Posted on 06/21/2007 7:10:15 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
China said yesterday that it is unfair for rich countries to buy its cheap goods and then condemn its greenhouse gas pollution, a day after one study suggested the nation was already the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said other countries need to consider China's role as a low-cost export powerhouse that in effect helps rich Western consumers avoid emissions at home.
"China is now the factory of the world," Qin told a regular news briefing in Beijing. "The developed countries have moved a lot of manufacturing to China. What many Western consumers wear, live in, even eat is made in China."
The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said on Tuesday that China's carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming - surpassed those of the United States by 7.5 percent in 2006.
But Qin pointed out that per-capita emission of greenhouse gases in the Netherlands was 11.4 tons per year, while the figure for China was just 3.66 tons.
Qin said that while total emissions are going up, they are still less than one-quarter the level in the United States on a per-capita basis.
"The key reason for current climate changes is the high per-capita emissions in industrialized nations," he insisted.
As a developing country, China is not obliged to meet targets set by the Kyoto Protocol, under which most industrialized countries are required to reduce gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below the 1990 levels from 2008 to 2012, Qin noted.
Even so, the government has set a goal to reduce energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent by 2010.
China has also made great efforts to promote technology innovation, increase energy efficiency, develop low-carbon energy, improve the energy consumption structure and enhance environmental protection, he added.
Qin emphasized that the international community should be "cool-minded" and "rational" toward climate change.
>> Qin emphasized that the international community should be “cool-minded” and “rational” toward climate change.
Ha ha! Yeah, that much I can agree with.
Now about that anti-freeze in the toothpaste...
“China said yesterday that it is unfair for rich countries to buy its cheap goods and then condemn its greenhouse gas pollution”
Well, in a way they are right. Some of the reasons that goods manufactured in China are cheaper IS because they don’t give a damn about worker safety, pollution, product purity, liability insurance, EPA mandates, and all kinds of other stuff that a US company contends with.
We required all these things from our government as a way to protect people, and when the costs were tallied up, we decided we liked the lower costs more than the protections.
There were GOOD reasons that agencies like the FDA were established. People were being poisoned by unscrupulous people operating just like the Chinese are now.
We ARE being hypocritical to a degree to complain about pollution when companies move to China to avoid the costs of compliance with the rules that WE put in place.
They have a point. Let’s all do our part towards reducing carbon dioxide emissions in China.
“China is now the factory of the world,” Qin told a regular news briefing in Beijing...”
I can’t argue with that.
China probably also thinks it’s unfair to question their human rights and labor laws. Whine, whine. I strive to avoid Chinese products as much as possible, but in this day and age of WalMart and Target, it’s hard to find anything made in the U.S.
Let’s see... Slave labor rings busted in China. Thomas the Tank Engine painted with lead paint (glad when my sons were young enough for Thomas, the toys were made in the U.K.). Poison dog food. Perhaps poison animal pharma. Etc., etc.
I think Lou Dobbs had a list of products made in the U.S. on his CNN website at one time.
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