Environment is a Major Political Issue Which Bears …
475
of China decides that the primary function and mission of state governance is safeguarding its socialist nature—that’s the overriding political mission. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism
and nothing else. Therefore, ecological progress, a key domain of the CPC’s state
governance, must have special significance and purpose for safeguarding our state
nature.
When we view ecological progress from the perspective of building socialism
with Chinese characteristics, we must figure out two things. One, what’s the relation
between ecological civilization and socialism? Two, how to safeguard our nature as
a socialist country by developing ecological civilization?
(1) Ecological civilization and socialism
At first sight, ecological civilization and socialism don’t seem to have any direct
connection as one is practical work and the other is an ideological issue, but a closer
look would reveal their inherent connections.
A country’s development path isn’t chosen randomly, but is closely related with
the country’s history and national conditions. When the People’s Republic of China
was founded in 1949, against the background that the old China was a semi-feudal,
semi-colonial country that had suffered too long and too much from the suppression
and bullying of feudalism and imperialism, China chose to embark on the socialist
path to meet people’s ardent desire for an independent, equal and affluent life. Only
socialism represented by the Communist Party of China was able to meet this desire.
In other words, choosing the socialist path at that time was mainly out of “social
justice.”
In addition to this historical reason, today due to the special relation between man
and nature in China, we insist on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.
At the moment, China is one of the countries witnessing the greatest tension
between man and nature in the world. This is reflected in three ways. First, China,
with a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers, houses 1/5 of the world’s population,
but the natural conditions on its land are far from favorable as only slightly more
than half of the territory is suitable for human production and life, while the rest is
covered by desert, plateau, Gobi desert and high mountains. With so many people
crowded on so limited land, the tension between man and nature can well be imagined.
Second, China is short of resources. Necessary resources to meet the needs of modern
life, such as land, water, energy, grassland, forestry and metal, are all scarce, with
per capita resource ownership much less than world average. Meanwhile, the rising
living standards have been driving up the per capita resource consumption, which
forces China to import resources in large quantities and expands the effects caused
by man-nature tension at home to a wider scope. Third, China has a strong economy
with the fullest economic categories and the largest manufacturing capacity in the
world, which, however, has taken up enormous ecological space and environmental
capacity. The environmental consumption and pollution caused by many productive
activities has far exceeded the environment’s carrying capacity, not only putting
extreme pressure on human survival and life, but also imposing serious resource and
475
of China decides that the primary function and mission of state governance is safeguarding its socialist nature—that’s the overriding political mission. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that socialism with Chinese characteristics is socialism
and nothing else. Therefore, ecological progress, a key domain of the CPC’s state
governance, must have special significance and purpose for safeguarding our state
nature.
When we view ecological progress from the perspective of building socialism
with Chinese characteristics, we must figure out two things. One, what’s the relation
between ecological civilization and socialism? Two, how to safeguard our nature as
a socialist country by developing ecological civilization?
(1) Ecological civilization and socialism
At first sight, ecological civilization and socialism don’t seem to have any direct
connection as one is practical work and the other is an ideological issue, but a closer
look would reveal their inherent connections.
A country’s development path isn’t chosen randomly, but is closely related with
the country’s history and national conditions. When the People’s Republic of China
was founded in 1949, against the background that the old China was a semi-feudal,
semi-colonial country that had suffered too long and too much from the suppression
and bullying of feudalism and imperialism, China chose to embark on the socialist
path to meet people’s ardent desire for an independent, equal and affluent life. Only
socialism represented by the Communist Party of China was able to meet this desire.
In other words, choosing the socialist path at that time was mainly out of “social
justice.”
In addition to this historical reason, today due to the special relation between man
and nature in China, we insist on the socialist path with Chinese characteristics.
At the moment, China is one of the countries witnessing the greatest tension
between man and nature in the world. This is reflected in three ways. First, China,
with a territory of 9.6 million square kilometers, houses 1/5 of the world’s population,
but the natural conditions on its land are far from favorable as only slightly more
than half of the territory is suitable for human production and life, while the rest is
covered by desert, plateau, Gobi desert and high mountains. With so many people
crowded on so limited land, the tension between man and nature can well be imagined.
Second, China is short of resources. Necessary resources to meet the needs of modern
life, such as land, water, energy, grassland, forestry and metal, are all scarce, with
per capita resource ownership much less than world average. Meanwhile, the rising
living standards have been driving up the per capita resource consumption, which
forces China to import resources in large quantities and expands the effects caused
by man-nature tension at home to a wider scope. Third, China has a strong economy
with the fullest economic categories and the largest manufacturing capacity in the
world, which, however, has taken up enormous ecological space and environmental
capacity. The environmental consumption and pollution caused by many productive
activities has far exceeded the environment’s carrying capacity, not only putting
extreme pressure on human survival and life, but also imposing serious resource and