The Wandering Earth 2: Global vision and Chinese wisdom

By Wu Xueli | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2023-02-04

A man passes a poster of Wandering Earth II at a cinema in Shenyang, Liaoning province,on Jan 23, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

Unsurprisingly, The Wandering Earth 2 has been a blockbuster since its release on the first day of the Chinese New Year, taking in an eye-watering 2.9 billion yuan in 11 days, breaking 36 records and achieving 91 milestones in Chinese film. Ever since the genre-defining The Wandering Earth established China as a truly viable producer of large-scale and ambitious sci-fi films in the spring of 2019, sci-fi film production has truly taken off in China and matured itself with numerous mind-blowing attempts in film and television with works such as The Cataclysm and the newly-released Three Body TV series.

Directed by Frant Gwo and based on Liu Cixin's novel, The Wandering Earth 2 is a prequel, the backstory that leads up to the first film. The rapidly expanding Sun is devouring the entire solar system, posing imminent crises and existential threats that put mankind on the brink of extinction. To cling to the chance of survival, people start looking for solutions under the leadership of the United Earth Government, but their plans to save humanity begin to diverge and conflicts between different parties arise, mainly around the hesitation between the Moving Mountain Project which aims at moving Earth away from its current solar system and the Digital Life Project that looks to preserving human consciousness on computers. Clinging to the belief that "A civilization without men is meaningless", China insists on supporting the former one despite mounting tensions and succeeds in feasibility trials that convince the rest of the world and unite different nations into one human nation to implement the Moving Mountain Project.

As a sequel, The Wandering Earth 2 is more than just filling for the first film's blanks, connecting plot line dots and unfolding the full picture. In my opinion, unlike most sequel movies, it progresses greatly compared to the first one in terms of aesthetics, imagination, philosophy and cultural depth.

Empowered by stunning special effects and wild imagination, the film offers breath-taking cinematic spectacles full of gigantic spaceships and drone swarm battles and visualizes some of the technological wonders that, in the past, only appeared in sci-fi books such as the "space elevator". It is inspiring to see the huge improvement in the Chinese film industry and film-making technology. Furthermore, the imagination is not groundless, but comes from reality. In fact, China's progress in space technology over recent years has provided fertile soil and many raw materials for sci-fi film creation. In turn, this advanced imagination may even lead to technological development in the future.

If the hard tech is what strikes awe into the people's hearts, the Chinese philosophy behind the scene is what makes people contemplate. We've seen enough western apocalyptic narratives in mega-budget worldwide blockbusters most closely associated with Hollywood productions. But this film presents a disaster story from an oriental point of view, where humans work as a team to face the overwhelming crisis. No hero can save the Earth single-handedly; still, every effort matters. And the international unity and solidarity highly emphasized in the film takes root in the real world and are consistent with China's current attitude and approach in a world of changes unseen in a century.

It is very delicate and sophisticated how Chinese philosophy and culture are embedded throughout the whole narrative, including small details that are subtly woven into the patchwork quilt of the movie, such as the naming of the self-rescue projects. The Moving Mountain Project, for example, originated from an ancient Chinese fable, Yugong Yishan, illustrating the point that one strong-willed man can't move mountains but, as long as generations of mankind work together, nothing is impossible. This is only one of the manifestations of the sincere Chinese wish for a long-lasting human civilization and for Chinese ancient wisdom to be applied in today's world.

Apart from these thoughtful details, more explicit advocates of the Chinese approach toward a world of turmoil are put forward in Zhou's speech about the once-broken-but-healed human femur, "In times of crisis, unity above all. Remember the day that people's courage transcends history". In line with the idea of a community with a shared future of mankind, the film vividly depicts some of the most touching and powerful scenes where senior astronauts of all nations sacrifice themselves to ignite the nuclear bombs, and joint efforts are made in reconnecting the Internet to blast the Earth out of its orbit and off on a hundred-generation wandering journey in search of a new home. United we stand, divided we fall. This is even truer today after the humanities' three-year war against the COVID-19 pandemic, as courage and solidarity are the only way out, in science fiction or in reality.

