China's economic and social development problems

2. the only way to solve the difficult problems of China’s economic and social development

The Communist Party of China has always attached great importance to the construction of ecological civilization. As early as the early days of the founding of New China, the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Mao Zedong stressed the improvement of the ecological environment and launched a vigorous campaign of “planting trees and greening the motherland” and the project of “building water conservancy and maintaining water and soil.” Since the reform and opening up, the Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Deng Xiaoping have paid great attention to environmental protection work, and the Decision of the State Council on Strengthening Environmental Protection Work in the Period of National Economic Adjustment promulgated in 1981 clearly stated that “protecting the environment is where the fundamental interests of the people of the whole country lie. In 1983, the Second National Conference on Environmental Protection established “environmental protection” as a basic national policy. The Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Jiang Zemin put forward a strategy for sustainable development, demanding that “economic development must be considered in an integrated manner with population, resources, and the environment, and we must not only make good arrangements for current development, but also consider future generation to create better conditions for future development.” 2 The Chinese Communists represented by Comrade Hu Jintao put forward the Scientific Outlook on Development and clearly demanded:

“Implement the basic national policy of saving resources and protecting the environment, take the harmonious development of man and nature as an important development concept, and promote the coordination of economic development with population, resources and environment.” The 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China took “promoting harmony between man and nature” as one of the goals of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way. The 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China for the first time included ecological civilization in the report of the Party Congress, and wrote “building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society” into the newly revised Party Constitution.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core has regarded the construction of ecological civilization as an important part of the overall layout of the “five-in-one”, adhered to the harmonious coexistence of man and nature as a basic strategy for adhering to and developing socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, regarded green development as a major development concept, and regarded pollution prevention and control as a major battle among the three major battles, leading the whole party and the people of the whole country to carry out a series of fundamental, pioneering and long-term work. Accelerate the top-level design and institutional construction of ecological civilization, strengthen the construction of the rule of law, establish and implement the central environmental protection supervision system, vigorously promote green development, deeply implement the three major action plans for the prevention and control of air, water and soil pollution, take the lead in issuing the National Plan for China’s Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, implement the National Climate Change Plan (2014-2020), and so on. All these have promoted historic, turning and overall changes in ecological environmental protection, and also made the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China the most vigorous, the most practical, the fastest and the best results in the construction of ecological civilization in the past few years. At the same time, we must also see that after years of rapid development, the resource and environmental problems accumulated in China have also entered a stage of high intensity and frequent occurrence, and the construction of ecological civilization is in a critical period of superimposed pressure and heavy load. Comrade Xi Jinping emphasized: “We owe too much in terms of ecological environment, and if we do not grasp this work tightly from now on, we will pay a greater price in the future.” 1 In a certain sense, China’s resource constraints are tightening, environmental pollution is serious, and the situation of fragile ecosystems is still grim, the results of ecological governance are not stable, and ecological and environmental problems have become prominent problems restricting economic and social development. First, the ability to guarantee resources is weak, which restricts sustainable economic and social development.

With economic and social development, China has become the world’s largest energy consumer, and a large amount of energy needs to be imported. In the long run, with the continuous development of China’s economy and society, the demand for resources is still growing. According to forecasts, by 2035, China’s current GDP will reach 290 trillion yuan,1 if the existing energy consumption intensity is kept unchanged, China’s primary energy consumption will reach 11.098 billion tons of oil equivalent, while the total global primary energy consumption in 2017 is only 13.511 billion tons of oil equivalent. Such energy consumption is not only something we cannot afford, but the entire planet.

