China Serious on Environment Protection

Note: The following is a transcript of a recent interview with New Zealand Labor Party President Nigel Haworth on a variety of China-related topics. 

CRI: New Zealand has been the front runner of establishing close cooperation with China on either the Belt and Road Initiative or launching FTA. It is reasonably to say that New Zealand has witnessed and experienced the achievements of a fast growing China. So from personal perspective and as well as the president of Labour Party, during the past five years what achievements of China draw most of your attention?

President Haworth: I think of four things immediately. I think that China’s response to the post 2008 global financial crisis in the world economy was immediate, and sophisticated and effective; and that has helped the global economy. A second feature that strikes me is the way the Chinese economy has been refocused into domestic development and consumption more recent period. That involves the third issue, a commitment to spreading the rewards of the economic development across China. And the forth one, which I think is very important is China’s strong commitment to environmental standards. Why is that impressed me? Well I think they speak to the adaptability and the development that China’s undertaken on the last period.    

A man takes pictures of an exhibition booth at 2015 Qinghai China Investment & Trade Fair for Green Development in Xining, captal of northwest China's Qinghai Province, June 17, 2015. The four-day fair kicked off here Tuesday. [Photo: Xinhua]

CRI: Talking about environment, President Xi Jinping has emphasis the importance of the ecological protection, which is among the five priorities place forward by the Communist Party as China since 2012. So what is your take on the progress that China has made on environmental protection?

President Haworth: I think it’s striking. We all know the size and the scale of the Chinese economy, its share, the numbers of workers, the numbers of industrial plants; the geographical spread of China is so vast. So to think about a national strategy to reduce carbon emission, to think about national strategy for renewable energy, and to try (to) make that work in China first of all is an extraordinary achievement. And one of the things that I have noticed in the last five years is the seriousness of China’s commitment to that environmentally sound practice. And I think it is showing leadership, in economy, which is developing very rapidly ever since 1978. It’s now taking such a strong leadership role in environmentally sound practice. It’s a very positive signal.

CRI: So back to the first question, three out of four your impressions about China are focused on the fast growth of the Chinese economy, the Belt and Road Initiative is another step forward towards Chinese economic development. And during Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to New Zealand, your Labour Party has also pledged a great support to the initiative. So how do you and your party value China’s economic capability and also the Belt and Road Initiative?

President Haworth: Well I think obviously China is one of the biggest, now the biggest, economies in the world; it’s also a very strong trading economy. And it’s looking for increasing sophisticated global markets. So inevitably China is moving to promote those improved global markets, improved economic arrangements. And I think we in New Zealand see the Belt and Road Initiative as a positive contribution by China to improve global economic integration. As I personally see the Belt and Road Initiative as complementary to other arrangements, such as APEC or ASEAN or EU. We in New Zealand have real complementarity or similar interests in that integration. I mean New Zealand and China are very different, very different in size; but we have the same interest that China has in terms of advanced manufacturing, and information technology, more sophisticated primary products, and also environmentally progressive practices. So we see real possibilities and importance in China’s initiative around the Belt and Road Initiative.  

CRI: You talked about the importance about the Belt and Road Initiative, and also the importance of the cooperation between two nations. So in your opinion in which fields, specifically speaking, do you believe that two countries will make breakthrough to further boost bilateral ties?

President Haworth: I think one of the things that New Zealand and China do very well is that we both support strong international trade arrangements. We have collaborated, organizations like APEC very effectively. So the policy level I think we have strong joint interests to develop good trading relationship internationally.  

But as I said in terms of particular sectors, I think in the advanced manufacturing more sophisticated manufacturing, China is moving to that direction that we have niche elements in our economy. We can work with China around. I think in terms of primary produce, and sophisticated smart primary produce, we have real opportunity. And New Zealand and China both share a strong commitment to environmentally positive practices. We can work together on that. 

CRI: Talking about integration, it’s been argued that global collaborating system like the WTO is facing great challenges and the tendency towards anti-globalization and production is among some countries. As an expert in regional integration, how would you assess China and New Zealand’s efforts on international corporation and regional integration?

President Haworth: Of course we as I said China and New Zealand share a strong interest in joint activity to promote strong trade arrangements. And in fact that my party the New Zealand Labour Party has been promoting those arrangements for China back to the 1930s. and we have worked very closely with China all the way through since then. 

We are the Labour Party, particularly proud of the free trade agreement we have signed with China, which is a very good example of a strong trade arrangement between two countries. We all benefit from trade arrangements; but we also know that many people feel excluded from what happened when they signed. There’re people with low pay jobs, low school jobs, who fear economic integration. 

I think both China and New Zealand share a view that trade arrangements must also benefit domestic population in terms of jobs, in terms of income, in terms of a future in the labor market as well as providing good profitability for companies. China and New Zealand both support open and transparent trade arrangements, and which everybody see some advantage.  

CRI: As the president of Labour Party, I believe that you have more theoretical and practical experiences on the importance of ensuring the Party is operating in an effective and discipline fashion, especially with zero tolerance on corruption. Plus I learned that you during the year you spent in Ghana, you even find time to study the complete works of Lenin. You probably have some unique understanding of Chinese governing party. Then what is your assessment on the Communist Party of China ongoing campaign of ruling the party strictly? 

President Haworth: I am impressed about your research; I indeed read the works of Lenin in 1969 in Ghana. I am very impressed. I have worked across the world in many countries, some with the strong rule of law, and others in which there is corruption. It is clear to me that the corruption is very damaging. It destroys confidences in the political system, it leads to criminality, it is hugely damaging to good commercial and trade arrangements. And (what) I really strongly believe is all countries should actively seek to apply the rule of law against corruption, which is something we are doing in New Zealand. And I fully understand why the Chinese government is very active in trying to root out corruption wherever it might be found. I think the Chinese government understands that corruption would damage the potential for growth and for success in the Chinese economy if it is not dealt with.

CRI: The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held on the October 18th, it will set a tone of the development of China for the next five years. So how do you envision China in the next five years? What role will China play in the future both regionally and globally? And how will New Zealand and China relations heading?

President Haworth: I think that China is going to become a much more mature economy as it rapidly developed into a sophisticated economy, which will have on the one hand strong domestic economy with high standards of income and high quality jobs and a very good prospect for the Chinese population. But it is also going to be a major, if not the dominant figure in global trade. So we are going to see a greater maturity around the domestic and international role in the Chinese economy.

I think that means China will inevitably play a more sophisticated and bigger role in international arrangements, not just in terms of trade but also geopolitics. China will be up at the top table in terms of major discussions about global economic stability and also global political stability. 

And one of the things that I watch with interest is the sophistication of China’s international position as it develops its more domestic economy, economic orientation. 

And I also expect China to play a very strong regional role as a very big player in the Asia Pacific region. Now in that context, New Zealand will always want to work with other countries around the strong trading relationships regionally and internationally. We will want to work with other countries strongly around political stability. It’s the sort of the stability that allows good economic arrangements to take place. And I think we are going to look forward to working with China to guarantee both economic and political stability in the coming period.