President Joe Biden and Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping shared the stage for the first time at a U.S.-hosted climate summit of world leaders on 22 May. Despite calls from the U.S. before the meeting for China to take more responsibility for reducing emissions, Xi reiterated that China’s carbon emissions targets have not changed, and he offered “six insistencies” and said China has done far more than many developed countries. Is that really the case?
The U.S. hosted a climate summit of world leaders on the 22nd, and for the first time, President Joe Biden and Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping shared a stage via “video across the sea.
On World Earth Day, leaders from 40 countries in different time zones, convened by the United States, participated in a U.S.-hosted “Leaders Climate Summit” via pre-recorded video or video link. The U.S., which returned to the Paris Climate Agreement, sought to demonstrate “America is back” leadership on climate issues.
In his opening remarks, Biden said, “The cost of inaction on climate change is growing, and the United States will not wait to lead on this issue of moral and economic urgency.”
Biden also announced ambitious U.S. carbon emissions goals, namely that the United States will reduce carbon emissions by 50-52 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and that the United States will be carbon neutral by 2050.
No one country can face the climate crisis alone, he said meaningfully. The United States, as a country with less than 15% of the world’s carbon emissions, also called on all countries to show determination and concrete action before it’s too late.
Common but differentiated responsibilities: Communist Party insists it has done much
File photo of the meeting between Biden and Xi Jinping.
In a pre-recorded video, President Xi Jinping of China, the world’s largest carbon emitter with a 30 percent share of the world’s carbon emissions, put forward “six insistence” that countries should adhere to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in setting carbon emissions targets. In the video, he stressed that countries should adhere to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibilities” in setting carbon emission targets, while not forgetting to boast that China has already done a lot.
“China is striving to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. The time for China to achieve from peak carbon to carbon neutral is much shorter than the time used by developed countries, which requires hard work on China’s part.” Xi Jinping noted.
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It is worth noting that the official mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China, Xinhua News Agency, then issued the full text of the message, but Xi Jinping called on countries to “work together, not to accuse each other; to be persistent, not to change things overnight; to keep their word, not to fail to keep their word.” This speech, Xi Jinping did not say in the video.
Does the Chinese Communist Party, with its machinations at every turn, want to work with the United States or not? Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund in the United States, told the station, “The Chinese Communist Party continues to blame the United States for the deterioration of U.S.-China relations, and portrays itself as a global model of governance and a supporter of multilateralism and globalization, even though the United States and China cooperate on climate change issues, the ‘strategic rivalry’ between the two sides will continue.”
How much is China really doing on climate issues? Jennifer Turner, director of the environmental program at the Wilson Center, a U.S. think tank that has long focused on China’s environment and U.S.-China cooperation on climate change, said in an interview with the station, “Honestly, many international and Chinese energy experts believe that China has delivered on its commitments under the Paris climate agreement. Of course, both China and the United States, as the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 carbon emitters, could do more.”
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China’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions questioned
Xi said at the meeting that global climate governance should fully recognize the contributions made by developing countries and accommodate the special difficulties and concerns of these countries; developed countries should show greater ambition and action to effectively help developing countries accelerate their green and low-carbon transition.
He also stressed that China will adhere to the path of ecological priority and green low-carbon, and that China will support places and key industries and enterprises that are in a position to take the lead to reach the peak, and will strictly control coal power projects; the 14th Five-Year Plan period will strictly control the growth of coal carbon consumption, and the 15th Five-Year Plan period will gradually The 14th Five-Year Plan period will strictly control the growth of coal consumption, and the 15th Five-Year Plan period will gradually reduce.
Wu Lan said, “In the Belt and Road Initiative, China has invested in coal and oil in about 80% of the investment projects in the past five to six years; you can say that developing countries need coal-fired power generation badly, but, but, but, but (three times because it’s important), China has not brought ‘clean coal’ to other developing countries. other developing countries with ‘clean coal-fired’ power generation technology, but rather with cheaper and less clean coal-fired power generation.”
According to Wu Lan, Xi Jinping’s emphasis on adhering to multilateralism and the system in addressing climate issues is a knock on the door of cooperation between the U.S. and China, but China will remain a cooperative competitor to the U.S. (cooperative competitor).
On the climate issue where the U.S. and China can work together, the content of Xi’s unspoken Xinhua release is indicative of the Communist Party’s attempt to be the “world’s teacher.
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