Second, environmental pollution is still serious, restricting the people’s new expectations for a better life. With the increase of income level, the connotation of people’s needs for a better life is undergoing profound changes, and the people need cleaner air, cleaner water and safer food than ever before, but air pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution seriously restrict the satisfaction of these needs. After several years of treatment, although the atmospheric environment has improved, it is not optimistic. In 2018, among the 338 cities at the prefecture level and above, 217 cities exceeded the ambient air quality standard, accounting for 64.2%. At the same time, the water environment safety situation is grim. Among the 1935 water quality sections (points) of surface water in the country, 17-inferior V accounted for 29%. Among the 1613 river basin water quality sections, ‘IV-inferior V accounted for 25.8%. Of the 111 important lakes (reservoirs), “Class V accounted for 33.3% of the total.” Among the 906 monitoring sections (points) of centralized drinking water sources in 337 cities at the prefecture level and above, 10.2% did not meet the standard. 32% of the country’s rivers and 11% of lakes have pollutants entering rivers in excess of their capacity to hold pollution.2 Then there is serious soil pollution. According to the National Soil Pollution Investigation Communiqué, the overall soil environmental situation in China is not optimistic, soil pollution is heavy in some areas, the soil environmental quality of cultivated land is worrying, and the soil environmental problems of industrial and mining waste land are prominent. The total excess rate of soil survey sites in the country was 16.1%, and the total excess rate of various soil in the Chengdu Plain, which was once a large granary, was even as high as 42.2%. 3 The existence of these problems directly affects the happiness of the masses of the people and their evaluation of the party and the government. Third, ecosystems are still fragile, which restricts the ability of ecosystems to serve economic and social development.

The natural world is the cradle of all living things, including human beings, and the basic conditions for human survival and development, which not only creates and sustains the support system of human life, but also provides human beings with leisure, entertainment and other spiritual enjoyment. In recent years, China’s ecological degradation is still serious, and the ecological security situation is still grim. Soil erosion, land desertification and rocky desertification caused by agricultural production and development are serious, and the area of soil erosion and desertification in China accounts for 31% and 30% of the land area, and the area of cultivated land degradation accounts for more than 40%. The total amount of soil lost each year reaches 5 billion tons, and more than 300 million mu of arable land is reduced due to soil erosion, which seriously affects the ability of natural ecology to provide the life support materials needed by human beings.1 The proportion of areas with excellent quality of forest, shrubland and grassland ecosystems accounted for only 5.8% and mouth, respectively7% and 5,4%, 17.6% of forests, 14.4% of shrublands and 34,7% of grassland ecosystem quality still have varying degrees of decline. Problems such as ecological damage in river basins, deterioration of urban living environment, and loss of natural shoreline caused by urbanization, industrialization and resource development still exist. Between 2000 and 2010 alone, the total area of ecosystem changes caused by urban expansion reached 420.37 million hectares, and 406 million square kilometers of natural ecosystems were lost due to arable land reclamation. A large number of coastal natural shorelines and tidal flats are occupied, and the natural shoreline retention rate is less than 40%.2 These problems have greatly reduced the environmental carrying capacity of China’s economic development, which not only restricts the material basis of sustained economic growth, but also affects the evaluation and confidence of foreign investors in China’s investment environment, and restricts the long-term development space of the economy. In addition, natural disasters caused by some environmental problems directly cause huge property losses, and the cost of controlling environmental pollution is also costly, even far exceeding the wealth created. Resources and environment are the material basis for a country to achieve economic development, which to a large extent determines the scale, speed and degree of economic development and the level of sustainable economic and social development. Excellent ecological environment and sufficient natural resources can promote sustainable and healthy economic development, otherwise it will hinder or even destroy economic development. Countless cases in ancient and modern China and abroad have shown that environmental pollution and resource depletion caused by predatory development will inevitably limit the further development of the economy, and eventually lead to the collapse of the economic structure and the comprehensive crisis of society.

At this stage, China’s population is large and the economy is large, the further forward development, the greater the demand for resources and environment, in the absence of more alternative resources, the constraints of resources and environment on economic and social development will become more and more obvious. To solve this problem, we must change the traditional high-input, high- consumption development model and promote the formation of green development methods and lifestyles; to solve the difficult problem between environmental pollution and people’s expectations for a better environment, we must fight the battle of pollution prevention and control, so that China’s ecological environment has a fundamental improvement; to solve the difficult problem between ecological fragility and improving the ability of ecosystems to serve economic and social development, we must regard landscapes, forests, lakes and grasses as a community of life, take into account the overall consideration, and implement overall policies. Take multiple measures at the same time to accelerate the construction of a baseline for ecological function assurance and promote harmonious coexistence between man and nature. All these require us to promote the construction of ecological civilization in an all-round, all-region and whole-process manner, and effectively integrate the concepts, principles and goals of ecological civilization into all links and processes of economic and social development.

