China's Environmental Governance: the domestic – international nexus

Abstract

This paper examines the connection between China's domestic governance and its involvement in global governance in environmental protection by studying the major actors and issues involved in the interaction between the domestic and international spheres of activities. These actors include international institutions, national and local governments, nongovernmental organisations, and others. The paper demonstrates that China has made some substantive progress in protecting its environment, but much more needs to be done. Internationally it seems to lack the will or the capability to make much contribution towards global environmental governance. However, because of its huge aggregate size, what it does or does not do to avert environmental degradation at home could have a significant impact on collective efforts to protect the environment at the global level.

Notes

1 For a judicious account, see Liu Jianguo & Jared Diamond, ‘China's environment in a globalizing world: how China and the rest of the world affect each other’, Nature, 30 June 2005, pp 1179 – 1186. See also ‘China's limits to growth: greening state and society’, Development and Change, 37 (1) 2006 (special issue); and Neil Carter & Arthur PJ Mol (eds), Environmental Governance in China, London: Routledge, 2007.

2 A recent study of an aspect of this interface is Katherine Morton, International Aid and China's Environment: Taming the Yellow Dragon, London: Routledge, 2005. This book looks into how international aid helps to build China's capacity to deal with environmental problems, arguing that, apart from legal compliance, capacity building is an important aspect of environmental improvement.

3 The US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that on certain days almost 25% of the particulate matter clotting the skies above Los Angles can be traced to China. See Jim Yardley, ‘China's next big boom could be the foul air’, New York Times, 30 October 2005; and Keith Bradsher & David Barboza, ‘Pollution from Chinese coal casts a global shadow’, New York Times, 11 June 2006.

4 An environmental official in New Zealand recently pointed out that the local carbon dioxide levels were at an all-time high and China has been implicated for causing the problem through the consumption of coal and petrol. See Matthew Torbit, ‘NZ carbon dioxide surge blamed on Chinese boom’, Dominion Post (Wellington), 1 June 2006.

5 Benjamin Robertson, ‘Caught in the ebb’, South China Morning Post, 19 October 2006; and Evelyn Goh, ‘China in the Mekong River Basin: the regional security implications of resource development on the Lancang Jiang’, in Mely Caballero-Anthony, Ralf Emmers & Amitav Acharya (eds), Non-traditional Security in Asia: Dilemmas in Securitisation, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp 225 – 246.

6 According to the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China led the world in carbon dioxide emissions in 2006 by producing 6200 tonnes of the gas. The USA churned out 5800 tonnes. The rise was a result of the country's dependence on coal as its major energy source, as well as of its rising cement output. John Vidal & David Adam, ‘China overtakes US as world's biggest CO2 emitter’, Guardian, 19 June 2007.

7 bp statistical Review of World Energy June 2007, London: bp, 2007, pp 12, 21.

8 Yang Dongping, ‘Shizi lukou de Zhongguo huanjing baohu’ (China's environmental protection at a crossroads), in Liang Congjie et al (eds), 2005 nian: Zhongguo de huanjing weiju yu tuwei (Crisis and Breakthrough of China's Environment), Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2006, p 18.

9 The calculation is based on sources from the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC (‘China's participation in multilateral treaties’, in Chinese), at www.fmprc.gov.cn/chn/wjb/zzjg/tyfls/tfsckzlk/zgcjddbty/default.htm, accessed 21 June 2006.

10 Gerald Chan, China's Compliance in Global Affairs: Trade, Arms Control, Environmental Protection, Human Rights, Singapore: World Scientific, 2006, pp 148 – 149. See also China's White Paper entitled Environmental Protection in China (1996 – 2005), Beijing: Information Office, State Council, 2006. A complete list of international environmental treaties that China has signed or ratified can be found at www.zhb.gov.cn/eic/651615674891763712/20031017/1042166.shtml, accessed 21 June 2006.

