Mr. Rolando L. Metin, Undersecretary,

Department of Environment and Natural Resources,

Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman, Chancellor of U.P. Diliman,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentleman,

I am very pleased to share with you today my views on China’s sustainable development. It is the second time for me to visit UP in a month. I was here on 2 June to attend the opening ceremony of the Sino-Philippine Friendship Room. Friendship is nurtured and strengthened by mutual understanding. The Philippine Association for Chinese Studies (PACS), the Association for Philippine-China Understanding (APCU), and the University of the Philippines are instrumental in enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between our two nations. Now I’d like to begin by expressing my cordial thanks to all those who have over the years worked hard to promote our friendly relations.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is mote appropriate for us now to discuss the issue of sustainable development, a topic of vital importance. As we all know, the world is overburdened with 6.3 billion people, of which about 1 billion are living on less than one dollar a day. The environment and ecosystem continue to deteriorate. Therefore, sustainable development has become an issue of global concern. By comparing sustainable development between China and the Philippines, we can learn experiences and draw lessons from each other. Since I have been here in this country for just three months, obviously I am not a suitable person to comment on sustainable development policy of this country.  Therefore, I shall leave that job to you. Now, I’d like to brief you on China’s sustainable development policies and the achievements we have made.

As a developing country with a population of 1.3 billion, China faces tremendous challenges in its national development. China attaches great importance to sustainable development, on which our national development strategies are based. With clear mandate and concerted efforts, we have made continuous progress in different areas in the past two decades.

It is our belief that economic development is the cornerstone of sustainable development. China’s economic development has been a successful story since the implementation of reform and opening-up policy. For the past 25 years, we enjoyed fast economic development, with an average GDP growth rate of 9.36%. Last year, China’s per capita GDP exceeded US$ 1,000 for the first time in history, quadrupling that of 1980. As a result of the 25-year development, more than 250 million people were lifted out of poverty, and the living standard of all the Chinese people has been greatly improved.

It is certainly a tremendous achievement, considering the fact that China’s natural resources are rather limited. For example, China’s per capita water resources is less than 2,200 cubic meters, which is only a quarter of the world average. The per capita arable land of China is less than a half of the world average.  The Chinese are using less than 10% of the world arable land to feed 22% of the world population successfully.

Population control is also a part of our sustainable development strategy. In 1981, China’s population reached 1 billion, doubling that of 1950. Having realized the urgent need to control the fast population growth, Chinese government began to implement a population control policy based on one child per family. In 2003, the natural growth rate of China’s population was reduced to 0.6%, which is less than one third of that of the Philippines. Due to the successful implementation of this policy, we have 100 million less babies born in the past 20 years.

Sustainable development requires a balance between economic development and environmental protection. It is our goal to seek fast economic development so as to improve people’s living standard. However, fast economic development should not be obtained at the expense of environmental destruction. The fast growing economy of China in the past has produced tremendous pressure on the environment. To solve the problem, the Chinese Government has taken painstaking efforts to protect the environment. More importantly, we are now adjusting our economic development to a more environmental-friendly model.

One important aspect of the model is the use of clean and renewable energy. The construction of Three Gorges Project is a great endeavor that China is taking to harness waterpower and prevent floods. The project will eventually have a total annual capacity of generating 84.7 billion kilowatt-hour of electricity, which equals to about a half of the electricity produced in the Philippines each year. To produce the same volume of electricity in thermal power plants would consume 50 million tons of coal, and a large amount of dusts and wastes would be released，thus causing serious pollution problems.

Sustainable development is a comprehensive task involving many areas. China has also made great efforts to use natural resources properly, maintaining biodiversity, and restoring ecosystems. In recent years, we restored a large area of forest, grasslands and lakes from arable lands. From 1999 to 2003, China has turned 15 million hectares of farmland into forest. China has also the largest man-planted forest in the world. By the end of 2003, we have planted trees on 47-million-hectare of land, accounting for 26% percent of the world total.

Early this year, the Chinese Government put forward a human-centered, coordinated policy of sustainable development. China will stick to economic development as our central task, while trying to maintain the proper balance between rural and urban areas, between different regions and between economy and society, so that all Chinese people can enjoy a wealthy life with a sound environment and ecosystem. This policy is developed on the basis of successful experience of China as well as the valuable experiences drawn from other countries over the 25years. It represents the new approach of the Chinese government and people towards national development. The policy will be the guidance for China’s future development.

To meet the tremendous challenges of sustainable development confronting us today, all countries in the world should work together and help one another. China has always supported the international efforts of seeking sustainable development. In accordance with Agenda 21 adopted by world leaders at Rio Earth Summit in 1992, the Chinese government drafted China’s Agenda 21 in 1994, which served as a guiding document for our national development. China has also initiated many international projects to promote the use of clean energy and environmental protection. We will broaden our cooperation with other countries in order to pursue the common goal of sustainable development.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sustainable development means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the welfare of our future generations. Thousands of years ago, Chinese philosophers portrayed an ideal life for our people, a life with harmony between man and nature, a life that was sustainable and prosperous. I wish that way of life can be realized and enjoyed on forever.

Thank you and Mabuhay!