China's role in historic Paris agreement
- By Sajjad Malik
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 17, 2015
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said last Friday ahead of the agreement that China was confident and determined to meet its promises of cutting its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of the GDP by 60-65 percent from the 2005 level by 2030. Nobody should doubt it as Chinese are good at it and already working to build a green economy. The Chinese government will cut the promised emissions probably earlier than the said timeline.
Right from the start, China was positive about the global efforts to cut the emissions. It played important role in the negotiation process and kept close contact with all parties in Paris. China urged flexibility which was needed to build any consensus. Earlier, President Xi attended the conference to show the support for the efforts to get a globally binding agreement. He also was active to coordinate with U.S. President Barack Obama to work with other important players for a deal to save the environment.
China also advocated the cause of the developing nations and demanded at the conference that the rich developed countries should offer more financial support to developing countries, which cannot divert their capital to cleanse the environment largely polluted by the industrialized countries. China also asked the rich nations to provide environment friendly technology to the less developed nation so that they can use it while trying to expedite their progress.
The agreement is not ideal as said by many participants and commentators. Even China's chief negotiator Xie Zhenhua agreed that it was not an ideal deal. However, he went on to say it should not "prevent us from marching historical steps forward." This is the spirit which others should also follow.
The Paris deal is not just an agreement to deal with global warming. It has a lot of importance in the realm of international politics. It shows that if right objectives were in sight and an honest approach is adopted by addressing concerns of every country, then the international community has the intelligence to agree on a common agenda. The precedence of global climate agreement should be used to create consensus over issues like ending the Syria conflict and waging war against the threat of extremism and militancy.
The writer is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:
http://china.org.cn/opinion/SajjadMalik.htm
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