11 According to the US Energy Department, China has joined a global partnership to build FutureGen, a $1 billion project billed as the world's cleanest coal-burning power plant. See ‘China joins FutureGen; signs efficiency and renewable energy protocol with US’, Green Car Congress, 16 December 2006, at www.greencarcongress.com, accessed 8 May 2007. All dollar amounts in this paper are in US currency unless otherwise specified.

12 As of late 2006 China and Australia have entered into 11 projects worth $4 million to improve safety at China's coal mines, to cut greenhouse gas emissions and to develop alternative sources of energy. Australia funded half the project costs. See ‘Australian pact to study coal projects’, South China Morning Post, 18 October 2006.

13 ‘China aims to boost renewable energy use—minister’, Reuters, 17 March 2007, at www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L17219097.htm, accessed 8 May 2007.

14 Hu Jintao and George W Bush established a US – China Strategic Economic Dialogue in September 2006. The first two meetings were held in December 2006 and May 2007. Steven R Weisman, ‘US and China set up teams for economic talks’, New York Times, 21 September 2006; Cary Huang, ‘Talks will test sinews of Sino-US relations’, South China Morning Post, 14 December 2006.

15 Daniel C Esty & Maria H Ivanova, ‘Globalization and environmental protection: a global governance perspective’, icfai Journal of Environmental Law, 4 (4) 2005, pp 41 – 66.

16 According to Seyom Brown, ‘despite the vigorous leadership of its first Secretary General Maurice Strong, it [the UN Environment Programme] was provided with few carrots (financial resources) and no punitive sticks whatsoever with which to induce adherence to its resolutions’. See Seyom Brown, International Relations in a Changing Global System: Toward a Theory of World Polity, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1992, p 95.

17 China's official status is a non-Annex I party to the Convention. China's State Development Planning Commission submitted in December 2004 its first ‘Initial national communication on climate change’. See ‘China,’ in United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change website, at http://maindb.unfccc.int/public/country.pl?country=CN, accessed 18 April 2007.

18 The number of cars increased to 19 million in 2005 from a mere four million five years ago. ‘Grim tales: the more growth, the more damage to the environment’, The Economist, 31 March – 6 April 2007. According to Hamish McDonald, satellite images, released by the European Space Agency in 2005 showed that the surrounding area of northeast China had the world's most dense nitrogen dioxide, produced mainly by vehicles. McDonald, ‘Images show Beijing vehicle emission pollution is world's worst’, Sydney Morning Herald, 26 October 2005.

19 Shi Jiangtao, ‘Greenhouse gas trading bonus for mainland’, South China Morning Post, 27 October 2006.

20 Ibid. Another report said that the State Development and Reform Commission approved a total of 279 cdm projects, of which 37 received worldwide certification. Huanqiu shibao (Global Times), 16 March 2007, at http://www.paper.people.com.cn/hqsb/html/2007-03/16/content_12634992.html, accessed 20 March 2007.

21 Other provinces in China also developed similar projects. Guangdong, for example, announced in 2006 the establishment of a trading scheme with Hong Kong to reduce traditional pollutants such as sulphur dioxide. See Bill Savadove, ‘Steelmaker cleaning up its act in Nanjing’, South China Morning Post, 14 August 2006.

22 John J Fialka, ‘Beijing to be beneficiary of giant emissions trade’, Wall Street Journal Asia, 30 August 2006.

23 Mure Dickie & Fiona Harvey, ‘China and UN plan carbon trading exchange’, Financial Times, 5 February 2007.

24 Savadove, ‘Steelmaker cleaning up its act in Nanjing’.

25 The figures and statistics in this paragraph are taken from Environmental Protection in China.

26 sepa has got tough with four of the six biggest power groups in China, ordering the halt of all new projects in, for example, Tangshan in the northern Hebei province, to force them to take immediate action to meet environment standards. Shi Jiangtao, ‘Beijing gets tough with penalties for polluters’, South China Morning Post, 11 January 2007.

