For years China has been the envy of the world, hailed as the great ‘economic miracle’ thanks to its sustained double-digit growth.
Of late, however, the Middle Kingdom has also become the poster boy for environmental degradation, a target of ridicule for Beijing’s now notorious “airpocalyse.”
Even U.S. President Barack Obama could not resist dissing Beijing’s bad air.
“I would just point to one simple example, and that is you would not want your kids growing up in Beijing right now, because they could not breathe,” President Obama said while defending his controversial environmental regulation last week.
“And the fact of the matter is that used to be true in Los Angeles — as recently as 1970. And the reason it changed was because of the Clean Air Act,” he added.
READ: Unmasking a new trend: Stylish smog masks
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Last month, when Beijing hosted the annual APEC summit meeting, Chinese officials pulled out all the stops to ensure the sky was clear — forcing factories to close, limiting the number of cars on the road and declaring a six-day holiday to encourage citizens to leave Beijing.
It largely worked. Most of the days turned out to be smog free, prompting people to coin the phrase “APEC blue.”
Of course, these are short-term fixes and China needs to make sure long-term measures come to fruition.
China’s foreign ministry said in response to a question on President Obama’s swipe it hoped that “APEC blue” could last permanently.
Let’s hope they’re successful because at stake is the health and well-being of millions of Chinese, not to mention China’s national pride.
