China defends human progress in Copenhagen

By William R. Hawkins

The Green campaign for imposing a drastic reduction in human economic activity and energy use has always relied on extreme rhetoric threatening Armageddon if certain proposals are not adopted.

The UN Climate Conference has been no exception.

As the first wave of world leaders arrived in Copenhagen. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened the High-Level Segment of the meeting by claiming, "The evidence assaults us: melting ice caps, advancing deserts, rising sea levels. We have a chance ... a real chance ... here and now ... to change the course of our history."

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who hurried to Denmark to be among the first heads of state to speak, asserted, "Hurricanes, floods, typhoons and droughts that were once all regarded as the acts of an invisible God are now revealed to be the visible acts of Man."

Yet, these words fell on deaf ears among most of the delegations who have never bought into the idea that the planet was in such peril that the needs of their own people had to be sacrificed to appease the climate gods. China has taken the lead among the BASIC bloc (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) and the G77 group of developing nations (chaired by Beijing's ally Sudan) in presenting a different set of global priorities.

On Thursday, the state-run China Daily newspaper ran a story by Si Tingting that summed up neatly the antidote to liberal doom and gloom and the Green cult of doing without.

COPENHAGEN: Though a low-carbon economy and a place where people can tap into their full potential could both be achieved, in the next 10 to 20 years, human development remains China's top priority, Chinese experts say.

The stand on investing in people was made at an event in conjunction with the Copenhagen climate change conference and ahead of the Tuesday release of key findings from the China Human Development Report 2009/10.

The report, to be published in its entirety early next year, requires human development to be taken into consideration in developing a low carbon economy.

It goes on to state that "human development should allow people to live a healthy and decent life, to have education and to have a say in the policy-making process."

The report's lead author is Professor Zou Ji, who chairs the department of environmental economics and management at Renmin University in Beijing. He is quoted as saying, "over 700 million people in China are living substandard lives. ...They don't have flushing toilets and they don't even have clean tap water. So we still need urbanization." More than 270 million Chinese do not have access to an adequate supply of safe drinking water according to the report.

Anyone who thinks the innate desire of people to improve their condition can be stifled by international agreements knows nothing of human history or human nature. China is correct to reject any UN mandates that would slow its economic growth, and the United States should do the same.