China urged to act beyond national interest to preserve planet

MANILA, Philippines — An opposition senator expressed hope that China would act beyond its national interest, especially on preserving Earth, as he congratulated the People’s Republic of China on its 70th anniversary on Tuesday.

According to Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, the Asian superpower is in the position to significantly help global efforts to overturn global warming and climate change even as China “moves forward to achieve more of its economic and political targets.”

“As the most populous country in the world, China holds the key to reversing the destructive effects of climate change, including the overheating of the planet beyond the survival of our future, all our children’s, all our children’s children,” Pangilinan said.

He then recognized China’s “biggest triumph” of “lifting 850 million people out of the $1.9 a day abject poverty line.”

“We stand in solidarity with the people who marched and fought and won their liberation in 1949,” Pangilinan said.

“As young student activists in the 1980s, many of us were inspired by the teachings of Mao Zedong, who had said, ‘Let a hundred flowers bloom.’ We commend its leaders who put priority on feeding its people. We have personally seen the effort its bureaucrats made to focus on food production,” the senator added.

And while he recognized that the Philippines and China have territorial issues regarding the West Philippine Sea, Pangilinan said he hopes the two countries would resolve the row “peacefully and judiciously, ensuring not only that the hungry are fed but that the planet remain livable.”

“The dragon has awakened, and its neighbors are feeling the heat. As it moves forward to achieve more of its economic and political targets, we trust that it will act beyond its national interest to include the planet’s,” Pangilinan pointed out. /kga