and contaminants. A chemical spill in a major northeastern city in 2005 forced water to be cut off for four days.

Air quality in Beijing is so bad there is now major concern about the potential impact on athletes at next summer's Olympic Games.

By 2009, according to the International Energy Agency, China will surpass the U.S. as the world's leading source of greenhouse-gas emissions - more than a decade earlier than anticipated. (Given its huge energy needs, the country plans to double its consumption of coal by 2020.)

The State Environmental Protection Administration noted last year environmental problems were costing the Chinese economy the equivalent of 10 per cent of gross domestic product annually.

The Chinese press has pegged the cost of inadequate water to run factories at $36 billion, while the effect of acid rain is estimated at $13 billion and the economic impact of desertification and soil erosion is at least $6 billion.

University of Manitoba environment professor Vaclav Smil has estimated more than 400,000 people a year die from air pollution, while 190 million every year get sick from drinking polluted water.

These figures are staggering, and point to a problem that has spiralled out of control.

It's no surprise that public unrest has increased, with domestic media reporting 50,000 environmental protests in 2005.

Economy and Lieberthal point out while China's government may pay lip service to environmental improvement, corrupt local governments often encourage enterprises to violate environmental regulations in order to boost growth.

Foreign firms doing business with China need to consider the risk to their reputation of, for example, using suppliers that flout environmental regulations..

 And multinationals themselves have been found in violation of many rules. Chinese media last year reported a list of 2,700 companies cited for water violations - including multinationals such as DuPont, Nestlé, Panasonic and Pepsi.

The authors say companies venturing into China need to take a proactive approach by using state-of-the-art facilities and technologies to help China overcome its pollution problem.