Critical stage for building a beautiful China calls for country's firm resolve

While some foreigners might regard China's insistence on the construction of an "ecological civilization" as merely paying lip service to environmental and ecological protection, the remarkable changes that the country has made in that regard over the past decade prove otherwise. Such obvious changes as the disappearing of the smog and polluted waters that previously plagued the country represent only the most visible aspects of the country's efforts to build a beautiful China for future generations and bring tangible benefits to the Chinese people today.

Those endeavors have entailed a paradigm shift in the country's development model. The shift that prioritizes the three defensive battles for a blue sky, clear water and clean land is a painful and ongoing process. But the gains are worth the pain. The former extensive type of development would have become increasingly unviable as the environmental costs it was incurring outweighed the economic benefits. In 2012, China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product was 2.5 times the world average. In other words, as a global manufacturing center, China was sacrificing its future for short-term growth.

It became increasingly clear that the country needed to get out of what was a deceptive "comfort zone" before it became a frog-boiling-in-a-pot scenario. The consensus that it was time for a change provided the country's leadership with strong national support to introduce a series of laws, policies and practices to transform that desire into concrete actions.