Indeed, the world is undergoing unprecedented transformations and posing great challenges to every single one of us. I've never been a pessimist, but truly, if we don't see ourselves as one human nation soon enough to focus on matters of life and death such as climate change, but continues starting wars with each other in the name of national security, we are going to be buried in the graves we dig for ourselves before the Earth falls apart. That's why I feel great pride to see that China is shouldering its responsibility in global governance as a major country and plays its part in calling forth peace and unity both in the film and in reality.

Overall, The Wandering Earth 2 is marvelous in many ways, including the outstanding visuals and acoustics, compelling narrative and, most importantly, a much more "universal" human value that raises itself to a whole new level of the same genre. I believe both the Chinese people and the world are awaiting what comes next for Chinese cinema.

The author is a student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.

Grotesque bigotry

Editorial Published February 5, 2023

FREEDOM to profess one’s faith is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan. However, for the country’s Ahmadi minority, this freedom is severely curtailed, and instead, the group is faced with intense persecution. One example of this ugly bigotry manifested itself in Karachi recently, when an Ahmadi place of worship in Saddar was attacked by a mob. In a highly disturbing video purportedly capturing the incident, individuals can be seen attacking the building and tearing down parts of it while shouting slogans. This is not the first such incident; a similar attack targeting an Ahmadi facility took place last month, in Karachi’s Martin Quarters area. The sad fact is that there is a long history of Ahmadi persecution in this country. Members of the community have been murdered in targeted killings, there have been calls for an economic boycott of the group, while gravestones of community members have also been desecrated. Perhaps the most brutal attacks in recent memory were the ones in 2010 targeting two places of worship in Lahore, which resulted in nearly 100 fatalities. It is not difficult to understand what breeds this hatred, as there are groups and individuals in this country whose sole aim appears to be persecution of Ahmadis, particularly by misusing the blasphemy laws against the community.

The problem is that if violent extremism is allowed to fester even after devouring whole communities, one day the obscurantists will come for everyone who does not agree with their blinkered worldview. The bloodbath in Peshawar’s Police Lines is a clear example of this terrifying possibility. At least five people have been held for attacking the Ahmadi facility in Saddar. However, the bigger task for the state is to provide protection to the community at large, while working to extricate radicalism from society. The latter is a particularly tall order, when the state itself had for decades nurtured the hard right. The political class, the establishment as well as clerics need to take some bold moves to ensure that vulnerable communities can live in peace, and are not hounded by those bent on eliminating them. Left unattended, the violent vigilantism witnessed in Karachi will one day morph into an uncontrollable ogre. There may still be time to save the nation from sinking into the toxic vortex of obscurantism and violence, should the ruling classes prioritise this goal.

Published in Dawn, February 5th, 2023

Blue Pakistan

Yasir Masood

Published February 4, 2023 

‘BLUE economy’ refers to sustainable and inclusive water resource management that covers all coastal activities, marine-related industries, and services that could generate revenue and bolster socioeconomic well-being.

It also encompasses the energy (oil, gas and renewables), shipping, maritime, aquaculture, fisheries and tourism sectors and integrates environmental management, economic growth, and aquatic ecosystem sustainability. Over three billion people across the world rely on marine resources for their livelihoods.

Pakistan is presently confronted with one of its most formidable economic challenges. Given the circumstances, it seriously needs to diversify its economy to put the country back on track. Blue economy is a promising area that could strengthen Pakistan’s financial, geostrategic and geo-economic standing.

Here we discuss Pakistan’s blue economy, including its underutilisation. How can decision-makers and key players tap this economy’s potential for a self-sufficient and sustainable Pakistan, all the while keeping the country’s myriad challenges in mind?

Despite having the potential to generate more than $100 billion, Pakistan’s current blue landscape is limited to generating an estimated $1bn. Most of it comes from fisheries, coastal tourism, and marine revenue, but the lack of modern industries such as energy and minerals restricts its potential. Meanwhile, regional states are making billions of dollars from this sector.

The country’s maritime potential remains to be tapped.

Owing to last year’s devastating floods, there is an immediate need to tackle food insecurity in Pakistan. The coastal areas can be used to breed fish for commercial purposes, with a potential yearly value of $2bn; but, seafood export revenues are now only around $450 million, according to estimates.

