China's future connected to third industrial revolution

Jeremy Rifkin, author of the best-selling book The Third Industrial Revolution, recently expressed the hope that China can take the lead in pushing forward that revolution, based on the country's determination to seek sustainable development.

According to Rifkin, a renowned economic and social theorist as well as an author, the third industrial revolution is about merging Internet technology and renewable energies to create a new infrastructure that achieves high efficiency and productivity with near-zero marginal costs.

Establishing that infrastructure, Rifkin said, will create thousands of new businesses and millions of jobs, and lay the basis for a sustainable global economy in the 21st century.

"China will lead the third industrial revolution - at least I hope so. If China does not do it, who will?" Rifkin asked, speaking to China Daily on the sidelines of a recent symposium in the coastal city of Qingdao, Shandong province.

China, he said, has abundant renewable resources to produce new energies, including wind and solar power. Moreover, the concept of sustainable growth is written into the nation's cultural DNA.

"The Confucius philosophy has been advocating the harmonious relationship between mankind and nature for thousands of years, and it still prevails in China today," Rifkin said.

He noted that China's leadership has paid great attention to green development, even writing it into the Party constitution to facilitate the country's shift to a sustainable development model.

"The technology for creating a green economy is available in the market now; the rest just rides on the mind-set," Rifkin said.

"As long as China is determined to embrace the change, instead of being scared of it, it will succeed in transitioning the economy into a third industrial revolution."

He suggested that the Chinese government create a road map, with targets for five, 10 and 15 years, to gradually advance the third industrial revolution, like the 2020, 2030 and 2050 targets of the European Union. China, he said, also should create new rules, regulations, codes, standards and laws with which to implement those plans.

Rifkin believes new buildings and infrastructure should be constructed using renewable energy solutions and be connected to the "Internet of Things".

"If these new technologies are not applied in the new construction, they are just copying the old development model. I hope China will not follow into the sunset of the Western nations' second industrial revolution but rather lead into the sunrise of the third industrial revolution," Rifkin said.

He added that China's dream of an enhanced quality of life will help the country succeed in harmonizing its economic development with nature, allowing it to create an ecological civilization and lead the world into a new era of sustainable development.