‘Hawaii of China’ dumps GDP targets to save its tropical beaches
Hainan authorities under fire for ‘destroying the ecology for the sake of money’
Tropical Chinese island Hainan has scrapped GDP and investment targets for many parts of the province, days after it was criticised by Beijing for being lax on the environment.
Hainan, which some refer to as the Hawaii of China, has seen rapid development along its coastline in recent years – so much so that environment ministry inspectors concluded it was “destroying the ecology for the sake of money” and “tailoring government plans for property developers”, Xinhua reported.
As a result, the provincial authorities have decided to shift priority from economic expansion to the environment. Twelve of the island’s 19 regions will dump targets for gross domestic product, industrial value and fixed-asset investment so that local officials can focus on protecting its beaches and tropical rainforest instead of trying to woo investors, according to the Xinhua report on Monday.
And if a project on the island does run into environmental problems, the authorities say the environment will win, and the development will not go ahead.
Hainan is the latest province making changes to targets as President Xi Jinping continues to downplay the importance of headline growth in favour of a shift in focus to the environment and fairness.
