Developing nations seeking China's help in curbing air pollution

As air quality worsens in many other developing nations, there has been an increasingly high demand for China's experiences in air pollution control.

In January, for example, authorities in Pakistan's Punjab province invited Chu Yangxi, an associate research professor with the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, and two other Chinese experts to Lahore, capital of the province, in hopes that they can share their knowledge about how China succeeded in bringing back blue skies to Beijing over the past 10 years.

Chu had previously participated in some transnational exchange programs on air quality management. But his trip to Pakistan, from Jan 14 to 17, was very different.

"It was my first time visiting a country involved in the Belt and Road Initiative for an activity in which I'm in a position to provide scientific and technological support," he said.

In another development, CRAES was visited by a group of 85 military officers from across the globe who were in China for a workshop on Jan 19. One of the topics that interested them the most was the air quality management in the country, said Zhang Mengheng, director of CRAES' International Cooperation Center.

"Some officers said they heard a lot about the severe air pollution in Beijing before they came to the capital city," she recalled. "They said they were surprised to see blue skies instead of air pollution and were curious about how China managed to do it."

Muhammad Zamir Assadi, a Pakistani political analyst and editor on the China desk at Internews Pakistan based in Islamabad, said recently Pakistan and China have stepped up efforts to collaborate on air pollution control, as China has achieved a great success in this field by using science-based methods to deal with the problem and promoting green development.

He listed a number of steps China has taken that have impressed him, including efforts to control output in smokestack industries such as iron and steel and advance new energy development.

Pakistan is looking forward to gaining support from China in its efforts to remove contaminants from the atmosphere to achieve good air purity, and reduce the impact of air pollutants so that its citizens may breathe clean, fresh air, Assadi stated.

He also noted that there is great potential for China to work with other developing nations to tackle climate change, the risk from which has loomed larger primarily due to fossil fuel consumption that is also to blame for air pollution.

"China, being a developing country, has had good success in tackling climate issues, so its experiences may also be shared with developing countries like Pakistan that are facing serious climate issues," he said, adding China's climate change solutions are more practical and recognized by the international community.

"It has become obvious that China's green development path is the road of sustainable development, with the harmonious co-existence and benign interaction between humans and nature that has also become an example for the international community to follow, as per the local needs of various countries," he said.

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Yan Zhongqian contributed to this story.