Aspiration and Reality in Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore: an Introduction to the Environmental Regulatory Systems of Asia's Four New Dragons
ASPIRATION AND REALITY IN TAIWAN, HONG KONG, SOUTH KOREA, AND SINGAPORE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATORY SYSTEMS OF ASIA'S FOUR NEW DRAGONS I. INTRODUCTION In 1970 the United States observed the first "Earth Day" for the purpose of raising the environmental consciousness of the nation and eventually, the world.' Although the United States has a wealth of environmental problems,2 they pale in comparison to those found in developing countries, which are often plagued by limited land area and raw materials, burgeoning industries, and frequently, external pressures that siphon needed resources.3 The development efforts of 1. Earth Day has been celebrated in late April every year since 1970. Henry P. Caulfield, The Conservationand EnvironmentalMovements: An HistoricalAnalysis, in ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS AND POLICY: THEORIES AND EVIDENCE 13,39 (James P. Lester ed., 1992). 2. See AL GORE, EARTH IN THE BALANCE: ECOLOGY AND THE HUMAN SPIPJTpassim (1992). 3. Of particular interest in this Note are Asia's four new Dragons and how they have handled the environmental issues that have arisen in the last several decades. Much of the groundwork for the Dragons' current environmental woes lies in their turbulent social and economic histories. Now one of the more prosperous Asian nations, South Korea began the rebuilding and regrowth that laid the foundation for its present economic success following the signing of the Korean Armistice on June 27, 1953. That regrowth, however, was encumbered by tangible and intangible threats originating in North Korea and targeting South Korea's social, military, and economic strength. See KOREA: PAST AND PRESENT 139-52 (Kwangmyong Publishing Co., 1972); see also EzRA F.
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