27 ‘China hit by rising air pollution’, bbc news, 3 August 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/5241844.stm, accessed 20 April 2007; Cheung Chi-fai & Shi Jiangtao, ‘7b yuan bill put on mainland emissions’, South China Morning Post, 31 August 2006; ‘Cap-and-trade system urged to curb sulphur dioxide emissions’, Gov.cn (the Chinese government's official web portal), 14 September 2006, at http://www.gov.cn/english/2006-09/14/content_388553.htm, accessed 21 August 2007; and ‘China fails to achieve pollution control goal in 2006’, Gov.cn, 12 February 2007, at http://www.gov.cn/english/2007-02/12/content_525059.htm, accessed 21 August 2007. In the first half of 2007 the emissions were 12.63 million tonnes, down 0.88% from the same period of the previous year. Sun Xiaohua, ‘Emission cuts miss green goal’, China Daily, 22 August 2007.

28 Shi Jiangtao, ‘500b-yuan loss from sulfur cloud’, South China Morning Post, 4 August 2006.

29 ‘Pollution costs China 511.8b yuan in 2004’, Gov.cn, 7 September 2006, at http://www.gov.cn/english/2006-09/07/content_381756.htm, accessed 21 August 2007; and Jane Spencer, ‘Why Beijing is trying to tally the hidden costs of pollution as China's economy booms’, Wall Street Journal, 2 October 2006.

30 Kenneth Lieberthal, Governing China: From Revolution through Reform, New York: WW Norton, 2004, p 282; and ‘China's environment: a great wall of waste’, The Economist, 21 – 27 August 2004.

31 ‘China says environment spending falls short’, Reuters, 29 March 2005, at http://www.threegorgesprobe.org, accessed 16 June 2006.

32 ‘Premier pledges green performance assessment amidst dust-filled skies’, China Development Brief, 24 April 2006, at www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/node/559, accessed 3 May 2006. Premier Wen Jiabao stunned the nation by admitting that the government had failed to meet its environmental targets in the Tenth Five-Year Plan—a rare admission by a PRC head of government.

33 Mao Rubai, ‘Time to break free from extensive growth mode’, China Daily, 25 July 2006.

34 Shengtai guanli yu baohu (Ecological Management and Protection), Fuyin baokan jiliao (Reprints of Materials from Books and Journals), published by China Renda Social Sciences Information Centre, Renmin University of China, No 3, 2003, p 25.

35 ‘Premier pledges green performance assessment amidst dust-filled skies’.

36 Bruce Tremayne & Penny de Waal, ‘Business opportunities for foreign firms related to China's environment’, China Quarterly, 156, 1998, p 1030.

37 http://www.gefchina.org.cn, accessed 21 June 2006.

38 Francesco Sisci, ‘Is China headed for a social “red alert”?’Asia Times Online, 20 October 2005, at http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/GJ20Cb01.html, accessed 23 April 2007.

39 ‘China's pristine rise to “power”? Implications for Asia's political and ecological footprint’, Singapore Institute of International Affairs, at www.siiaonline.org, June 2006.

40 Tracy Quek, ‘Chinese fuming over pollution’, Straits Times, 6 July 2007; and Jonathan Watts, ‘China blames growing social unrest on anger over pollution’, Guardian, 6 July 2007.

41 For an elaboration of the idea of political legitimacy in China, both traditional and modern, see Guo Baogang, ‘China's peaceful development, regime stability and political legitimacy’, in Guo Sujian (ed), China's ‘Peaceful Rise’ in the 21st Century: Domestic and International Conditions, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2006, pp 39 – 60.

42 ‘China to install 3 more regional environment centers’, Xinhua news, 5 May 2006.

43 Shi Jiangtao, ‘Green watchdog extends its reach’, South China Morning Post, 2 August 2006.

44 ‘Follow the chopsticks’ (editorial), New York Times, 25 March 2006; and ‘China aims taxes at cars and the rich’, International Herald Tribune, 22 March 2006.

