In the rush to demonise China over trade, the West has failed to give Beijing enough credit for its green leadership

China is focusing on sustainability when its per capita output is barely more than one-third that of advanced economies. A relatively poor nation has made a conscious choice to shift from the quantity to the quality of growth. The West should take note

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A train runs on the Shuitongmuzhai bridge on the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway line in Anshun, Guizhou province. China has the world’s largest high-speed rail network and the fastest-growing subway system, and is embracing electric vehicles. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 1:00am, 26 Sep 2019Updated: 2:25am, 26 Sep 2019

In the here and now of climate change, it is easy to lose sight of important signs of progress. China, the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, is a case in point. By changing its economic model, shifting its sources of fuel, developing new transport systems and embracing eco-friendly urbanisation, China’s sustainability strategy is an example of global leadership that the rest of the world should consider very carefully.

In the rush to demonise China over trade, the West has missed this point altogether.

In the past 12 years, China’s economic structure has shifted dramatically from excessive reliance on smokestack manufacturing industries to low-carbon services. Back in 2006, the so-called secondary sector of gross domestic product – largely manufacturing but also including construction and utility production – accounted for 48 per cent of Chinese GDP, while the tertiary, or services, sector accounted for just 42 per cent.

By 2018, the shares had been reversed – 41 per cent of GDP for the secondary sector and 52 per cent for services. For large economies, structural changes of this magnitude in such a short period are virtually unprecedented.

This shift was no accident. In March 2007, former premier Wen Jiabao famously warned of a Chinese economy that was becoming increasingly “unstable, unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unsustainable”. This sparked a vigorous debate over sustainability risks that had a major impact on China’s most recent five-year plans and reforms.

The leadership concluded that the economy could no longer afford to stay the energy- and pollution-intensive course set by Deng Xiaoping’s hyper-growth gambit in the early 1980s.

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