China's Environment

From the Economist, Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air - And don't expect the government's environmental watchdog to do much about it.

Key Points:

1. Environmental agency in China is underfunded and it's competitors for agriculture and industry are much more powerful. So wonderful sounding regulations are enacted (sounds great!), but actual implementation is poor.
2. Local environmental agencies are usually focusing on the same goals of local governments (grow the economy at any cost).
3. Environmental damage in 2004 may have lowered GDP by 3.05%.
   

So why does this matter outside of China? Because many goods in China are exported to the US, and poorly implemented regulations can lead to issues such as food safety/contamination. Pollution also has a habit of ignoring national borders, not to mention Global Warming. Japan's Prime Minister has China to reduce pollution due to fear in Japan that Acid Rain is being caused by Chinese pollution.