45 Nathan Nankivell, ‘China's pollution and the threat to domestic and regional stability’, China Brief, 5 (22) 2005.

46 ‘Toxic leak threat to Chinese city’, bbc News, 23 November 2005, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4462760.stm; ‘China apologises for river spill’, bbc News, 26 November 2005, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4474284.stm; ‘China's environment chief quits’, bbc News, 2 December 2005, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4491562.stm; and ‘New spills hit Chinese rivers’, bbc News, 9 January 2006, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4595168.stm, accessed 17 April 2007.

47 ‘China tackles pollution—top official steps up campaign to enforce environmental rules’, Asian Wall Street Journal, 13 March 2006.

48 ‘Environmental pollution major problem in China's development’, Beijing Review, 14 March 2006, at http://www.bjreview.com.cn/EN/06-10-e/lianghui-06/3-14/3-14-7.htm; and ‘China in 2010’, Beijing Review, at http://www.bjreview.com.cn/EN/06-15-e/bus-1.htm, accessed 19 April 2007.

49 Decision No 39 made by the State Council to increase environmental protection, 3 December 2005.

50 Information in this section is largely taken from Chan, China's Compliance in Global Affairs, pp 158 – 162, with some modifications and updates.

51 See, for example, Han Shasha, ‘Lun huanjing guihua zhong de gongzhong canyu’ (On public participation in environmental planning), Huanjing daobao (Environmental Herald (Nanjing)), 3, 2001, pp 13 – 14.

52 For a graphical presentation of the growth of these ngos, see Yang Guobin, ‘Environmental ngos and institutional dynamics in China’, China Quarterly, 181, March 2005, p 51, Figures 2, 3.

53 Ray Cheung, ‘ngo pioneer calls for incentives to give’, South China Morning Post, 21 August 2002. This number seems small, probably because of a stricter definition of ngo used by the source, and so a large number of government-sponsored ngos have been excluded. The Law Yearbook of China indicates that there were 153 359 shehui tuanti (or social organisations) and 135 181 minban feiqiye danwei (private non-enterprise units, such as research and educational institutes and foundations). See Zhongguo falue nianjian (Law Yearbook of China), Beijing: Zhongguo falue nianjian chubanshe, 2005, p 1081. Zhuang Ailing, founder of the Shanghai-based Non-Profit Organisation Development Centre, estimates that China at present has about 700 000 to 800 000 ngos. See Shanghai Daily, 23 August 2004, p 12.

54 Although the China Environment and Development International Co-operation Committee, formed in April 1992, was billed as an ngo, it is largely a government-sponsored organisation.

55 Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 April 2003, p 30.

56 Yang, ‘China's environmental protection at a crossroads’, in Liang, Crisis and Breakthrough of China's Environment, pp 21, 239. The figure of more than 1000 green ngos in China is also confirmed by China's White Paper, Environmental Protection in China. Estimates outside of China point to a number of around 2000. See Liu & Diamond, ‘China's environment in a globalizing world’, p 1186; and Elizabeth Economy, ‘China's environment movement’, Testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China Roundtable on ‘Environmental ngos in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances’, Washington, DC, 7 February 2005, at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/020705/index.php, accessed 29 August 2007.

57 Obviously, these are registered ngos in China. Jennifer Turner of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, is of the opinion that there are 2000 unregistered ones. See ‘China's ngos: independent actors or government puppets?’, China Environment Forum, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, 15 May 2006, at www.wilsoncenter.org, accessed 20 June 2006. According to the All-China Environmental Federation, only about 200 of these 2768 green groups lack an official background. See Shi Jiangtao, ‘Ease control of ngos, experts urge Beijing’, South China Morning Post, 30 October 2006.

58 Li Fangchao, ‘ngos in difficulty, survey shows’, China Daily, 24 April 2006.

59 Ibid.

60 In the first major UN conference on the environment held in Stockholm in 1972 Chinese government officials were there to present themselves and to learn from the experience of others. In the second major UN conference on the environment held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, the Chinese officials were embarrassed by the fact that there was no ngo representation from China. It was only in Johannesburg in 2002 that Chinese green ngos made their debut.

