How far do you agree that China has yet to balance its socioeconomic

development?
Since Chinas reform and opening up in 1978, Chinas industrialization process has
always been at the expense of the economy as with all industrialized economy, an
inevitable process. While measures have been undertaken to ameliorate the
imbalances in Chinas socio-economic development, these have fallen short of their
desired outcomes. Hence, this essay seeks to argue that chinas socio-economic
development is still deeply uneven given the CCPs priorities to sustain high growth
and the countrys inherent regional differences.
At the central and local levels, authorities have to play an active part in enforcing
environmental control so as to ensure balance socioeconomic development. Much of
the environmental issues have their roots at the provincial level, therefore it is
essential that the local leaders check and control the problems before they escalate
further. SEPA has the power to impose sanctions on provinces or cities where no
significant improvement is made on the environment. SEPA can also postpone plans
for chemical plans to be set up in the blacklisted areas until the pollution problems
are rectified. This is to ensure local authorities do their part in maintain
environmental protection. In the light of the 2008 Olympics, the CCP had a mass
clean up of Beijing, boosting its positive image to usher in the prestigious event.
However, given the vast number of local authorities to be checked, SEPAs hands
are tied in monitoring the situation in each and every city. The 2005 Songhua River
chemical spill incident reflected Jilins officials unwillingness in providing full
cooperation. The officials even tried covering up for their mistakes until the Chinese
media unraveled more challenging evidence to prove negligence at the local levels.
Therefore, it is essential for local authorities to conduct themselves responsibly to
ensure that pollution in China does not go out of hand.
However, given the incentives of economic growth, environmental controls are often
ignored and abused the authorities who are not willing to sacrifice for the
environment, resulting in unbalance socioeconomic development. Many of the party
cadres are prompted for their economic contribution to the country. Local leaders
view high growth rates as very good platforms for promotion and this is far more
important than protecting the environment. Compared to the welfare of the
environment, the local officials are more concerned with their career prospects,
which could seriously undermine the efforts to curb pollution at the local levels.
Besides, the authorities are not the recipients of the backlashes of pollution, as
many of the richer officials have moved away to cleaner parts of the provinces. This
is most evident in the case of Shanxi, where many villagers who are unable to
resettle to the cleaner parts of the province had to bear the consequences of air
pollution. Hence, the lure of political advancement at the local levels has actually
outweighed the advantages of maintaining a cleaner environment in China,
resulting in unethical practices to be condoned.
Vast amount of resources are also devoted into research and development of green
technology so as to achieve balance socioeconomic development. Bold initiatives
are made by the government and public businesses to harness wind and solar
power for industrial and home usage. Pacts signed with countries like Singapore to
build eco-cities and ecologically-friendly industrial parks. China is the worlds largest

investor on the search and utilization of renewable energy. Construction of the

Three Gorges Dam, along with several other smaller dams, attests to governments
determination to resort to hydroelectricity to satisfy mounting energy demands. The
government also plans to build nuclear plants to supply power to the cities of
Southern China. Under governmental encouragement, wind and solar power
generators are becoming popular even in private households, especially for those in
the countryside and interior China, putting forth the possibility that the countrys
rapid economic growth can be sustained without jeopardizing the economy.
However, inability to find more environmentally friendly and sustainable form of
energy continues to impede the governments effort at achieving balance economic
growth. In spite of efforts of the government, China is still home to some of the
worlds most polluted cities and waterways. According to the WHO, China has seven
of the ten most-polluted cities in the world. Acid rain continues to fall on about 30%
of Chinas total land area. Chinas water is polluted also by the disposal of large
quantities of organic and toxic waste form households, agriculture and industry.
Water pollution has led to severe water shortages in some provinces. This is evident
in the 2008 Olympics where guaranteed fresh water supply to Beijing has resulted
in drought around the capitals surrounding countryside. As such, inability to find
more environmentally friendly and sustainable form of energy also perpetuates the
conflict between environment and economic growth.
Government has also put in effort at educating the public on being environmentally
conscious so that even as the economy develops, it will not add on to the
environmental cost of economic development, thereby achieving balance
socioeconomic development. Advertisements and other programs launched on the
media strived to encourage its audience to be more environmentally friendly in their
lifestyle. Celebrities became role models to Chinese youths in the countrys bid to
promote environmental awareness. Surveys have shown that more Chinese, as
compared with the Americans, are willing to sacrifice some comforts of modern
living in order to protect the environment. More NGOs are formed each year to
monitor and highlight concerns of victims suffering from pollution. The public is also
encouraged to bring their own utensil so as to cut down the usage of disposable
forks and spoons. All of these alleviate the gravity of environmental pollution and
lessen the burden produced by economic development.
However, high and inelastic demand for energy due to rising cost and scarcity of
traditional fuel and resources impedes Chinas attempts to be balance
socioeconomic development. Although China ranks second in the world behind the
USA in total energy consumption and carbon emissions, its per capita energy
consumption and carbon emissions are much lower than the world average. After
2001, Chinas growth rate of energy demand exceeded the growth rate of GDP
reaching 1.5times of it. China imported 162.million tons of oil in 2006 as the worlds
second largest energy user. Its dependence on imported oil reached 47%, having
increased by 4.1% from 2005. China accounted for 15% of global energy
consumption but generated only 5.5% of global GDP. Lack of oil and technology and
expertise to extract shale gas, China can only continue to depend on the polluting
coal that she has abundant of so as to not upset economic activities. Hence, High
and inelastic demand for energy impedes Chinas attempts to be friendlier to its
environment.

In conclusion, measures have been undertaken to ameliorate the imbalances in

Chinas socio-economic development. However, these have fallen short of their
desired outcomes. Therefore, chinas socio-economic development is still deeply
uneven given the CCPs priorities to sustain high growth and the countrys inherent
regional differences.