Asian business and government leaders have branded Western nations hypocrites, accusing them of exporting polluting industries to the east only to blame poorer nations for climate change.
“This is green imperialism,” said Malaysia’s deputy finance minister Nor Mohamed, speaking at a World Economic Forum conference in Singapore. “Companies that are polluting in China are owned by American, European, Japanese and others. They are benefiting from the cheap labour, from the resources and at the same time accusing China of pollution.”
The US and Australia were singled out for not signing up to the Kyoto Protocol, with one Chinese businessman going so far as to accuse Western nations of being “bandits” long before they became “right-minded people”.
But Western delegates responded by highlighting the findings of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, which reported last week that China has overtaken the US as the world’s leading emitter of CO2.
Keen to avoid a potential stand-off between East and West, Japan’s environment minister Masatoshi Wakabayashi called for cooperation.
“Without the participation of the United States, China and India – the main emitters – we will not stop global warming,” said Mr Wakabayashi.
Hello! We have read similar articles today. Consider commenting on our cross-posted article today entitled “West told to stop blaming China for pollution.”
The idea of turning the pollution argument around and blaming the west seems to us as child-like, at best.
Made in China Inc. blog
http://madeinchinainc.blogspot.com
Comment by blogger — June 25, 2007 @ 8:24 pm
I think the Asian countries have done the right thing by calling the Westeners hypocrites because this is 100% true. The Western countries are developed which means they have used alot of natural resources to reach where they are and become established.
Comment by Zenab — June 26, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
That is no reason to keep polluting at the rate Asia does by blaming the Western world…..that’s what children do …blame someone else for what they did! If the whole world just followed each other then we’d never get anywhere. Someone has to show by example. The technology and education is now available to not have to repeat this industrialisation, as we can now recycle, re-use/ create products and energy without destroying natural resources so why not try to show by example and help Asia lead this world into a new era and overcome this CO2 problem?
Comment by Ali — June 28, 2007 @ 8:33 am