China
Climate crisis + Corruption
Dear reader,
In today's Profile, Merics researcher Nis Gruenberg talks about a vision from 2004 of what the future might look like if China was an economic power – an abstract idea at the time. 18 years later, that vision is now taking shape. Politically, however, increasingly sharp lines of conflict are emerging in the wake of China's growing significance. These have the potential to tear open wounds that could destroy global peace.
And yet, governments are doomed to work closely together in this constellation. Namely, when it comes to the fight against global warming. If the climate tips over the critical threshold, there will only be losers anyway. However, countries wait and see what price the others are willing to pay in the form of declining economic growth.
In China, this tactic has a special dimension because the government has to reconcile growth with environmental and climate protection more urgently than in other countries, as Nico Beckert reports. If growth is curbed too much, social divisions threaten the rule of the CP. If too much carbon continues to be blown into the air, the climate will heat up even more. Extreme weather such as heat waves, floods and droughts would deprive China of its livelihoods. Harvests would be endangered and protests could be expected because the government failed to protect the people from disaster.
