It’s often said that China is walking a tightrope: its economy depends on foreign money, its leadership is set in its ways, and its military expansion threatens the world. But the Middle Kingdom’s immediate dangers run deeper than you realise.
Are china’s biggest risks economic in nature?
No. In fact, China’s most se
vere risks are ecological – particularly its environmental problems and its vulnerability to communicable disease. Of course, this is not to say that China has no economic problems. No country is immune from the normal business cycle, and China today is subject to both inflationary and recessionary risks. But Beijing is developing the fiscal and monetary tools to regulate the economy so as to prevent these problems from becoming catastrophic once they emerge.
Air pollution in China is affecting quality of life in cities like Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The risk of water shortages, both in agricultural areas and major cities, is high and growing; only 1% of the surface water available to Shanghai is safe to drink. In one harbinger of things to come, an explosion at a chemical plant in North-East China in November 2005 sent a benzene slick cascading down the Songhua River. Millions of people in the large, industrial city of Harbin were without water for a week.
Are china’s biggest risks economic in nature?
No. In fact, China’s most se
vere risks are ecological – particularly its environmental problems and its vulnerability to communicable disease. Of course, this is not to say that China has no economic problems. No country is immune from the normal business cycle, and China today is subject to both inflationary and recessionary risks. But Beijing is developing the fiscal and monetary tools to regulate the economy so as to prevent these problems from becoming catastrophic once they emerge.Air pollution in China is affecting quality of life in cities like Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. The risk of water shortages, both in agricultural areas and major cities, is high and growing; only 1% of the surface water available to Shanghai is safe to drink. In one harbinger of things to come, an explosion at a chemical plant in North-East China in November 2005 sent a benzene slick cascading down the Songhua River. Millions of people in the large, industrial city of Harbin were without water for a week.
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