Asit K. Biswas/Tang Qiuhong/Cecilia Tortajada

Jin Ding/China Daily

Editor's note: This year marks the 70th anniversary of the people's congress system. Five experts share their views with China Daily on how the rule of law and whole-process people's democracy safeguard the overall development of the country.

China's reform and opening-up have unleashed untold economic forces. China's per capita GDP of $156.8 in 1978 was significantly lower than another major developing country, India ($206.07). But reform and opening-up transformed China's development landscape, with the country moving from being a planned economy to a market-oriented economy.

The emergence of new economic forces, thanks to reform and opening-up, contributed to double-digit GDP growth for an unprecedented three decades, which is unparalleled in history. Consequently, by 2023, China's per capita GDP had skyrocketed to $12,614.1 compared with India's $2,484.8. In other words, China's per capita GDP, which was only 76 percent of India's in 1978, became more than five times that of India in the next 45 years.

Up to 2010, China focused on, and succeeded in, achieving fast-paced economic growth. By the early 2000s, it was becoming evident that such economic growth was contributing to serious air, water and soil pollution, which in turn was posing a threat to human and ecosystem health.

In one way, China's economic development and consequent increase in environmental pollution were somewhat similar to what other industrialized countries witnessed during their development period. Till the early 1970s, all industrialized countries more or less believed environmental pollution was a side-effect of development and a price to be paid for continued economic progress.

Only when these countries became economically developed did they realize that environmental pollution is not a sign of progress but a serious impediment to long-term health and well-being of the people and ecosystems. While Western policymakers took some 100 years to realize this fact, China recognized the problem in less than three decades. The National People's Congress and its Standing Committee have enacted and amended over 30 environmental laws, more than 100 administrative regulations, and over 1,000 local regulations.

One of the most serious aspects of air pollution is the concentration of PM2.5.Because of the effective policies, average annual PM2.5 levels in Beijing declined from 101.56 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) in 2013 to about 39 µg/m3 by 2023. While it is still on the high side, the progress in reducing air pollution during the last 12 years has been remarkable. The new policy introduced by the State Council, China's Cabinet, in 2023 to "strictly and reasonably" control total coal use and restrict high-emissions projects is expected to reduce air pollution even further.

The policy stipulates that by 2025, China will reduce the density of PM2.5 by 10 percent compared with the 2020 level, and the number of days with severe pollution to less than 1 percent. In addition, coal consumption in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and surrounding areas will be reduced by 10 percent compared with the 2020 level, with corresponding reduction in the Yangtze River Delta region being 5 percent, with additional reductions in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces.

China is phasing out inefficient and small-scale coal-fired boilers, and promoting the use of electric vehicles (EVs) to reduce carbon emissions and other hazardous air pollutants. In July, for the first time, the sales of EVs and hybrid cars (51.9 percent) in China exceeded those of cars with internal combustion engines (48.1 percent).

The success of China's air pollution control policy can be gauged from the fact that in 2005 the majority of the world's top 10 polluted cities were in China but by 2020 not even one Chinese city figured in the list of top 15 most polluted cities.

China has also made significant progress in monitoring and controlling water pollution over the past four decades. For example, in 1985, the country was monitoring 35 water quality parameters for drinking water. In 2006, it started monitoring 106 water quality parameters. In 2023, further adjustments were made, with the number of non-mandatory parameters that could be monitored being nearly doubled, from 28 to 55. China's current water quality standards specify upper limits for 152 water quality parameters which must not be exceeded.

China proposed specific water-related targets in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), which included constructing new treatment facilities to treat 50.22 million cubic meters per day of sewage. It also included construction of 125,000 kilometers of new sewage pipelines. All these targets were achieved by or before 2020.

China currently uses six-tier water quality systems for quality classification of surface water. Grade III and above are considered to be of fairly good quality. Grades V and VI are the most polluted. The country also plans to recover water flows in 53 dried-up rivers, restore native fish species to a stable population in 127 major water bodies, and create an additional 213 square km of wetlands by 2025.

Besides, to effectively reduce water pollution, the government has appointed government officials as river chiefs. Party leaders at all levels, too, have been designated as river or lake chiefs. Their success or failure to maintain the water quality of the sections they are responsible for will determine their overall performance evaluation which would directly affect their promotion in the Party hierarchy.

The river chief model is a unique Chinese development strategy to maintain surface water quality, and more than 1 million river chiefs have already been appointed. This and associated developments have significantly reduced water pollution in China's rivers and lakes. More steps are likely to be taken during the next six years to reduce the levels of water pollution significantly.

President Xi Jinping has said that green mountains and clear rivers are mountains of silver and gold. With such strong support, it is highly likely that China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) will stipulate highly ambitious but achievable air and water pollution targets by 2030.And hopefully, by 2030, China's air and water will be far cleaner than they have been during the past 50 years.

Asit K. Biswas is a distinguished visiting professor at the University of Glasgow, UK, director of Water Management International, Singapore, and chief executive of Third World Centre for Water Management, Mexico; Tang Qiuhong is a professor at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing; and Cecilia Tortajada is a professor in practice at the School of Social and Environmental Sustainability, University of Glasgow, UK.