China can help the world achieve green, long-term development

Editor's note: What experience could China share with other countries in combating climate change? This episode of Reality Check features Jeffrey Sachs sharing his insights into China's political system and China's strength in making long-term plannings. Jeffrey Sachs is the professor of Sustainable Development and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University and the director of Columbia's Center for Sustainable Development and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. The views expressed in the video are his own and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Edited excerpts: 

CGTN: In an UN SDG event earlier this year, you said that comprehensive and long-term planning is crucial in dressing issues like climate change and sustainable development. You said that China had the most effective planning instruments in the world, particularly with its five-year plans. In this area, the climate and sustainable development. What are some of the long-term planning experiences that China can share with the world?

Jeffrey Sachs: China has very strong planning, not only in the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), but also in the energy sector. The China State Grid is exceptionally good at its engineering. And China has very large, renewable energy, especially in western China, and next door in Mongolia, a real potential for a vast expansion of renewable energy. And China also is the world's leader in low-cost electric vehicles in low-cost photovoltaics, in low-cost wind turbines. So China really has, and by the way, in low-cost digital technologies, 5G for example. 

Now, then China has to say to the United States government, look, you have to do the same thing. You just can't go on faking it. You can't go on saying you believe in climate, but the oil production keeps rising, the gas production keeps rising. You keep promoting LNG exports and so forth. You got to get serious. We're getting serious, you got to get serious.

And then the fact of the matter is that for many countries, in China's neighborhood, for example, in Southeast Asia, but even more in Africa, for example, this needs a lot of financing. And this is where a program like the Belt and Road Initiative is perfect, because the Belt and Road Initiative can help poor countries to get 5G, low-cost solar, low-cost hydro, and long-term financing. It's the whole package of the Belt and Road Initiative. But the United States always says nasty things about the Belt and Road Initiative, but it should stop that. It should say we want a partner with Belt and Road. We want to have our own initiatives that joined forces together with China to help Africa or to help ASEAN make this transformation as well.

CGTN: As you said, China has one of the world's largest markets and is a top supplier of the renewable energy technologies. But right now, its export or corporation is facing some hurdles. As you know, in the EU there's an investigation into the electric vehicles. And in the United States, when China wants to invest in some kind of green energy companies there or build factory, there will be kinds of political pressure from the politicians. This doesn't seem to be going away. So, is there a way that we can get around it?

Jeffrey Sachs: I think that there are three things to do. First, China really needs to have good, frank discussions with the European Union and the U.S. say, look, you have to keep your protectionism under control. China is a low-cost producer of photovoltaics. China is a low-cost producer of electric vehicles. So China is going to sell a lot in the U.S. and European market. That's how trade works.

Second, we need to reinvigorate the World Trade Organization, because a lot of these barriers are simply against the international rules. And the United States is ignoring WTO to an important extent, even after having been really the main force for creating WTO. So, I think that this is another area where things need to be strengthened.

Then the third point that I would make is that, it's probably the case, even after you do all the right things, that growth of China's exports to the U.S. and Europe is going to be slow or hindered by politics and by protection. But China has a huge market in Africa, in ASEAN, in South Asia, in Central Asia, throughout Latin America. That's where the Belt and Road Initiative and related initiatives come in. Of course, those countries don't have the purchasing power of the U.S. and Europe, but they do have the potential for rapid growth.

So if China provides loans, good, long-term financing, sells a lot of Chinese technology to those regions, exports a lot, those countries will be able to repay those loans, not in five or ten years, but in 30 years. So, China needs to help those countries achieve the kind of breakthrough of long-term growth that China itself achieved between 1980 and 2020.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com. Follow @thouse_opinions on Twitter to discover the latest commentaries in the CGTN Opinion Section.)