Can China control the weather?

Can China control the weather?

After successfully tackling its coronavirus outbreak, China is now setting its sights on taming the weather.

Last month, Beijing announced plans to develop a comprehensive weather modification system which by 2025 will cover more than 5.5 million square kilometres -- 60% of the country's territory and more than 1.5 times the size of India -- with hail-suppression technologies embedded across 580,000 sq km.

Mastering the weather might seem like a lofty dream to some, but China has been using cloud seeding and other technologies for decades to produce more rain for drought-ridden areas, reduce hail that can damage agriculture, support disaster relief and clear skies for important events, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

China spent more than US$1.34 billion from 2012 to 2017 on different weather modification programmes, and by 2015 rainmaking and hail-suppression projects had already been used across 30 provinces. In November last year, a county south of Beijing produced 5 centimetres of rain to alleviate a local drought and improve air quality by launching 16 "artificial rain enhancement rockets" from the back of a pickup truck.

Meanwhile, weather modification practices in Xinjiang have helped protect its farmland from natural disasters by reducing hail damage across the region by 70%.

A nationwide weather system will be in place by 2025, according to the State Council. China's research and development efforts are largely domestic, with the government particularly interested in weather modification to address two issues: food security and extreme weather events.

The coronavirus pandemic has helped reinforce the importance of food security for China's 1.4 billion people. As the world's largest importer of food, it needs to find ways to reduce its reliance on foreign food imports to develop resilience in the event of external shocks, while at the same time easing pressure from natural disasters on the country's agricultural production.

Extreme weather also creates significant human costs for China. Last year alone the country suffered unprecedented typhoons and deadly floods. Last summer's heavy rains, the worst since 1998, affected more than 63 million people across 26 provinces with 219 people missing or dead. Economic losses reached 179 billion renminbi (827 billion baht) -- 15.5% higher than the 2019 average.

Although China is focused on addressing domestic concerns, the idea of altering weather patterns which can impact other countries has raised concerns. Neighbouring countries have said China's programme has the potential to shift monsoons, potentially attracting rainfall that would have previously landed in another nation.

As we have already seen from the ongoing disputes over the Mekong River, ecosystems don't respect national boundaries. As China pursues its ambitious weather-changing ambitions, it will need to carefully consider the potential impact on its neighbours and work cooperatively with them.

Suwatchai Songwanich is an executive vice-president with Bangkok Bank. For more columns in this series please visit www.bangkokbank.com

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