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December 2, 2008 7:17:50 PM CST

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China Shifting Into Green Gear

Posted Aug 31, 08 5:18 PM CDT in Business,  Opinion,  World 

(Newser) – Beijing wants to create a greener and more modern economy without losing its grip on society—but that leaves officials in a bind, Thomas L. Friedman writes in the New York Times. A green, knowledge-based economy requires personal freedoms that China may be unwilling to provide. But it must act, writes Friedman, for the oil that fueled China's boom is now pricey and its labor force is no longer Asia's cheapest.

"The problem for the ruling Communist Party is this," Friedman writes. “China can’t have a greener society without empowering citizens to become watchdogs and allowing them to sue local businesses and governments that pollute, and it can’t have a more knowledge-intensive innovation society without a freer flow of information and experimentation."

Source New York Times

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Chinese workers labor at a construction site for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games with the background covered with smog in Beijing, China, Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007.   (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Cyclists ride past a traditional Chinese gateway during a day murky from fog and pollution in Beijing, China, Friday, Oct. 26, 2007.   (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
A Chinese with his cart baring the words "Improve environment, Enjoy your life" rides near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Tuesday, March 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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The only way forward, say officials, is for China to gradually develop a cleaner, knowledge-based, service/finance economy. It has to move from 'made in China' to 'designed in China' to 'imagined in China.' - Thomas Friedman, New York Times

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