It’s official. The impact of environmental pollution on the health of its people is now China’s leading political problem. Outgoing Prime Minister Wen Jiabao delivered his Government Work Report to the National People’s Congress on Tuesday.
He said that the government "should be determined to solve prominent environmental pollution problems that concern the public interest, such as airborne, water or soil pollution, and should give hope to the public with practical action: improving environmental quality and safeguarding people’s health," according to the China Daily.
Health Minister Chen Zhu echoed the premier’s concerns and said he had seen firsthand "cancer villages" where toxins released by local industry have caused a spike in the incidence of certain cancers. Chen Jiping, a former leader of the party’s Committee for Political and Legislative Affairs, admitted that there are 30,000 to 50,000 mass protests throughout China every year and that pollution has now eclipsed land rights as the major reason for organizing. Fueled by a grave sense of injustice and better enabled by the Internet and smartphones, expressions of discontent mount.
Throughout Chinese history, each dynasty has succumbed to either barbarians at the gate or revolution from within. The modern communist dynasty vigilantly tracks these same two threats today. In an effort to stave off the barbarians, China is working to respond to avert moves by the U.S. to redeploy economic, military and diplomatic resources from Europe and the Middle East to the Pacific Rim. In lock step, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe just announced his country’s renewed focus on dealing with the might of China.
Does the possibility of revolution from within represent a still greater risk? With China’s massive military and equally enormous cash reserves, few see revolution as imminent, but the unrest is real and cannot be crushed or ignored. During one of my several trips to China, in 2000, I recall a turning point. At Tian Jin No. 1 Hospital, several executives were weighing the outcome of a government decision to change its financial relationship with all area hospitals. Moving forward, each hospital was now to be financially independent. The government would no longer offer financial support, but hospitals could now retain their own revenues.
Moves such as this spurn self-reliance and self-advocacy. Year by year, China moves further away from the ethos of the Great Leap Forward when each citizen was expected to give according to ability and, in turn, would receive according to need.
Since 1978, when Deng Xiaoping first began to edge China toward its unique brand of capitalism, its economy has expanded like none other but at the expense of the environment, safety and health of the Chinese people. The rapid economic growth dramatically improved the standard of living for hundreds of millions but may have had an unintended consequence. Naturally, the beneficiaries of China’s economic miracle have become not only more educated, but also more concerned about the health dangers of polluted air, water and soil. Increasingly, the people of China are calling for the wealth of health, and the ruling party knows it must heed the call.
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Ira Zunin, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., is medical director of Manakai o Malama Integrative Healthcare Group and Rehabilitation Center and CEO of Global Advisory Services Inc. Please submit your questions to info@manakaiomalama.com.
