Energy. Crisis. Two words so inextricably tied to the forum of discussion concerning modern man that we may forget that the former is supposed to deliver us from the latter. However, more often than not in these dark decades we live in, we find that one leads to the other.
The crisis playing across my tableau at the moment (not that one can easily forget the mental scar from the BP spill) is the near-constant confrontation between a particular Beijing-based steel company and their workforce in southern Peru.
The advent of Chinese investment abroad is relatively new, but unfortunately—in this instance—it seems to be following the mold of older colonial superpowers from the West. You can read more about the conflict here.
This showdown is not indicative of the new century that the Chinese have promised to build. Their designs, according to rhetoric, are based upon the model for a ‘harmonious society.’ What needs to happen though, as the article from The Times so aptly points out, is for the people at the top to take inventory of their goals and their promises to these locals at the onset of the mining operation. The visionary developers from Beijing came in promising brotherhood and equality. What they’ve delivered so far has been injustice.
The middle kingdom has been very active in South America. They’ve forged major energy and trade cooperatives throughout the region. Meanwhile, on the domestic front, the government here has decided to shutter inefficient and outdated facilities. These factories slated for closing are mostly steel and coal plants. Infrastructure and energy. Chinese workers will be losing jobs at home. As compensation, they now must peg their hopes on an urban expansion that marginalizes so many while touting luxury goods and chic lifestyle. Apparently, this policy of updating the heavy industrial sector of China is better for the overall picture. The results may very well turn out to be cleaner air, more modern and humane facilities for producing energy, etc. But in the meantime, more and more operations like the one in southern Peru will continue to pop up.
I have just one question: where was the high-grade steel when Sichuan was flattened in May 2008? Where is the improved infrastructure for the residents of Gansu Province today?
Rory Keane is an American-born teacher and writer who has logged nearly two years in China, and is working on another year-long stint in the Middle Kingdom. He writes about travel, sociopolitical issues, health, entertainment, and culture, among other topics.