Pakistan hasn’t fully capitalised on its proximity to the Arabian Sea and the Indus river basin, despite the rising demand for aquaculture products from domestic, Chinese and Indian markets.

Inadequate financial resources, political uncertainty, weak enforcement of the law, technological gaps, and poor awareness of and expertise in sustainable methods have hindered the country from harnessing its blue potential. This in turn is contributing to greater food insecurity.

Blue economy emphasises sustainable development while preserving biomass like marine life and coastal resources. This could help solve the country’s protein shortage by increasing seafood consumption. Meanwhile, the mangrove system is also said to have the potential to yield $20m.

Pakistan’s coastline is 1,050 kilometres long and has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 290,000 square kilometres.

The country’s location on the Arabian Sea, bordering India to the east and Iran and Afghanistan to the west can make it the hub for shipping goods across South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and beyond, helping the economy profit from regional trade and global markets.

It also offers transportation, tourism and ecological services like storm protection and carbon storage, which can boost local economies.

Pakistan has been unable to realise its potential as a marine hub. Reports on the subject have cited the reasons as: poor port access, limited finances for infrastructure renovations and modernisation, outdated policies discouraging foreign investment, fragmented governance, marine pollution, degradation of the mangrove forests, a lack of local technical and professional skills and an incompetent managerial and bureaucratic set-up.

Figures estimate that maritime tourism ac­­counts for $300m of GDP. Current maritime revenue projections are far behind India’s at $6bn and Bangladesh’s at $5.6bn. Unfor­tunately, earni­n­­gs from Pakis­tan’s tourism indu­stry are a mere 0.4 per cent of GDP, compa­red to Thailand’s at 18pc, Mala­y­sia’s at 6pc, and Sri Lanka’s at 6pc. Un­­f­o­r­tunately, it is South Asia’s least competitive travel and tourism country.

According to some experts, if the travel and coastal tourism sectors were to be improved to international levels, they could even contribute up to 10pc of GDP by the next decade or so.

Under CPEC, Gwadar Port when fully functional offers great potential to aid in revitalising Pakistan’s blue assets.

Gwadar’s airport development, free-trade zones, IT parks, BPO operations, energy production and storage, mineral extraction and export, and electricity linkages through an industrial corridor could accelerate local economic growth through resource mobilisation and attract substantial foreign direct investment.

If Pakistan were to achieve long-term growth and reap dividends from the blue economy, it has to adopt and put into practice a rigorous, localised, and sustainable policymaking framework on a war footing; a framework that draws inspiration from the achievements of its South Asian neighbourhood, Asean, and beyond.

The writer is an Islamabad-based political economist.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023

The IMF in perspective

Sakib Sherani Published February 4, 2023 

A POPULAR refrain of policymakers, many TV anchors and most public commentators in Pakistan is to vilify the IMF and to blame it for the country’s myriad economic woes ranging from the rupee ‘devaluation’ to inflation. To what extent is the IMF responsible for our predicament, and are the Bretton Woods Institutions (the IMF and World Bank) indeed agents of influence and control acting at the behest of the US?

To answer the second question first. According to the US Army Special Operations Forces: Unconven­tional Warfare Field Manual (2006), “The instrum­ents of national power as codified in US policy and doctrine include DIME and DIMEFIL”.

DIMEFIL stands for diplomatic, informational, military, economic, financial, intelligence, and law enforcem­e­­nt. The manual goes on to state that “The applicat­i­­on of economic or financial incentives is among the most powerful ideas in the US arsenal of power.”

On the use of international financial institutions (IFIs) by the US to achieve military and/or foreign policy objectives, the manual states: “At the highest levels of diplomatic and financial interaction, the USG’s [United States Government] ability to influence international financial institutions — with corresponding effects to exchange rates, interest rates, credit availability, and money supplies — can […] dissuade adversary nation-state governments from supporting specific actors in the UWOA.” Note: UWOA = Unconventional Warfare Operational Area.

Echoing these objectives and reiterating the role of the IFIs in US foreign policy, A Report to the Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, One Hundred Eleventh Congress — March 10, 2010, states that “The international financial institutions (IFIs) have traditionally been an important element of US foreign policy.”