61 Liao Xiaoyi, in Luse jizhe shalong (Green Journalist Saloon), Beijing: Zhongguo huanjing kexue chubanshe, 2005, p 136.

62 Vivien Pik-Kwan Chan, ‘Mainland ngos join world stage at summit’, South China Morning Post, 16 August 2002. See also ‘Mainland ngos to attend Johannesburg Development Summit’, China News Digest, 23 August 2002, at http://www.cnd.org/CND-Global/CND-Global.02-08-22.html, accessed 29 August 2007.

63 See ‘ngo to voice their views louder’, at www.gvbchina.org/English/englishintro.html, accessed 30 September 2002.

64 Liao Xiaoyi, in Green Journalist Saloon, p 137.

65 Elizabeth Economy, ‘Environmental enforcement in China’, in Kristen A Day (ed), China's Environment and the Challenge of Sustainable Development, Armonk, NY: ME Sharpe, 2005, p 113.

66 Robin Kwong, ‘Victory is a rare pleasure for China's Erin Brockovich’, South China Morning Post, 23 July 2006.

67 ‘Skeletal legal aid requires flesh and muscle’, China Development Brief, 14 November 2004, at http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.com/node/307, accessed 27 June 2006.

68 Wang Canfa, ‘Chinese environmental law enforcement: current deficiencies and suggested reforms’, Vermont Journal of Environmental Law, 8 (2), 2006 – 07.

69 Liang was the founder of Friends of Nature. He is the grandson of Liang Qichao, an influential turn-of-the-century scholar who hoped to reform China's moribund imperial system along democratic lines. Liang is also a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Committee. See Todd Lappin, ‘Can green mix with red? Environmentalism in China’, The Nation, 14 February 1994.

70 See the see website, at http://see.sina.com.cn/.

71 ‘ngos unite to protect environment’, China Daily, 10 November 2005.

72 Fu Tao, ‘Zhongguo minjian huanjing zuzhi de fazhan’ (Development of ngos in China), in Liang, Crisis and Breakthrough of China's Environment, p 244.

73 All-China Environment Federation website, at www.acef.com.cn.

74 Ru Jiang's testimony before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China Roundtable on ‘Environmental ngos in China: Encouraging Action and Addressing Public Grievances’, Washington, DC, 7 February 2005, at http://www.cecc.gov/pages/roundtables/020705/index.php, accessed 29 August 2007.

75 Wu Fengshi, ‘New partners or old brothers? gongos in transnational environmental advocacy in China’, China Environment Series, 5, 2002, at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/ACF3C9.pdf, accessed 20 April 2007.

76 See Yang Guobin, ‘Global environmentalism hits China’, YaleGlobal Online, 4 February 2004, at http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/acticle.print?id=3250, accessed 6 February 2004.

77 Simon Kuznets, the Nobel laureate in economic science in 1971, argued that economic inequality rises as the process of economic development proceeds until a turning point is reached. Thereafter, economic inequality falls and remains stable as per capita income rises. The inverted U-shaped relations he portrayed have since been called the Kuznets Curve.

78 Zmarak Shalizi, ‘Energy and emissions: local and global efforts of the giants' rise’, in L Alan Winters & Shahid Yusuf (eds), Dancing with Giants: China, India, and the Global Economy, Washington, DC: World Bank, 2007, p 144. There is no conclusive evidence to show that the ekc hypothesis holds true. Environmental economists are of the view that it holds true for some pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, but not for carbon dioxide and municipal waste or for the global environment at large. Roger Perman et al, Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, Harlow: Pearson Education, 2003, pp 36 – 40.

79 For the purpose of this paper about the environment, an externality is said to occur 1) when an agent does harm to the environment and no compensation is made by the agent to the affected parties; or 2) when an agent contributes to the cleaning of the environment and receives no payment from the beneficiaries. The provision of public goods refers to all spill-over activities that address environmental deterioration. The goods are therefore undersupplied by the market.

