The Chinese are filled with pride over the glory of the Beijing Olympic Games. Pollution was an issue, but the government moved iron mills and instituted an alternate-day policy for cars. China is not a land of dreams; however, neither is it a monster.

We need another perspective on the Chinese environmental issue. Is China’s pollution solely a Chinese problem? The nation has been called the “pollution empire.” In 2002, the World Bank named the world’s ten most polluted cities, and six of them were in China. The nation’s level of greenhouse gas emissions has overtaken that of the United States to become number one in the world. The world has denounced China for polluting the environment. American cycling athletes donned masks as they landed at Beijing’s airport.

China is known as the world’s factory. Everywhere you go, you can find a supermarket with products made in China. Why are they so cheap? First, wages are low, and second, with lenient regulations, environmental costs are low. In other words, the entire world has been enjoying the benefits of China’s low wages and lenient environmental regulations.

If the United States were to produce domestically what it imports from China, prices would rise. Without China, Americans would be worse off. On the other hand, who is paying for the pollution caused by the looser environmental regulations? The Chinese people pay firsthand. The people breathing the polluted air are the citizens of Beijing, not New Yorkers. Greenhouse gases have a detrimental effect on the entire world. And historically, developed countries have done more to create them than developing countries.

At the Hokkaido G8 Summit in July, there was the opinion that greenhouse gases resulting from the manufacture of a nation’s imported goods should be included in the nation’s total discharge. One-quarter to one-third of China’s greenhouse gases result from making products for export. The responsibilities for Chinese exports should be shared by the world that uses them. As well, developed nations have numerous factories in China. Asking China to fully absorb all of the responsibilities from such factories is unfair.

There is the term “carbon laundering,” which refers to the following: If a company in a developed country builds a factory in a developing country, the greenhouse gases emitted from that factory are counted as the developing country’s discharge. Developed countries gain the benefit of low wages and loose regulations while avoiding environmental responsibilities. This is green imperialism.

Chinese-made products will not be cheap forever. Wages are increasing and environmental regulations are tightening up. Regulations will be seriously tightened up probably when the country’s GDP per capita reaches $3,000. Currently, it is $2,300. China has introduced more regulations. Loans are not extended to companies that pollute excessively. Changes have also been made to the conditions for accepting foreign direct investment. Don’t care whether the cat is black or white as long as it catches rats? That was until 1990 only. Only clean factories are acceptable in the so-called green cat economy. Often heard are stories about Korean factories suffering from changes in Chinese regulations.

To be sure, China must take the biggest part of responsibility for its pollution. However, developed countries have had similar experiences while becoming developed nations. As we did so does China. When we criticize China, we need to take this into consideration.