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China’s
Soaring Economy, the Political Implications &
Environmental Consequences are the subjects of Pomona
College Conference
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The extraordinary rise of China’s economy has eclipsed other
Asian economic “miracles” in both its speed and extent. Its
GNP approaches $1.3 trillion with a current average growth
rate of 9.3 percent. But this unprecedented growth has also
brought formidable environmental and political challenges.
On March 3-4, Chinese and American economists,
environmentalists and business representatives will gather
at Pomona College to discuss the meteoric rise of China’s
economy, as well as its political implications and severe
environmental consequences, in a two-day conference, “China
21: Productivity, Pollution and Politics,” hosted by the
Pacific Basin Institute (PBI) at Pomona College.
According to Frank Gibney, president of PBI, “The
unprecedented acceleration of China’s economy has made it
the most astonishing of Asian economic miracles. Rapid
environmental deterioration, however, continues to be a
disconcerting side effect of its growth… China presents a
large environmental problem not just for itself, but for the
world. Already neighboring countries, like Japan and Korea,
are increasingly affected by the waves of pollution pouring
in from China’s overstressed factories working at breakneck
speed.”
The China 21 conference will begin on Thursday, March 3, at
2 p.m. with opening remarks by David Oxtoby, president of
Pomona College and professor of chemistry, followed by
presentations on “Productivity – the New Economic
Superpower.” Edward K.Y. Chen, president of Lingnan
University, Hong Kong, will lead a discussion on the
question “Twenty-five Years of Hyper-growth in China:
Economics or Politics Taking Command?” Robert Kapp,
president of Robert A. Kapp & Associates, and former
president, U.S.-China Business Council, will lecture on
“China’s Economic Growth: Implications for the United
States.” This session will be held in the Pomona College
Smith Campus Center, Rose Hills Theater, 170 E. 6th St.,
Claremont.
On Friday, March 4, the conference opens with an examination
of “Pollution – Danger to the Environment,” at 9 a.m., in
Pomona’s Hahn Building, Room 101, (420 N. Harvard Ave.,
Claremont). Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia Studies and
Senior Fellow for China Council on Foreign Relations and
author of The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge
to China’s Future (2004), will give an overview of “China’s
Pollution Perils.” Zhang Hongjun, senior counsel, Holland &
Knights LLP, and former director of the Legislative Office
of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources
Conservation Committee, National People’s Congress of China,
will examine the question “Can Laws Save China’s
Environment?”
During the 12:30 p.m. luncheon, Gibney, PBI’s president and
a former journalist, will give an overview of “The Challenge
of China,” based on his more than 50 years experience in
Asia as someone who has spent most of his life attempting to
bridge the gap between Americans and the countries and
cultures of East Asia. A professor of politics at Pomona
College, he is the author of several books, including Five
Gentlemen of Japan (1953), Japan, the Fragile Superpower
(1975), Korea’s Quiet Revolution (1992) and The Battle for
Okinawa (1995). His major work, The Pacific Century (1992)
was the capstone of the award-winning PBS television series
of that name, where he served as chief editor.
In the afternoon session on “Politics – Projects, Problems &
Planning,” which begins at 1:30 p.m., Dai Qing, independent
investigative reporter and co-author of The River Dragon Has
Come!: The Three Gorges Dam and the Fate of China’s Yangtze
River and Its People (1997), will give a talk on the
“Collision Between Science and Politics: The Tragic Case of
Huang Wanli.” Russell Leiman, director, Asia Pacific Region,
The Nature Conservancy, follows with a discussion on “China
and the Environment: The Case for Optimism.”
Session chairs and commentators will include Pomona College
professors Tahir Andrabi (economics), David Elliott
(politics), Richard Hazlett (environmental analysis and
geology); Laura Hoopes (biology), Stephen Marks (economics),
and Richard Worthington (politics); John Jurewitz, director
of environmental policy at Southern California Edison and a
Pomona economics lecturer; and Arthur Rosenbaum, an
associate professor of history at Claremont McKenna.
“The peculiar economic and political structure of China –
not to mention its huge population – gives it very special
status, notes Gibney. “The meteoric rise of Deng Xiaoping’s
China has surpassed and confounded all of the experts and
their predictions. But in dealing with the unique and
serious environmental problems created by this growth,
China’s leadership continues to be handicapped by massive
corruption and an outmoded one-party government that is
increasingly less able to control the growing affluence and
independence of its citizens. All of this adds up to a
fascinating picture of one of the world’s oldest nations now
taking its rightful place as a world power.”
The conference is made possible with the support of a grant
from David Horowitz ’73 and the Chan Asian Visiting Scholars
Program. Organized by the Pacific Basin Institute;
co-sponsored with Pomona’s Environmental Analysis Program
and the Department of Economics. For a conference agenda,
call: (909) 607-8065.
Pomona College, one of the nation’s premier liberal arts
institutions, offers a comprehensive program in the arts,
humanities, social sciences and natural sciences. Home to
the oldest Asian Studies program among American liberal arts
colleges, its hallmarks include small classes, close
relationships between students and faculty, and a range of
opportunities for student research. For more information on
Pomona College, visit the Web at www.pomona.edu.
CONTACT:
Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College
Phone: (909) 607-8065
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