80 Perman et al, Natural Resources and Environmental Economics, pp 126 – 127, 134.

81 Lieberthal, Governing China, pp 281 – 286; Pan Yue, ‘China's green debt’, Project Syndicate, November 2006, at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/pan1, accessed 23 April 2007.

82 Shi Jiangtao, ‘Conservation comes first, Hu warns local officials’, South China Morning Post, 27 December 2006.

83 Rong Jiaojiao, ‘China focus: central government seeks strengthened authority to improve efficiency’, Xinhua news, 14 March 2007; and Stephen Chen, ‘Shanxi city shut polluting factories’, South China Morning Post, 8 March 2007.

84 Shi Jiangtao, ‘Heavy industrial polluters to be refused bank loans’, South China Morning Post, 6 July 2007; ‘Green credit: to fight pollution, China takes the capitalist route’, International Herald Tribute, 30 July 2007, at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/30/business/pollute.php, accessed 29 August 2007; and Stephen Chen, ‘Top creditors still in the dark about green regulations’, South China Morning Post, 31 July 2007.

85 Pu Ping, ‘Huanjing wenti: Zhongguo guoji zhanlue de xin keti’ (Environment: a new issue in China's international strategy), Jiaoxue yu yanjiu (Teaching and Study), 4, 2006, pp 18 – 24.

86 A green gdp proposal was first put forward in 2004 by sepa, but has now been shelved or abandoned because of the complexities involved in compiling and calculating a green gdp index, as well as of opposition from local authorities. Instead China is working to introduce a ‘green accounting’ which uses flow charts to track resources such as water, raw materials and grass lands, a new system supported by the UN and Norway. See Richard McGregor, ‘China abandons plan for green gdp index’, Financial Times, 9 May 2006; McGregor, ‘China faces $136bn pollution clean-up’, Financial Times, 7 September 2006; and Joseph Kahn & Jim Yardley, ‘As China roars, pollution reaches deadly extremes’, New York Times, 26 August 2007.

87 Neil T Carter & Arthur PJ Mol, ‘Domestic and transnational dynamics of a future hegemon’, Environmental Politics, 15 (2) 2006, p 338.

88 James D Seymour, ‘China's environment: a bibliographic essay’, in Day, China's Environment and the Challenge of Sustainable Development, p 261.

89 ‘Desert shrinking by 7585 sq km annually’, China View, at http://www.chinaview.cn, accessed 30 May 2006.

90 Jim Yardley, ‘China says rich countries should take lead on global warming’, New York Times, 7 February 2007; Sebastian Moffett & Shai Oster, ‘China signs on to tackle global-warming issues’, Wall Street Journal Online, 12 April 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117629147324066237.html, accessed 20 April 2007; ‘Emission cuts but no caps, review suggests’, South China Morning Post, 17 April 2007; and ‘Beijing admits climate change will be harmful’, South China Morning Post, 23 April 2007.

91 Kahn & Yardley, ‘As China roars, pollution reaches deadly extremes’.

92 In 2003 China's per capita emissions of carbon dioxide were 3.2 tonnes, while the world average was 3.7 tonnes and the USA's was 20 tonnes. ‘China about to become top carbon emitter’, Financial Times, 19 April 2007.

93 However, Fatih Birol of the International Energy Agency (iea) is concerned that the surge in China's greenhouse gas emissions, if unchecked, would offset reductions in emissions from Europe, the USA and Japan. Shai Oster, ‘China seems poised to pass US as top greenhouse-gas emitter’, Wall Street Journal Online, 24 April 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117735208071379218.html, accessed 24 April 2007. Whether there should be mandatory emission reduction targets for China is a controversial issue with major implications for China's foreign relations. One commentary in Canada asks sarcastically why Canada, a small-population country, should make sacrifices itself in lowering greenhouse gas emissions if China could expand emissions. It said, ‘Canada produces 160 million tonnes a year of the world's eight billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Were Canada to eliminate all of its ghg[greenhouse gas] emissions, China's increases would replace them—every last ounce—in 18 months. Were Canada to eliminate 10 percent of its emissions, China's increases would replace them all in 60 days. As noble as self-sacrifice can occasionally be, it must have—somewhere—a rational purpose’. Neil Reynolds, ‘As China spews pell-mell, why bother with Kyoto?’, Globe and Mail, 21 February 2007.