3. the inevitable choice to meet the needs of the people for a better life in the new era

One of the important characteristics that distinguishes human beings from animals is that they are a composite existence that combines naturalness and sociality, materiality and spirituality, and has the eternal yearning and unremitting pursuit of a better life. However, in different eras, under different historical conditions, constrained by cultural traditions, social environment, economic conditions and other factors, people’s understanding and pursuit of a better life are different. With the improvement of material living standards, people must pursue a higher level and a higher level of life, which is the inevitable logic of historical progress and the inevitable law of human social development and progress. We must actively respond to the thoughts, expectations and anxieties of the people, concentrate all parties to tackle tough problems, and constantly meet the growing needs of the people for a beautiful ecological environment. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a major political judgment that “socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era”, clearly pointing out that this new era is an era in which the people of all ethnic groups in the country unite and struggle, continuously create a better life, and gradually realize the common prosperity of all the people. The people’s pursuit of a better life in the new era is more extensive, not only putting forward higher requirements for material and cultural life, but also increasing requirements in democracy, rule of law, fairness, justice, security, environment and other aspects.

Especially with the continuous improvement of economic and social development and people’s living standards, people pay more and more attention to ecological issues, and the demand for the living environment with blue sky, beautiful mountains and waters, beautiful ecological environment and ecological security of clean air, excellent water quality and food safety is getting stronger and stronger. In the past, “hoping for food and clothing” and now “hoping for environmental protection”; in the past, “seeking survival” and now “seeking ecology” has become the truest expression of the people’s hearts and public opinion. On the one hand, this change stems from the historical achievements in economic construction made by China’s rapid development of reform and opening up for more than 40 years, which has greatly satisfied people’s material and cultural life needs, the people’s pursuit of a better life has been realized to a higher level, and the status of the ecological environment in the people’s life happiness index has been continuously prominent. On the other hand, it stems from a large number of ecological and environmental problems accumulated in the process of development in China, which have seriously affected the safety of people’s lives and quality of life, and have become a disaster for people’s livelihood and pain for the people. Reversing environmental degradation and improving environmental quality have increasingly become the major interests and concerns of the broad masses of the people. The combined effect of these two aspects has triggered people’s historical reflection on the connotation and content of a good life, and also enriched the era standards of a good life from the ecological dimension.

The Communist Party of China is a Marxist party that serves the people wholeheartedly, and everything it does is aimed at seeking and realizing the fundamental interests of the broadest masses of the people. In the past, the party’s economic development was to achieve a happy life for the masses of the people, and now protecting the ecological environment is also to realize a better life for the masses, and the two are intrinsically unified. The main contradiction in Chinese society in the new era has been transformed into the contradiction between the people’s daily growth needs for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development, one of the important contents is the contradiction between the people’s need for a beautiful ecological environment and the prominent ecological environment problems and insufficient supply of high-quality ecological products. Whether we can solve this major issue of the times and fight the battle against pollution is directly related to the happiness and satisfaction of the people, the quality and level of building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and the party’s ruling performance and ruling safety. It is for this reason that Comrade Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that ecological and environmental issues “are both major economic issues and major social and political issues.”1 He called for putting ecological environmental protection in a more prominent position, protecting the ecological environment like protecting the eyes, and treating the ecological environment like life.

Looking to the future, we must build a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, build a modern socialist power in an all-round way, and realize the free and comprehensive development of everyone, which is inseparable from the most basic condition and the most important content of a good ecological environment. To let the people share the fruits of reform and development and realize the people’s new expectations for a better life, we must take a new green development path of harmonious coexistence between man and nature, not only create more material wealth and spiritual wealth to meet the people’s growing needs for a better life, but also provide more high- quality ecological products to meet the people’s growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment. It is necessary to adhere to the principle of ecological benefit, ecological benefit and ecology for the people, take the solution of outstanding ecological and environmental problems as a priority issue for people’s livelihood, actively respond to the people’s thoughts, expectations, and anxieties in pursuit of a higher quality of life, vigorously promote the construction of ecological civilization, and make a good ecological environment a growth point for people’s happy life, a support point for sustained and healthy economic and social development, and a force point for showing China’s good image, so that the sky of China is bluer, the mountains are greener, the water is clearer, and the environment is more beautiful, and constantly improve the people’s sense of gain, happiness, Security.