I agree that sustainable economic development and social stability in China will be a mirage even when institutional reforms in leadership succession, anti-corruption, environmental protection and the legal system have been reformed. All these are good practises that cement the gains of economic growth, but they cannot independently spark economic growth. It is clear that the corruption discredits the legitimacy of the regime, and in turn scenes of demonstrations could be precipitated. It goes without saying that civilian unrest discredits investments and political growth, as that witnessed in the 1990s by students in china (Yang, 220).
This is to say that as long as there are robust anti-corruption campaigns without tangible steps to tackle the same, and then the whole exercise is futile. As long as the population is growing faster than the natural ecological systems, then no reasonable, sustainable economic growth can take place. It is worth to mention that China has a very large human population, which in turn exerts pressure on the natural resources such as a water catchment areas, forests, a few natural mineral resources amongst others.Because the human activities always leave a strain on the natural resources which are supposed to meet the needs of the human population, this forces the government to factor in this cost.
According to the article by Economy (Economy 6), addresses the notion that the government “repairs” the damage done by the human population on the environment instead of directing that the amount of money to other ventures that would increase the gross domestic product and by extension the grow the economy of China. The repair of the environment takes the following form; remediation efforts of the already polluted natural resources such as lake and river clean-ups. This mean that there would be factory shutdowns in the affected zones and subsequently, people will not go to work for that period. It is impossible for the economy to make strides towards growth if a good number of the working population are forced to take days off because due to these circumstances.
Social stability is another dimension necessary if the question of sustainable growth and development are gauged and measured. This instability has come in the form of unstable rural and urban dynamics. Over the past three decades, precisely in the 1980s. The Chinese government engaged in a highly devolved economic revival programs (Thornton 2008). It is worth to record that within a very short duration of time, the rural areas had doubled their harvest and farm produce thus. This was a good sign of welfare growth, because people could feed themselves well. After some time, the supply of the produce that was mainly for subsistence consumption exceeded the demand of the same.
This prompted a large number of the population and masses in the rural areas to move to the urban regions and offered cheap and readily available labor . What ensued was that the social amenities and social resources in the cities were stretched, according to Economy (Economy 61). In brief, there was a difference between the rural and urban economies. This implies that hospitals and schools as social amenities were stretched beyond anticipation. Over the years, the federal government has apportioned a large amount of resources towards addressing this imbalance thus costing the economy, the chance of growth. The amount that could be used for economic incentives is used to control the social imbalance caused by excessive rural to urban migration (Thornton 2008).
China has in the past suffered catastrophes occasioned by public health issues. Whenever a deadly virus or infection erupts, a good number of the population must suffer fatal injuries before the necessary agencies can control the situation. This could be due to poor infrastructural and technical preparedness from the federal state to deal with the public health problem. Public health in this case refers to the general welfare of the population in terms of proper vaccination, early detection of the infections so that action could be taking early enough. Intuitively, according to an article titled Economy Economic Explosion (page 60), the state of public health is a deterrent to economic growth because the government has spent a lot of resources in vaccination programs, treating contagious diseases and ensuring that public health status is standard and proper.
Works Cited
Economy, Elizabeth. The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future.
Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 2010. Print. 59-94.
Thornton John L. Long Time Coming. The Prospects for Democracy in China.
Yang, Dali L. Remaking the Chinese Leviathan: Market Transition and the Politics of
Governance in China. Stanford, Calif: Stanford Univ. Press, 2004. Print. 216-258.