It goes on to say that “The international financial institutions present the United States with an opportunity to maintain its influence, address national security issues, and provide global leadership in an era when the American economy may not be the overwhelming source of power it once was.”

IMF is part of the US-constructed ‘rules-based’ global order, but our woes are homegrown.

Where the IFIs fit into the US-constructed global “rules-based order”, meant to exert and assert its influence in the world, is quite clear from the sampling of quotes from its declassified doctrinal documents. In the case of Pakistan and the IMF, the IMF’s Independent Evaluation Office’s first report from 2002, titled Evaluation of Prol­onged Use of IMF Resources, has the following observation on Fund engagement with the country: “In particular, decisions regarding the IMF’s involvement in Pakistan appear to have been heavily influenced by geopolitical considerations.”

The only other country whose Fund program­m­­es came close to being “heavily influenced by geopolitical considerations” at the time was the Philippines.

The foregoing evidence should close the chapter on whether the IFIs, in particular the two Bretton Woods ‘sisters’, are aligned with US foreign policy objectives and whether their policy advice can be agenda-driven.

However, despite the evidence on how the BWIs are designed to further US interests, a large part of the conventional wisdom in this country regarding the IMF’s role in bringing Pakistan to its recurrent situation is self-serving.

It is designed to avoid introspection, or to accept culpability and responsibility for poor policy choices over a protracted period, and instead shift the blame entirely to external agents and exogenous shocks.

I have previously referred to this reflex as a manifestation of an external locus of control, ie a psychological stance in which some individuals and societies believe that their life outcomes are determined by external factors beyond their control.

As I wrote in a recent opinion piece in this newspaper (‘Our elite’s bankruptcy’), Pakistan has spent an estimated 34 years in IMF care since 1958. To the best of my knowledge, this is the single most protracted use of IMF resources by any country in the world. It would be useful to introspect if the IMF has arm-twisted us into this situation, or whether our collective failure to collect taxes, promote exports, curb runaway consumption, provide a conducive environment for private investment etc is the actual cause of our crisis-prone underdevelopment.

The real question is: with the need for economic reform so well-established from early on, why has Pakistan been unable to move the needle with orwithout IMF programmes? After all, if it has spent 34 years in various Fund arrangements (and the IMF, and not Pakistanis themselves, was a roadblock to real reform according to the conventional wisdom), then it has spent 42 years without the IMF.

What reforms are visible that can be attributed to over four decades of living without the ‘tyranny’ of the Fund?

An illustrative case of a country getting its act together and fixing its house after its last encounter with the IMF 30 years ago is provided by our neighbour India.

In 1991, after experiencing a severe balance-of-payments crisis and turning to the Fund for a Stand-By Arrangement, India be­­gan implementing structural reforms. It has never returned to the Fund since, becoming an economic powerhouse within the past three decades.

A corollary to the conventional wisdom in the country regarding the BWIs is that the loans taken by Pakistan over the decades from these institutions are ‘odious’, since they were ‘forced’ onto the country.

This is completely disingenuous as project loans from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank etc have helped finance the construction of Pakistan’s major physical infrastructure over the past four decades, including the Tarbela and Mangla dams, the country’s railways network, its irrigation system, and road and highways infrastructure among other critical projects.

The conclusion is straightforward. The IMF and World Bank are agenda-driven. IMF programme design IS flawed in that it creates perverse incentives and has unintended consequences in tax collection and the energy sector — setting up negative feedback loops that have worsened rather than helped the underlying structural problems.

Nonetheless, there is no escaping the fact that Pakistan’s predicament is of its own making. The sooner this is accepted by our elites and policymakers, the sooner we can begin our journey back from the edge of the abyss.

The writer has been a member of several past economic advisory councils under different prime ministers.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2023

PTA bans Wikipedia in Pakistan over ‘sacrilegious content’: spokesperson


Irfan Sadozai Published February 4, 2023





— Dawn.com

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has banned popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia in the country for not “blocking/removing sacrilegious content” within the 48-hour deadline given to the website, a spokesperson confirmed on Saturday.

Wikipedia is a free, crowdsourced, editable online encyclopedia often used as a starting point by millions across the world for basic information.

