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China on the Defensive After Obama's Climate Speech | Kent Garber

China on the Defensive After Obama's Climate Speech
Kent Garber

Climate Change Carbon Footprint (c) M. Ryder
Climate Change: Global Carbon Footprint
(c) M. Ryder

As international climate talks continue, the UnitedStates is publicly and privately pressuringChina to share more information about its carbonemissions. And that is putting China on thedefensive.

Both President Barack Obama and Chinese PremierWen Jiabao addressed world leaders at the Copenhagen conference, inwhat was supposed to be the final days of talks. But they struck sharplydifferent tones in their speeches, and it now appears that Wen wasoffended by Obama's words.

Obama met with Wen and,according to reports, sought a second meeting after thepremier walked away from negotiations.

The immediate source ofconflict appears to have been part of Obama's speech. Speakingdeliberately, with long pauses, Obama told leaders to stop squabblingover a deal or risk having "the same stale arguments, month after month,year after year, perhaps decade after decade."

He seemed annoyed,even accusatory, at times, admonishing some leaders for naivelyinsisting on getting a perfect treaty and refusing to compromise. "Weknow the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years,"he said. "We have very little to show for it."

And in what was probably the most inflammatory part, at least fromChina's view, Obama said, "I don't know how youhave an international agreement where we are all not sharing information. . . . That doesn't make sense. It would be a hollow victory."

Even before Obama spoke, Wen appeared defensive, as if compelled toaddress the charge that China is impeding anagreement. For several minutes he ticked offChina's progress on green energy. From 2005 to2008, he said, "China has enjoyed the fastestgrowth of renewable energy" in the world. China, headded, now ranks first in the world in terms of installed hydropower andnuclear plants under construction.

Wen reminded leaders there is general acceptance thatChina, as a developing country, should not be heldto the same emissions standards as the developed world."China has a 1.3 billion population," he said."According to U.N. standards, we still have 150 million people livingbelow the poverty line. We therefore face the arduous task of developingthe economy and improving people's lives."

In general,the United States agrees with that assessment. ButObama said China must beef up its emissionsmonitoring and reporting, calling it a necessary step for a credibleaccord on greenhouse gas emissions. (Obama's call also has a politicaldimension, because Senate Democrats say they will struggle to pass aclimate bill without verifiable assurances thatChina is serious about curbing emissions.)

Attempting to dispel China's concerns thatthe United States wants inspectors poking aroundChinese factories, Obama said, "These measures need not be intrusive orinfringe upon sovereignty." That did not allay Wen's frustration.

In part for that reason, the negotiations this afternoon have beenvolatile, with little progress, and now there is near certainty thatthey will continue through tomorrow. According to some reports, Obamaand other leaders have been asked to stay the night.

Butthe United States has been trying to win thisbattle in a different way as well, by wooing Braziland India, two other major developing countries. Inrecent days, U.S. officials in Copenhagen have metwith leaders of both countries. According to one nongovernmentalobserver, who asked not to be named, the UnitedStates is trying to isolate China bypersuading India and Brazil tosupport its position.

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula daSilva, seemed to go for middle ground. "They havea right to demand transparency," he said, referring to theUnited States. "But it is also true that we need to be verycareful with this intrusion . . . and intervention in the developingcountries and the less developed countries."