94 ‘China about to become top carbon emitter’. That is why the New York Times criticises the USA and China in an editorial for forming an ‘alliance of denial’, with both ‘using each other's inaction as an excuse to do nothing’. See ‘Warming and global security’, New York Times, 20 April 2007.

95 This contrasts with the remark made by Hu Jintao in a ccp Politburo study session in December 2006, when he said that environmental protection was an issue of national and economic security.

96 ‘UN attacks climate change as threat to peace’, International Herald Tribune, 17 April 2007, at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/17/news/climate.php, accessed 18 April 2007; ‘UN Council hits impasse over debate on warming’, New York Times, 18 April 2007; Andrew Clark, ‘Climate change threatens security, UK tells UN’, Guardian, 18 April 2007; and Le Tian, ‘Security Council “not right place” to discuss climate’, China Daily, 19 April 2007.

97 Robert Falkner, ‘International sources of environmental policy change in China: the case of genetically modified food’, Pacific Review, 19 (4) 2006, pp 473 – 494.

98 Environmental Protection in China.

99 The pilot programme is to cover Qinghai, Tibet, Ningxia, Shanxi, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Hebei. Eventually, it will be extended to all provinces and regions. Sun Xiaohua, ‘New program will take climate fight to provinces’, China Daily, 18 April 2007.

100 ‘Air quality could affect games’, cnn.com, 7 August 2007, at http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2007/08/07/intv.cdb.ioc.pres.jacques.rogge.cnn, accessed on 22 August 2007.

101 Stephen Chen, ‘Race is on to clean waterways by Olympic Games deadline’, South China Morning Post, 11 May 2007; and Richard McGregor, ‘Beijing claims success for clean air drive’, Financial Times, 21 August 2007.

102 Martin Zhou, ‘Smog may delay Games events, ioc chief fears’, South China Morning Post, 9 August 2007; and Jonathan Watts, ‘Beijing grounds drivers in bid to clear the air’, Guardian, 17 August 2007.

103 But Beijing officials declared that the test run was a success. McGregor, ‘Beijing claims success for clean air drive’; and Martin Zhou, ‘Beijing declares its four-day car ban a success’, South China Morning Post, 22 August 2007. See also Mei Fong, ‘Impact of China's car curb on smog is unclear’, Wall Street Journal Online, 20 August 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118756097751802209.html, accessed 20 August 2007; and Jonathan Watts, ‘China prays for Olympic wind as car bans fail to shift Beijing smog’, Guardian, 21 August 2007. An option is, therefore, to extend the vehicle restrictions plan to the provinces neighbouring Beijing in 2008. Zhou, ‘Beijing declares its four-day car ban a success’.

104 While prospering from outsourcing, multinational corporations are a contributor to China's growing environmental hazard by demanding ever-lower prices for Chinese products. Manufacturers in China, in turn, dump industrial waste into rivers to keep the production cost low. Jane Spencer, ‘Ravaged rivers: China pays steep price as textile exports boom’, Wall Street Journal Online, 22 August 2007, at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118580938555882301.html, accessed 22 August 2007.

105 Carter & Mol, ‘Domestic and transnational dynamics of a future hegemon’, p 341.

106 Elizabeth Economy, ‘Environmental governance: the emerging economic dimension’, Environmental Politics, 15 (2), 2006, pp 171 – 189.

107 Seymour, ‘China's environment: a bibliographic essay’, p 262.