China says: Pollution complaints unfair

China: Pollution complaints unfair -- Shanghai Daily | -- English Window to China News
2007-6-22

CHINA said yesterday that it is unfair for rich countries to buy its cheap goods and then condemn its greenhouse gas pollution, a day after one study suggested the nation was already the world's biggest carbon dioxide emitter.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said other countries need to consider China's role as a low-cost export powerhouse that in effect helps rich Western consumers avoid emissions at home.

"China is now the factory of the world," Qin told a regular news briefing in Beijing. "The developed countries have moved a lot of manufacturing to China. What many Western consumers wear, live in, even eat is made in China."

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said on Tuesday that China's carbon dioxide emissions - the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming - surpassed those of the United States by 7.5 percent in 2006.

But Qin pointed out that per-capita emission of greenhouse gases in the Netherlands was 11.4 tons per year, while the figure for China was just 3.66 tons.