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Beijing will soon have pollution police:
Officials in Beijing are taking steps toward tackling the city's long-standing smog problem with the creation of an environmental police force, according to state media. Spearheaded by Beijing's acting mayor Mayor Cai Qi, the political crackdown on burning fossil fuels comes amid a flurry of concern over the country's choking air pollution.
[...] The new environmental police would among other things, crack down on open-air barbecues, garbage incineration and biomass burning — areas previously overlooked by authorities, Xinhua reported. "Open-air barbecues, garbage incineration, biomass burning, dust from roads -- these acts of non-compliance with regulations are actually the result of lax supervision and weak law enforcement," Cai said. He did not say when the program would begin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @05:53PM
I wouldn't be surprised if, as Chinese citizens start demanding better conditions and better wages, if all the super-cheap outsourcing companies decide to seek new shores to do their work. And it also won't surprise me if Trump takes credit for the fact that "fewer jobs are moving to china", as their economy begins the long process of maturing into what we think of as "first world".
Oh so you already have the mental gymnastics figured out. That's some dedication.
However, there is a glaring problem with your hypothesis: China isn't the only backwards country offering tons of cheap labor. Taiwan has been doing it for decades and there are many other third world countries left to exploit. Even if China was to undergo the changes you think it will go (the people getting what they want in a one party state is totally going to happen!), the jobs will simply be going to Africa instead.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:09PM
You seem to be angry at ikan.
Yet, everything you wrote agrees with his analysis.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Tuesday January 10 2017, @06:20PM
Is it mental gymnastics to lay out an expectation for how things will play out given that we've already had years of moving towards this point?
Honestly, it could be. Far be from me to suggest I'm above bias.
It's far better to layout predictions first and then learn from being wrong than to do everything post-hoc and try to compel your worldview to be correct.
Like I already said, I laid out a bunch of predictions in that post, and even if I had more insight than everyone else about China(I don't), I'm likely to get at least a few of them wrong. The ones I do get wrong over the next 5ish years will be an excellent learning opportunity for me.