The PTA had on Wednesday degraded Wikipedia services countrywide for not complying with the directives for the removal of controversial content from the website.

The regulator said the website had neither responded to its requests, nor taken down the content in question.

Speaking to Dawn.com, PTA spokesperson Malahat Obaid said the ban had primarily been imposed for non-compliance with the orders.

“The decision can be reviewed once Wikipedia removes sacrilegious content that has been identified by the regulatory authority,” the spokesperson added.

Users are met with “this site cannot be reached” when trying to access the website.

The message one sees when going to Wikipedia.

Yesterday, the Wikimedia Foundation, the charity that runs Wikipedia, said it “does not make decisions around what content is included on Wikipedia or how that content is maintained”.

It added that this is “by design to ensure that articles are the result of many people coming together to determine what information should be presented on the site, resulting in richer, more neutral articles”.

“We believe that access to knowledge is a human right. A block of Wikipedia in Pakistan denies the fifth most populous nation in the world access to the largest free knowledge repository. If it continues, it will also deprive everyone access to Pakistan’s history and culture,” it said.

It goes on to say: “We hope that the Pakistan government joins with the Wikimedia Foundation in a commitment to knowledge as a human right and restores access to Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects promptly, so that the people of Pakistan can continue to receive and share knowledge with the world.”

In a statement earlier this week, the telecom regulator said it had approached Wikipedia to block or remove the content in question by issuing a notice under “applicable law and court order(s)”.

“An opportunity of hearing was also provided, however, the platform neither complied by removing the blasphemous content nor appeared before the authority,” the statement had said.

“Given the intentional failure on part of the platform to comply with the directions of PTA, the services of Wikipedia have been degraded for 48 hours with the direction to block/remove the reported content,” the statement added.

The regulator warned that in case of non-compliance, Wikipedia would be blocked in the country and its restoration would be “reconsidered subjecting to blocking/removal of the reported unlawful content”.

‘Silencing of dissent’

Free speech campaigners have highlighted what they say is a pattern of rising government censorship of print and electronic media.

“There’s just been a concerted effort to exert greater control over content on the internet,” digital rights activist Usama Khilji told AFP. “The main purpose is to silence any dissent. A lot of times blasphemy is weaponised for that purpose.”

Khilji said courts and the regulator must realise that Wikipedia is a “crowd-sourced platform where anyone with an account can edit articles, which they can also do instead of blocking the entire website”.

In a comment to AFP yesterday, he said the ban is “disproportionate, unconstitutional, and quite ridiculous”.

Wielding the ban hammer

This is not the first time the authority has taken notice of objectionable content on the platform. In December 2020, the PTA had issued notices to Wikipedia and Google Inc for “disseminating sacrilegious content”.

Pakistan blocked YouTube from 2012 to 2016. In recent years, the country has also blocked the wildly popular video-sharing app TikTok several times over “indecent” and “immoral” content.

After the deluge, how to build a green recovery in Pakistan

The need to rebuild from the 2022 floods presents Pakistan with an opportunity for a green recovery, starting with a rethink of how economic growth and well-being are measured.

Hashim Zaman Published February 3, 2023  

In our pursuit of narrowly defined economic growth, we are pushing the ecological balance beyond safe boundaries. This can have terrible consequences, as was revealed in Pakistan last year. A third of districts in the country are still dealing with the outcomes of the flooding, and 33 million people have been affected.

Between June and August 2022, Pakistan endured the worst floods in its 75-year history. A prolonged heatwave in the spring, accompanied by a drought and followed by a ‘monster monsoon’ ultimately morphed into the wettest August since 1961. A combination of glacial melt, warming of sea surface temperatures in the Indian Ocean, La Niña, and poor management led to a disaster on a scale never experienced before.

Fields turned into inland lakes as Balochistan and Sindh provinces received 726% and 590% more rainfall than average, respectively. Around 75 glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) were reported in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalayan region of northern Pakistan.

The most astonishing feature of Pakistan’s 2022 floods was their origin, having sprung from the Koh-e-Suleman mountain range, which ordinarily do not experience the South Asian monsoon. This is a worrying indicator of a geographical shift in the region’s monsoon patterns.

