Beware of "mistaking area" in development

"On no account should any business and enterprise seek rapid development and fat economic profits at the expense of the people's life and health," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping reiterated the importance of the "scientific outlook of development" pinpointing a swirl of food safety scandals set up in recent days. He stressed the industries and local governments in question are obliged to learn a lesson from their mistakes.

Obviously, quickening the pace of economic development in itself is nothing mistaken, for it is the basic means to the settlement of people's livelihood issues. Nevertheless, if the economic development has gone astray, disregarding human conscience, social morality and people's life, and totally running counter to the "scientific outlook of development," the rapid development will go nowhere but to the dead end.

To boost economic development must be based on the principle of "people first," otherwise, the situation will be worrisome. "People first" means economic development must be people-oriented, in the interest of the public, and for the benefit of people's all-round development. More important, economic development must subject to the human survival rights. When the deadly earthquake hit Sichuan, the government called for a desperate rescue of human lives, indicating life is put above all. It is evident that economic development will be meaningless if not in line with the human development.

The costs induced by liability accident and illicit conduct are already too heavy to bear, and the lesson learnt form all these mistakes is that economic development would backfire if it were in violation of the "scientific outlook of development." The disastrous scenes will always remind us of the man-made evils in pursuit of the so-called economic growth: the infamous "cancer villages" along the contaminated Huaihe River, cities engulfed in poisonous gas, vegetables polluted by pesticides and fertilizers, food adulterated with toxic chemicals, and the shoddy buildings scattered almost anywhere in the country-all this reflecting the utter disregard of humans lives.

The "mistaking area" in development is generally created by the unscientific performance testing on officials. For so many years in the largest developing country in the world, the GDP growth rate has been regarded as the only yardstick to judge the officials at different levels qualified or not. Even though the government has began to reverse the course, many local authorities still place their top priority on economic growth, as the achievements scored in developing the local economy still acts as the decisive factor to determine their performance as qualified officials and their promotion. More over, the prosperous economy is also considered the most outstanding "image projects" in many places. Clad in the disguise of developing the local economy, some officials have even gone so far as to be found in collusion with illegal businesses.

In a nutshell, the "mistaking area" in development is not a pitfall luring merely those with some particular ailment to go to such depth, instead, many forces put together create the "mistaking area." In this case, to erase the "harmful area" and prevent economic development from slipping into the "mistaking area," a more comprehensive treatment on the basis of the "scientific outlook of development" will have to be put in place with no time to spare.

By People's Daily Online