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Landmark deal on climate change
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US President Barack Obama met China’s Xi Jinping at the White House yesterday, and the two leaders outlined their common vision for a global climate change agreement.
Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to a 21-gun salute
and full ceremonial military honors, underlining the huge symbolic importance of the state visit.
And, with China one of the world’s top polluters and America one of the worst per capita, their stance on climate change is key in the run-up to this year’s UN summit in Paris.
The leaders emerged from the talks brandishing a joint statement committing their countries to emissions cuts and a “common vision ... pointing toward a low-carbon transformation of the global economy this century.”
For its part, China confirmed in a joint statement that it “plans to launch in 2017 a national emission trading system covering power generation, steel, cement.”
The United States, meanwhile, highlighted the finalization of its Clean Power Plan, which it said would “reduce emissions in the US power sector by 32 percent by 2030.”
China will also set aside US$3.1 billion as a fund to help developing countries fight climate change.
The initiatives add to emissions curbs pledged last year by China and the US in a bid to forge a UN climate pact, scheduled to be sealed in Paris in December.
Alden Meyer, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, said: “These initiatives should contribute additional momentum toward a climate agreement in Paris.”
The climate change announcement was a clear success, and came despite Obama taking a firm tone on the other issues troubling the trans-Pacific relationship.
“Even as our nations cooperate, I believe and I know you agree, that we must address our differences candidly,” Obama said as he welcomed Xi.
“We believe that nations are more successful and the world makes more progress when our companies compete on a level playing field, when disputes are resolved peacefully and when the universal human rights of all people are upheld,” he said in a welcoming speech.
Obama reiterated that the US welcomes the rise of a China that is “stable, prosperous
and peaceful.”
Xi then spoke of a need to be “broad-minded” about the two countries’ differences, to have “mutual respect” and “meet each other halfway” in order to improve relations.
Climate change is one of the few areas where bilateral cooperation has proceeded smoothly in recent months, largely because Beijing has struggled to contain heavy air, water and soil pollution that has destroyed farmland, sent cancer rates rising and left its cities cloaked in dense smog.
Visiting Seattle on the first leg of his trip, Xi pledged to work with the US to fight cyber crime. While Obama’s aides say no formal agreement is likely, Chinese officials have suggested the possibility of a basic deal to tackle cyber warfare.
Xi sought to reassure companies during his Seattle trip that he is working to improve
the investment climate in China. His visit there included an announcement by Boeing that it had won US$38 billion worth of orders and commitments for planes from China.
US officials have hoped for broader cooperation between Obama and Xi since the pair’s unusually informal 2013 summit at the Sunnylands estate in southern California.
Last year, Obama traveled to Beijing, and the two leaders strolled in the sprawling gardens next to the Forbidden City.
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