With only three days left until a climate video summit of global leaders advocated by President Joe Biden, the Chinese Foreign Ministry says invited Xi Jinping is still “actively studying” whether to attend, even though Xi has already held high-profile climate summits with French and German leaders. Days earlier, the U.S. president’s climate envoy had traveled to China to pave the way for the summit.
At an April 19 regular press conference at the Foreign Ministry, a reporter asked whether Xi would attend the 22nd climate summit of global leaders sponsored by Biden. Spokesman Wang Wenbin replied, “China has received the invitation from the U.S. side and is actively studying it.”
Taiwan’s Central News Agency reported that last week, Xi had been invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend a climate video summit of French, German and Chinese leaders. But Beijing is still unsure whether to attend the Biden-hosted climate summit, and all sectors interpret Xi’s move as an intentional attempt to embarrass the U.S. and Biden.
Analyses have also suggested that Xi’s high-profile participation in the French and German climate summits ahead of the Biden-hosted summit may be an attempt to compete with the United States for dominance of global climate issues.
The U.S. president’s climate envoy, John Kerry, visited Shanghai from 14 to 17 to meet with the Chinese climate envoy, and on 18 April the U.S. and China issued a joint statement saying that “both countries look forward to the U.S.-hosted leaders’ climate summit on April 22-23.
Wang Wenbin said on the 19th that the two sides had “frank, in-depth and constructive communication in Shanghai, and made positive progress to restart the channel of dialogue and cooperation on climate change between China and the United States.
The U.S.-China joint statement said the two sides will work together to implement the Paris Agreement and take action “in the short term” to further address the climate crisis. However, most of the “actions” listed in the statement are still “continuing discussions” and “developing plans.
The statement also mentioned that the U.S. and China will work together to promote the success of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in Glasgow and the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming.
As recently as April 16, during Kerry’s visit to China, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng told the Associated Press that Beijing is unlikely to make any new commitments at next week’s Biden-inspired climate change summit. As the BBC reported earlier, Kerry’s visit to China sought to get the Communist Party to stop building coal-fired power stations and to stop financing overseas coal companies, while China wants the U.S. to provide more money to developing countries and also wants Washington to announce plans for significant emissions reductions.
The U.S. and China plan to take appropriate action to maximize international investment and financing to support developing countries in their transition from carbon-intensive fossil fuels to green energy, according to a joint statement from the U.S. and China.
The Paris Agreement requires developed Western countries to develop strict “emissions reduction plans” that have largely suppressed industrial development in Europe and the United States. But the agreement gives “developing countries,” including the Chinese Communist Party, a considerable “buffer period” while forcing developed countries to provide funds to “developing countries” to “address the climate problem”.
The Biden administration says it “must” work with the Chinese Communist Party to address the so-called “global climate crisis. But Republican U.S. Senator Rubio recently warned that Biden’s climate policy is a big gift to the Chinese Communist Party and will have disastrous consequences for the United States.
The Chinese Communist Party has also set up a so-called “carbon emissions plan,” but said it will not achieve net zero emissions until 2060, which is said to be too “conservative.
Beijing’s so-called “carbon emissions plan” was followed by a push to exploit carbon-intensive fossil fuels. In the 14th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese Communist Party said it would strengthen domestic oil and gas exploration and development, accelerate the construction of oil and gas reserve facilities, speed up the construction of national trunk oil and gas pipelines, orderly liberalize market access for oil and gas exploration and development, accelerate the use of deep-sea, deep-sea and unconventional oil and gas resources, and promote the increase of oil and gas resources storage and production.
The 14th Five-Year Plan proposal also mentions “accelerating the promotion of green and low-carbon development”, but this content is placed at the end of the text, far after “accelerating oil and gas development”.
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