China, the Environment, and Questions of Sovereignty

China likes to beat its drum about the need to respect national sovereignty in international relations. Now the fact that they are latching on to a centuries old concept which in my opinion at least has been rendered obsolete by the pace of globalization and the ease with which actions taken in one country can impact others is questionable enough, when it comes to environmental issues, I wonder if this standard will hold up.

This has come up again after reading an article on the damage cause in China, as well as to the rest of the world because of the use of outdated incinerators. It turns out that at least some of the contaminants such as dioxin and mercury are in fact drifting to North America. I realize that the Pacific Ocean is pretty big, and that there is a lack of research on how much material created in China is being deposited on North America, but does the fact that it’s happening at all qualify as an attack on North American sovereignty?

The way I look at it is this: If one of China’s neighbours started to dump mercury into a river jut before it exited their territory, China would surely be upset and make claims about how this action was causing damage to China and that this was a violation of their sovereignty. The same thing is basically happening with these airborne contaminants except that the link is less obvious.

Not that I think outside pressure will actually do much to change the behaviour of players inside China, but I do take some consolation that they are killing themselves much faster than they are killing North Americans. Also, another example of Beijing’s hypocrisy always brings a smile to my face. America might not be perfect, but neither is anyone else.