China update
Published by MAC on 2007-02-02
China update
2nd Feburary 2007
Once more the huge discrepancy between good intentions and actual practices is dramatised by last month's China Modernisation Report which confirms that the country has made no progess in protecting the environment during the previous three years.
Supporting fears expressed by pro-independence activists last year, Tibet looks like yielding up massive new mineral resources for the Chinese state, along the regions's new railway line.
As yet more lucrative forays are made by Chinese companies into Africa, so big global mining companies claim they are finding it hard to compete.
In response, during the recent World Environment Forum in Davos, some corporate leaders urged that more funding be supplied them by the World Bank/IFC. There was even a suggestion that NGO's like Oxfam should be asked to lobby African governments in demanding better health. social and environmental safeguards from China in order, presumably, to give North-based companies the edge in negotiating new African mineral deals.