OVER the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China has successfully realized the great historical transformation towards becoming an economic power and its economic strength and comprehensive national strength have been significantly enhanced, completely changing the situation of poverty and weakness since the opium wars in the mid-19th century. The national economy has maintained sustained and rapid growth, creating a miracle in world economic history and opening a new chapter of China’s modernization. Since the adoption of reform and opening up in 1978, China’s rapid economic growth has brought its total economic output to surpass that of Germany in 2008, ranking 3rd in the world, to surpass Japan in 2010, ranking second in the world, in 2015, China’s per capita national income was close to US$ 8,000 joining the ranks of middle-income countries.
China has also established a modern industrial system over a complete range, with high international competitiveness as a world manufacturing base, and its manufacturing output value ranks first in the world. Agriculture production in China has increased year by year, to solve the food problem of nearly 20% of the world’s population on just 7% of the world’s arable land. China’s scientific and technological innovation capability in manned spaceflight, large-scale computers, high speed rail, equipment manufacturing, communications equipment etc has reached world-leading level as China strides forward as a country of innovation.
China’s green development has been advancing through exploration. China’s development strategy is highly consistent with the world’s current sustainable development and green low-carbon transition. In the concepts of green development, China has gone through a learning process, starting from opposition to a win-win relationship between the environment and the economy to the process of enhancing the relationship of harmony and coordination between man and nature. In China’s cognition of green development, China has deepened understanding of sustainable development and is trying to create a development path with Chinese characteristics, advanced production, affluent life and good ecology.
In the practice of green development, China has witnessed shifts of focus, initially on pollution prevention and control, then equal stress on pollution prevention and ecological protection and now to a combination of prevention, repair and reconstruction. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in November 2012, China has strengthened ecological progress, established and implemented the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, open, sharing, adhering to green development, recycling and low-carbon development as a basic path.
Chinese President Xi Jinping pointed out in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress that “taking a driving seat in international cooperation to respond to climate change in the last five years, China has become an important participant, contributor and torchbearer in the global endeavour for ecological civilization. President Xi put forward that China should promote green development, promote the sound economic structure that facilitates green, low carbon and circular development, build an energy sector that is clean and low carbon, fulfil Chinese commitments on emissions reductions, cooperate with all countries to tackle climate change and protect our planet for the sake of human survival.
China has clearly mapped out its track and blueprint of green development through energetic promotion of ecological civilization which are based on reflection, transformation and upgrading of industrial civilization, as a development paradigm and social civilization that are fundamentally distinct from industrial civilization. In ethical outlook, eco-civilization respects, accommodates itself to and protects nature. In terms of social relations, eco-civilization advocates mutual benefits and win-win, harmonious symbiosis, in terms of development goals, eco-civilization pursues ecological prosperity of sustainable development, in terms of production mode, eco-civilization adopts recycling and low-carbon production, in terms of consumption mode, eco-civilization pushes for green, low carbon, healthy and quality of life.
China’s green development path is the road of sustainable development with harmonious co-existence and benign interaction between human society and nature. By passing on Oriental philosophy and wisdom in vigorously promoting ecological progress, China’s practice of green development will constitute a great contribution and effective lead in global green transformation and sustainable development. It has become obvious that China is actively transforming its economic growth mode, vigorously promoting eco-progress, establishing a resource saving and environment friendly society based on the carrying capacity of the resources and environment, with natural laws as a standard and sustainable development as the goal that shows that China is on the path of green development. China is facing a new stage of development and a new situation puts ecological progress at the central stage. China is promoting its shoulder to the wheel in promoting green development, recycling and low carbon development as Chinese society strives to build a beautiful China.
—The author is a media fellow of China International Press and Communication Centre.
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views expressed are writer’s own.
