China: Cooperation on Climate Change?

Hillary Clinton gave a speech at the Asia Foundation last Friday to set the stage for her upcoming visits to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, and China. This will be her first overseas trip as Secretary of State, and it is notable that she has chosen Asia as her destination. In her remarks, Clinton brought up climate change as one of the potential areas of cooperation between the U.S. and China:

We will work hard with the Chinese to create partnerships that promote cleaner energy sources, greater energy efficiency, technology transfers that can benefit both countries, and other strategies that simultaneously protect the environment and promote economic growth. While in Beijing, I will visit a clean thermal power plant built with GE and Chinese technology. It serves as an example of the kind of job-creating, bilateral, public-private collaboration that we need so much more of.

A commentary in the Southern Metropolis Daily, one of China’s leading commercial newspapers, also thinks this is a good idea:

The U.S. led the way in two technological revolutions. The first was with the atomic bomb, which revolutionized warfare. The next was with computer networks which revolutionized telecommunications. Everyone has witnessed how these revolutions have fundamentally changed the face of the world. Would it be possible for China to play a part in a revolution in the much discussed area of energy technology? This will only take place if there is deep cooperation between China and the U.S.

With regards to bearing responsibility for reducing global emissions, China obviously has its own circumstances, interests, and positions. The importance of the “Roadmap for U.S.-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change” lies in the realistic path it provides for achieving a win-win result through dialogue and negotiations. The roadmap emphasizes that technological revolution in the areas of energy and the environment not only requires the cooperation of our two countries, but also for the government, private enterprise, and the general public to work together. This point is particularly interesting for China. … China can continue its path of development as well as become a model of a low-carbon economy for the world. This is a goal worth pursuing.

The Bush administration did not place a high priority in addressing the climate change issue. When it rejected the Kyoto Protocol in 2001, one of the main reasons cited was that developing nations like China were not required to make any reductions. Since then, the climate change community has been hoping that the largest emitters of the developed and developing world can work together to tackle the issue.

It appears that Secretary Clinton is taking the first step in this direction. She is bringing along special climate change envoy Todd Stern with her on this trip, so this may be her attempt to place her imprint on the U.S.-China relationship. Climate change would be a new front in this bilateral relationship that, up until recently, has largely revolved around trade, human rights, Taiwan, and North Korea. It will be interesting to see what effect adding climate change to the mix will have on the other issues.