US to blame for suspension of climate change talks

China’s suspension of climate change talks with the United States is an understandable reaction, as the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan has infringed on China’s core interests and jeopardized the political trust between the two nations, an expert said.

Suspending the talks is one of eight countermeasures the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday in response to Pelosi’s visit. The other measures are mainly related to military and judicial communication.

Responding to the suspension, US Special Envoy on Climate Change John Kerry said on Friday that China’s decision is “disappointing”.

The suspension “punishes the world, particularly the developing world”, said Kerry, who was secretary of state in former US president Barack Obama’s administration, when Sino-US cooperation on climate issues underwent a honeymoon period.

When Obama was president, the two countries played key roles in helping the world reach the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Experts said, however, that the

US is to blame for the disappointing situation.

“There is a fundamental premise for countries to cooperate. They should at least have political trust in each other,” said an expert from a nonprofit international organization who asked to remain anonymous.

Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has undermined the political trust. It is inevitable that cooperation in various sectors will be negatively affected as a ripple effect, said the expert, who has been following China-US climate cooperation for a long time.

Rebuking Kerry’s statement as a way to “sow discord”, the expert said, “Surely, I couldn’t agree with him.”

China has not stopped participating in the multilateral climate process. The country will still proactively take part in the process and shoulder its responsibility as a party to international climate treaties, he said.

The expert said he expects to see climate issues play a key role in bringing China-US climate cooperation back on track, provided the US takes no more actions to provoke China so that the tensions between the two nations can be eased.

Zhang Jianyu, executive director of the BRI Green Development

Institute, also rebuked Kerry’s criticism, saying the statement was “deceptive” and “does not make any sense”.

“Firmly upholding its climate commitment, China has offered consistent support to developing countries,” he said.

When addressing the General Debate of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2021, for example, President Xi Jinping said China will step up support for other developing countries in the development of green and low-carbon energy.

The president also pledged that China will not build new coal-fired power projects abroad.

Zhang said the US had indeed undermined China’s core interest on the Taiwan question, so it is understandable that China is taking the countermeasures.

China has included climate talks in the countermeasures together with military dialogue and judicial communication. This shows that climate issues have been considered by the Chinese government to be one of the cornerstones in China-US cooperation, he said.

LIU YONGQIU / XINHUA Chinese workers install blades on offshore wind turbines at Taranto port in southern Italy in January. The project, with key equipment provided by China, is the first of its kind in Italy.