China will not conform to any form of binding target to curb its increasing greenhouse gas emissions as part of a new international deal on climate change, a senior official confirmed yesterday.
Deputy director of the Chinese government’s office of global environmental affairs, Lu Xuedu said it “was not the time” for China to consider binding commitments, and he criticised developed countries for playing what he called the “games of children” over global warming. However, Mr Xuedu said, China had not ruled out binding targets in future.
According to experts at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China has already overtaken the US as the world’s highest producer of carbon dioxide, the chief greenhouse gas. Finding a way to include China and the US in a new agreement on global warming to replace the Kyoto protocol is one of the most crucial international challenges inherited by Gordon Brown as prime minister. President George Bush backed the US off from the Kyoto process, partly because it placed no requirements on China.
Mr Xuedu told that it was unjustified to make comparisons between US and Chinese emissions, because China’s population was much larger and the country depended on cheap energy to rid people of poverty.
If you only visit Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, you see one China. But if you go to the countryside or just two hours’ drive from Tiananmen Square you see a totally different situation.
Commenting that other countries may vacillate after making the commitment, he insisted that China takes the issue of climate change seriously irrespective of the nature of commitment they are going to make to the international community. It was made clear by China that it still required help fro outside to fight rising pollution, particularly in the area of clean technology.
The country, as is apparent, is not ready to compromise on its development by accepting the binding rules. The US, on the other hand, claims that China should accept the norms. It is a testing time for Gordon brown as well as the international populace as the climate change issue has reached crossroads now.
Image: eng.unsw
