Over the last three decades, Chinese intellectuals, government officials, party stalwarts and state leaders have toyed with the concept of ‘ecological civilisation’ (EC) to frame their environmental ideology and management of environmental problems. Domestically, EC has provoked discussion among Chinese intellectuals on its implications for China’s developmental trajectory.

From a global perspective, EC is another way for China to assert the Beijing Consensus. This refers to the Chinese economic development model increasingly seen as an alternative to the Washington Consensus of market-friendly policies promoted largely by the West and the World Bank.

…Victor R Savage is a visiting Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Lin Qi Feng is an instructor at the History Programme, School of Humanities, NTU.