Khoday, Kishan --- "Globalization and the Evolution of Environmental Governance in China’s Socialist Market Economy" [2011] ELECD 321; in Paddock, Lee; Qun, Du; Kotzé, J. Louis; Markell, L. David; Markowitz, J. Kenneth; Zaelke, Durwood (eds), "Compliance and Enforcement in Environmental Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Compliance and Enforcement in Environmental Law

Editor(s): Paddock, Lee; Qun, Du; Kotzé, J. Louis; Markell, L. David; Markowitz, J. Kenneth; Zaelke, Durwood

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781848448315

Section: Chapter 17

Section Title: Globalization and the Evolution of Environmental Governance in China’s Socialist Market Economy

Author(s): Khoday, Kishan

Number of pages: 16

Extract:

17. Globalization and the Evolution of
Environmental Governance in China's
Socialist Market Economy
Kisban Khoday*

1. GLOBALIZATION AND CHINA AS A DRIVER OF
ECOLOGICAL CHANGE

It was 1992 when the Government of China formally announced its official policy
to establish a "socialist market economy with Chinese characteristics". This served
to be a historic event not just for China, but also for the world. This dramatic shift
unleashed a new era of development in China, opening up an expanded role for the
private sector to drive China's growth and setting the stage for China's re-
emergence at the center of the world economy.l More than 15 years on, China is
now the world's fourth-largest economy with annual per capita GDP (PPP) nearing
US$7,000 and a foreign currency reserve upwards of US$2 trillion, the world's
largest. By 2020, China could even surpass the US as the world's largest economy,
with China's growth "opening the way for a multi-polar era in world politics".2
China's growth rate already accounts for almost 20 percent of world GDP
growth, second only to the US contribution, and also stands as the world's
leading destination for foreign direct investment (FDI)? FDI is now central to
China's position in the world economy, with foreign-invested enterprises making
up about half of all exports from China. 4 The ratio of exports to GDP climbed
steadily from 16 percent in 1990 to over 26 ...