China insists rich nations must lead global warming fight - AFP

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

China insists rich nations must lead global warming fight

Tue May 22, 12:27 AM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Rich nations must do more to fight global warming and
allow poorer countries to pursue sustainable economic development,
one of China's top diplomats said in comments published Tuesday.

China is willing to play its role in tackling climate change but the onus
rests on the developed world to tackle the problem, State Councilor
Tang Jiaxuan told a visiting United Nations envoy on global warming
on Monday.

"Tang demanded that developed nations take a lead on greenhouse
gas emission reduction and provide assistance to developing
countries in terms of technology transfer and capital," the official
Xinhua news agency cited Tang as saying.

Developing countries, such as China, should in the meantime be
allowed to pursue "sustainable development," Tang told envoy Han
Seung-Soo.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070522/sc_afp/chinaclimatewarming_070522042711

---

Meanwhile...

Source: Reuters

Bush sees G8 climate change principles possible
Mon May 21, 2007 10:14PM EDT

-snip-

But Bush, in an interview with Reuters, said he doubted there could
be an effective approach to dealing with climate change globally
without the participation of major polluters China and India.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN2137050020070522

[kurth]

1. China will be #1 contributor to global warming next year

They're trying very hard to pollute themselves to death.

[razzleberry]

2. some people predict as early as November of this year

the Kyoto treaty gives the wrong incentives.

China's strategy seems to be,
pollute as much as possible,
the more you pollute,
the higher your baseline will be.

[FogerRox]

3. Thanks, interesting, KnR.

[phantom power]

4. I have an idea.

They should all continue to argue about it and point fingers, and issue helpful statements like "na na na... you first!"

And if they do that for a sufficiently long time, enough of us will have died that the problem will have resolved itself.

[Dead_Parrot]

5. That seems to be the plan. nt

[XemaSab]

6. F*** China.

Maybe if you paid your workers living wages, you'd have more capital for environmental cleanup and pollution control.

:eyes:

[IrateCitizen]

7. I disagree with your assertion, no matter how vehemently stated.

"Living wages" are purely a western creation, something totally foreign in the long history of China. Throughout all of the Chinese dynasties -- including the current dynasty of the Communists -- the individual does not matter. Rather, it is the group that is important. While Deng may have challenged this dynamic through introducing capitalist reforms in the 1970s and 1980s, you can't undo some 2000+ years of Confucianism in one fell swoop.

Secondly, China's road to development is no different with regards to pollution than that of the Western world. Furthermore, much of their pollution is due to the fact that more wealthy nations such as the United States have outsourced their polluting industries to other countries in the developing world. Lawrence Summers stated as much in his infamous internal memo while at the World Bank.

Thirdly, who are we to tell China that they cannot have the same standard of living that we enjoy here? It's just plain hypocritical. I'm not saying that we should just collectively trash the planet, but in a way they are right when they say that it's the job of those countries who have already industrialized to lead the way on this issue.

[XemaSab]

8. China is not the victim of the US

They could have been more responsible from the beginning and learned from the mistakes of the west with regards to pollution. Instead they happily welcomed the same captains of industry that western Communism was originally formulated to rebel against.

Since they've got a strong state, the government could have controlled some of the excesses, but no.

One of the things we've learned here is that a clean environment isn't something that happens after you're successful, it's something you need to become successful in the first place.

Yes, the US has great responsibilities with regards to global warming, but China and other rapidly developing nations should not be given a free pass here either.