China Destroying Other Nations' Forests To Protect Its Own - Asia Times

[hatrack]

BANGKOK - Even as it wins praise for increasing its forest cover at home, China is finding it difficult to erase the scars it is leaving in forests abroad. The jungles of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Myanmar are but three of the many in this region where the footprint of Asia's giant is growing steadily bigger, worrying environmentalists.

Few green groups expect this paradox to be resolved soon, more so after Beijing revealed on Monday the scale at which the Chinese economy had expanded during the first three months of this year. China's gross domestic product (GDP) saw 10.2% growth in the first quarter, President Hu Jintao said during a televised speech.

"Logging in the forests of Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and will continue because of China's demand," a forestry expert at the global environmental watchdog Greenpeace said, interviewed by telephone from Indonesia. "China's industrial capacity is growing fast, forcing it to look for more timber supplies." Forest plantations will "not be enough to meet China's increasing needs", said the Greenpeace campaigner, Hapsoro, who like many Indonesians has only one name. "The forests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are threatened."

Indonesia, in fact, is ranked among the worst affected in the world because of the scale of illegal logging to meet the demand for timber in Japan, the United States and the European Union, in addition to China, Greenpeace revealed last week. "Indonesia's forests are being destroyed faster than any on Earth. A forest area the size of six football fields disappears every minute," it said. "In total, Indonesia has already lost more than 72% of its large intact ancient forest areas and 40% of its forests have been completely destroyed."

Yet China is winning laurels for being among the leaders in the Asia-Pacific region helping to expand the forested areas in the world.

EDIT

http://atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/HD20Cb06.html

[phantom power]

1. It's not just forests. They import lots of resources, even though...

they have their own. Clever long-term strategy. Some day, other countries will be out of resources. China will have both a huge manufacturing infrastructure, and their own resources to draw on.