2 min readChina’s Weather Modification Program Can Now Affect Regional Weather Patterns

The following article was written by Jonathan Watts. It was published by The Guardian last December 3, 2020.

In this article, Watts reports on China’s plan to expand its weather modification efforts in order to cover at least 5.5 million square kilometers of land by 2025. According to the report, “the proposed enlargement is on a scale that could affect regional weather patterns…The long-term plan envisages that by 2035, the country’s weather modification capabilities would reach an ‘advanced’ level and focus on revitalizing rural regions, restoring ecosystems, and minimising losses from natural disasters”.

Though weather modification has largely been in peaceful and domestic uses, several earlier reports have already claimed that China is weaponizing the weather and may already be disrupting rainfall patterns.

Shiuh-Shen Chien, a professor at the National Taiwan University said that “China’s cloud water governance presents a new human-weather ideology of ‘taming the weather’.” Meanwhile, another scientist, Bettina Bluemling comments that this scale of intervention being planned by China “could set a precedent for Beijing to take the first steps in climatic geoengineering”.

Editor’s Note: While this article was published in 2020, this remains relevant as China’s work to control the climate continues to this day. It gives us an indication of the level of technology that China is now capable of.

We must now ask: what is China’s current capacity for weather modification? Are they able to control the formation and direction of typhoons and hurricanes? How many of the extreme weather events experienced in Asia and the world in the past two years has been a result of China’s tests?

If China gains the capacity to modify weather at the scale they are planning, who can guarantee that it will not be used to control the world? Can China guarantee that there will be no negative repercussions from their plan?

We recommend the following sources for those who want to learn more about geoengineering: Why geoengineering is still a dangerous, techno-utopian dream, The Risks, Rewards and Possible Ramifications of Geoengineering Earth’s Climate.

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