These days, Chinese fishing boats frequently cross the line of the South Korean economic exclusive zone (EEZ) and many ships of them are caught by Korean maritime police. They are said to use a bottom trawling method. The South Korean government has asked the Chinese government to take appropriate steps, but Beijing has kept blind eyes to the request of Seoul. Why isn¿t this issue resolved easily? That¿s why the Chinese government has focused on its rapid economic growth rate ever recorded in the world and why it has not and will not give up its policy centering only on fast growth. The Yellow River, the so-called origin of Chinese Civilization, is so polluted that it can no longer provide drinking water. The polluted water goes to the Yellow Sea, so that Chinese fishing fleets have no choice but to cross the EEZ of two Koreas illegally. There are no fishes for Chinese fishing boats to be able to catch.

Worst of all, North China is dying. A chronic drought is ravaging farmland. The Gobi Desert is inching the southern part of China. The rapid growth of two megacities – Beijing and Tianjin – has drained underground aquifers that took millenniums to fill. To resolve this problem, the Chinese government invented a grand and expensive solution: Divert at least twenty-seven trillion tons of water each year hundreds of kilometers from the other great Chinese river, the Yangtze, to remove the thirst of the north China plain and its 440 million people.

The South-North Water Diversion Project is China¿s most ambitious attempt to conquer nature. The cost amounting to $62 billion is twice that of the Three Gorges Dam, the world¿s largest hydroelectric project. Three artificial channels from the Yangtze would transport precious water from the south, so that the region is suffering its worst one in 50 years. A lot of residents who live in these areas are being relocated to make way for the canal. Many are being resettled far from their homes and given low-grade farmland. Concerning this project, some Chinese scientists say that the diversion could destroy the ecology of the southern rivers, making them as useless as the Yellow River and that the Chinese government has neglected to do proper impact studies.

With its dwindling water resources, Beijing is said to no to be able to sustain a larger population. The Chinese government should make serious efforts to control the population, if not reduce it. Beijing has about 100 cubic meters of water available per person. According to a standard adopted by the United Nations, the amount is a fraction of the 1,000 cubic meters per person. In other words, Beijing citizens must be faced with chronic water scarcity.

Under this situation, I wonder what the ultimate solution to this problem is. The diversion of the river for continued growth? Or the reduction of the size of a city? I believe that people have unlimited desire for development; that they never stop seeking for material happiness; and people continuously the barn after the horse is stolen. China is posting the fastest economic growth rate and releasing more greenhouse gases than ever. On the eastern part of China, Chinese industrial belts are located. Even today, they are making more products and exporting them to S. Korea, the U.S. and other economies. The Yellow Sea shared with two Koreas is continuously polluted, because the Yellow River of China is providing polluted water. In addition, the amount of water from the Yellow River is continuously dwindling. In the long run, the Yellow Sea cannot contain clean water and a variety of fishes. I strongly believe that for sustainable economic growth and sustainable fishing, the Chinese government must listen to the voice of conscientious scientists and citizens and focus on conserving the environment and achieving reasonable economic growth.