Measuring, and mismeasuring, loss and damage

Initial estimates of loss and damage resulting from the 2022 Pakistan floods stood at over USD 30 billion, distributed across infrastructure, agriculture and various cross-cutting sectors. Meanwhile the total needs assessment for recovery and reconstruction added a further USD 16.3 billion in estimated costs.

However, this analysis is misleading as it fails to reflect loss and damage beyond direct costs. The intangible reality — the non-economic losses and damages pertaining to our natural capital — along with the opportunity cost of unemployment, lost income and migration, remain largely ignored. Most importantly, the USD 30 billion estimate is a serious undervaluation, and does not account for the damage done to natural ecosystems, and their contributions to well-being and economic activity. These include pollination, carbon sequestration, and climate regulation, all of which have been disrupted by the floods.

Since we do not ‘pay’ nature for these services, they are often overlooked in economic calculations. Globally, these ecosystem services are worth an estimated USD 125-140 trillion annually, more than one-and-a-half times the size of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And yet they rarely figure in the economic calculations that dominate our planning processes.

GDP is an outdated metric that ignores the health of ecosystems and the critical role of ecosystem services

If not managed properly, by 2050 Pakistan’s annual GDP could decline by an estimated 18-20% as a result of climate risks and environmental degradation. And yet this is again a limited way of approaching the challenge. Correlating climate risks, losses and damages with GDP is misplaced. GDP is an outdated metric of measuring growth, as it fails to account for the inclusive wealth of a nation. In particular, it ignores the health of ecosystems, and the critical role of ecosystem services in supporting human and economic well-being. This limits its ability to track and assess human well-being, and relying on GDP results in misguided growth and development pathways.

In a post-disaster scenario, the case for moving beyond GDP becomes even stronger. Rehabilitation efforts such as rebuilding houses, bridges and roads inflate GDP growth rate in the short term. GDP counts only what is built, not what was lost. This creates an illusion of prosperity. However, in real terms the nation may be much worse off, as the land degradation, deteriorating water quality and biodiversity loss resulting from a disaster can result in a lower contribution to the economy from nature. A decline in the healthy functioning of ecosystems and society results in lower productivity, while leaving all species on Earth more vulnerable to future climate shocks.

New metrics can help a green recovery

Without transformative change in how economic growth and well-being are measured, Pakistan risks blinding itself to the fact that it is growing ever poorer and more vulnerable to future shocks from climate change, recessions and pandemics. Indices such as the Gross Ecosystem Product and the Living Standards Framework, being piloted in China and New Zealand respectively, have shown great promise in tracking and enhancing happiness and well-being across all demographics. This could be explored in the context of Pakistan.

The suffering caused by the 2022 floods brought Pakistan’s climate vulnerability to global attention. At a conference in Geneva in early January, the international community pledged over USD 9 billion to help Pakistan’s flood recovery, in line with the Resilient Recovery, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Framework. As harmonious as this may seem, almost 90% of these commitments are reportedly multilateral aid in the form of loans, which will be rolled out over the next three years. Pakistan already has a huge debt burden, which includes USD 23 billion of external debt repayments due and a USD 10 billion current account deficit forecast for the 2023 fiscal year. Accumulating more debt is far from ideal.

In this scenario, reshaping these funds into debt-for-nature swaps can be explored, where a portion of the debt is cancelled or reduced by the creditor in exchange for the debtor investing in nature. Similarly, nature performance bonds can be leveraged. This is a type of performance-based debt instrument, where the debt is pegged against measurable targets and nature-based outcomes such as ecosystem restoration. These tools accelerate access to climate finance while tackling the growing sovereign debt crisis, and can enable developing states like Pakistan to achieve green growth and enhance biodiversity.

The recent colossal floods, followed by health, energy and economic crises, have left Pakistan in a predicament. But they have also presented it with the opportunity for a green recovery. This is a chance to recharge the country’s aquifers, enhance its stock of natural capital and leapfrog towards a green economy. In this age of adaptation, investing in green infrastructure and nature-based solutions such as inclusive early warning systems and ecosystem restoration can enable green growth, and create a nature-positive, megadiverse and climate-resilient Pakistan.

---

This article was originally published on The Third Pole