KEN HAMMOND—Decreasing coal usage, investing in the research and development of alternative energy systems, and reforestation all work together. China’s response to environmental challenges demonstrates that the Chinese Communist Party retains some important ability to orient and plan the economy. And that’s the most important thing that we need to understand, because that’s exactly what is going on.
The Chinese socialists that wanted to use market mechanisms to develop the economy understood at the time that there were dangers involved, that there were contradictions involved. Deng Xiaoping famously said that “some people are going to get rich first” and that, “if you open the windows, the flies come in.” They knew that there were going to be problems, they knew that there would be contradictions, that there would be increased inequality, that there would be environmental stresses. But they didn’t abandon ship and turn the country over to the forces of capital.