Thunberg Criticized as Double-Standard Environmentalist by Chinese Media

China have had enough of being the first to blame on climate change and environmental crisis. Greta Thunberg's remarks to China's Annual Emission on a twitter post has garnered multiple comments from Chinese media being 'hypocrite' and accused Thunberg of having 'double-standards' for hyping up China's annual emissions while turning a blind eye on Fukushima's radioactive water disposal.

CNN on Friday, May 7, cited a new report from the Rhodium Group which showed China's annual emissions surpassing those of all developed nations combined in 2019, the first time that has happened since national greenhouse gas emissions have been measured.

Greta Thunberg, a Swedish environmentalist in the West, on her comment said, "Yes, China is still categorized as a developing nation by WTO, they manufacture a lot of our products and so on. But that's of course no excuse for ruining future and present living conditions. We can't solve the climate crisis unless China drastically changes course."

The tweet then gathered series of reaction from Chinese media, calling Thunberg a 'double-standard environmentalist'.

China on Japan's Fukushima Wastewater Disposal

In two years' time, environmental groups of Japan plan to release more than 1m tonnes of its radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea. This decision has angered neighboring countries, including China and local fishers.

Thus, Thunberg's opinion on China's Annual Emission, while staying silent on Japan's decision to 'contaminate the Pacific Ocean with radioactive waste', was referred by Chinese media as 'hypocrisy'.

On the same day the report was released, an a graphical illustration from a Famous Chinese cartoonist Wuheqilin went viral on Twitter-like Weibo. Chinese social media expressed their applaud on the art's vivid representation of how China was being bullied for centuries by Western forces.

"It is an old trick for the Western media and activists to point fingers at China on climate and environmental issues," a netizen commented. They also accused the media of 'only judging the total quantity of emissions, not talking about the per capita figures'.

Per capita Emissions in China

In 2019, China has surpassed even the US's -the world's second-largest emitter at 11% - total emission. However, Chinese media highlighted that China is a large country, inhabiting over 1.4 billion people, and if you look into Per capita emissions, they have remained considerably lower than those in the developed world.

As Ding Zhongli, a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress and former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, once said, "I want to ask: Are Chinese humans? That's a fundamental question. I see the right to emit as a right to development, which is a basic human right." He explained that there should be a 'roughly equal amount of emissions per capita', which is only fair.

Citing these words, Chinese media considered Thunberg and her team's remarks as 'selective', saying they don't really care for the environment and she's merely a 'puppet' Western politicians control for their gain.