"Human Rights Pollution" Should Be Considered When Evaluating the "Green GDP"

More than thirty Falun Gong practitioners were recently illegally arrested in Dalian City, Liaoning Province. This round of arrests was a coordinated, city-wide effort and had been plotted for many days. The main reason for the arrests is the upcoming World Economic Forum (Davos Forum) to be held in Dalian on September 6-8 this year.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is so powerfully influential that it can bring other nations' government VIPs to China. But why is it so afraid of kind, ordinary Chinese citizens? Whenever an international meeting is to be held in China, the CCP will arrest Falun Gong practitioners on a large scale, so as to prevent those who believe in "Truth-Compassion-Tolerance" from righteously appealing to the leaders of other countries about the injustice they have received. The seemingly powerful CCP is in fact so weak and panic-stricken as to resort to such measures.

After the CCP had for a while boasted about its present "Era of Peace and Prosperity" and "Rise of a Nation," supporting such claims with inflated statistical GDP numbers (gross domestic product - the total value of the production of goods and services in a nation measured over a year), the Chinese people finally realized that the CCP's temporary and superficial economic boom is a nightmare, resulting from the CCP's eagerness for instant successes and quick profits while sacrificing the nation's natural resources and the well-being of future generations. The CCP's latest undertakings are actually a nightmare for China's future.

The World Bank has listed twenty of the most polluted cities around the world. Sixteen of them are in China. The World Bank pointed out in its report that pollution in China is to blame for the abnormal deaths of at least 700,000 people. In 2005, more than 51,000 conflicts over environmental issues occurred in China, and over 400,000 people filed complaints and appealed. Furthermore, these numbers are increasing at a rate of 30% yearly.

Pollution is no longer just a word; it is a reality of the Chinese people's daily lives. The "Green GDP" has thus become a hot propaganda topic in China over the past several years. Based on the CCP's officially published data, China's economic losses resulting from environmental pollution was 511.8 billion Yuan in 2004, which accounts for 3.050f the GDP. Furthermore, this number does not take into consideration the polluted soil and ground water. The publication of the "2005 Green GDP Report" that people have been expecting since early 2007, has been postponed indefinitely due to obstacles encountered from various sources.

The CCP's so-called economic development, which it has attempted to use to showcase the legitimacy of its control over the country, has resulted in tremendous pollution and environmental destruction in China. The negative impact on China's future is tremendous. This however is just one aspect of the issue. Citing "economic development" as justification with "maintaining stability is of top priority" as the banner, the CCP has launched an extremely barbaric persecution of Falun Gong. How much money and natural resources has it expended on this persecution? The actual number, if totalled, would certainly shock people. In as early as 2002, a senior official from Liaoning Province's Judicial Department said during a large meeting at the Masanjia Forced Labour Camp, "The money we've spent on dealing with Falun Gong has exceeded the cost of a war."

According to outside estimates, the CCP has squandered a quarter of China's financial resources on the persecution of Falun Gong. More seriously, the CCP's attempt to destroy human nature and righteous belief has plunged China into dangerous crises, including comprehensive moral collapse, hollow beliefs, the unchecked pursuit of money and material interests, promiscuity, abandoning of ethics, and other once-treasured signs of human conduct. The impact these crises have on Chinese society is perhaps even more frightening, long lasting and destructive than environmental pollution.

The Chinese Communist regime's hoodlum nature clearly demonstrates that it simply does not value life. While the CCP in its propaganda keeps stressing the "issues concerning people's living conditions," "taking people as the priority," and the concept of a "harmonious society," it constantly reaches its demonic hands toward those Falun Gong practitioners who dare to expose the persecution, who tell people the facts about Falun Gong and who remain steadfast in their beliefs. Since June of this year, the Dalian City CCP Committee, and the Political and Judicial Committee used the excuse of "ensuring that the Davos Forum goes smoothly" to monitor and arrest Falun Gong practitioners, so as to maintain their façade of prosperity and harmony. Among the two Chinese characters "He Xie" (meaning "peace" and "harmony," respectively), the structure of the character "He" contains the meaning of "having food in mouth," while "Xie" indicates "everyone can speak" (a special feature of Chinese written characters is that they can convey specific meanings). How could a society that prevents people from speaking out be considered "He Xie" (peaceful and harmonious)?

The CCP will inevitably use the Davos Forum to demonstrate its false economic achievement and social harmony. Behind that, however, are the losses of Falun Gong practitioners' freedom and lives.

Isn't it a correct assumption that economic development is for the purpose of improving the quality of life? Without actually respecting life, what is the use of talking about improving the quality of life? So, to assess the "Green GDP," besides considering environmental pollution, people also need to include "human rights pollution." Only in this way can the genuine picture of China under the Communist regime's rule be truly reflected.