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Economic growth can not replace happiness

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) recently spoke with economics analyst Hsieh Chin-ho (謝金河) on his TV program Mr Hsieh Looks at the World.

I'm sick of listening to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) sugar-coated platform. None of his mantras can match Frank Hsieh's cross-strait and economic policies. In particular, Hsieh proposes following an "economics of happiness" principle, in which economic policies are centered around improving social welfare and economic growth must not sacrifice happiness and quality of living.

During the program, Hsieh Chin-ho mentioned that many polluting factories have left Taiwan for China. Beijing is obsessed with its economic growth, while ignoring warnings from experts who say it must pay attention to environmental issues.

Recently, blue-green algae has covered lakes in the Yangtze and Pearl river deltas, causing crises as drinking water was contaminated. The algae are the result of a policy of blindly pursuing economic growth. The residents of Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province flee the city on the weekends to find well water to drink. Institutions of higher learning have repeatedly suspended classes because of the lack of drinking water. The damage is so extensive that Li Yuanchao (李源潮), the top provincial party leader, announced that he didn't care if GDP fell by 15 percent, saying he would implement the strictest of measures to cure the lake of pollution.

A demonstration in Xiamen in Fujian Province at the beginning of last month against Taiwanese fugitive tycoon Chen Yu-hao's (陳由豪) plans for a chemical plant forced officials to halt the project.

This horrendous pollution has been in part brought to China by Taiwanese businesses. Other foreign investors and Chinese companies are also destroying China's environment. But the Chinese government must bear the ultimate responsibility. It did not take people's lives into consideration while drooling over investment money. Officials are sacrificing the health of their countrymen.

Admittedly, the incentives to attract Taiwanese businesses to China are getting worse. For example, after raising the commercial income tax, China lowered the export tax refunds on more than 2,800 products. This was a severe blow to export-based industries such as glass, ceramics, tires, bicycles, textiles and shoes, which Taiwanese businesses have often invested in. However, only a small portion of the changes China has made are designed to curb the abuse of the environment. Beijing hasn't realized the enormity of China's environmental problems.

But the changes have certainly been a rude awakening for KMT vice presidential candidate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) and his "greater China economic circle."

Taiwanese are starting to realize that an obsession with economic growth is harmful, but Ma and Siew have taken up the Chinese Communist Party's slogan -- growth at all costs -- as their own.

I hope that Frank Hsieh's "economics of happiness" can create a second economic miracle for Taiwan. This time around, we will work for a nation in which people live in harmony with the environment that is a condition for their own happiness and wellbeing.

Frank Hsieh's work to clean up the polluted Love River when he was mayor of Kaohsiung was only the beginning. Unfortunately, Taipei's rivers have not received the same treatment yet, but if Hsieh is elected president, we should see serious changes.

Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taiwan.

Translated by Marc Langer
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