US President Barack Obama on Monday touted close US cooperation with China on climate change as vital to world efforts to slow global warming, even as he acknowledged persistent differences with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) over cybersecurity and maritime security.
Huddling with Xi on the sidelines of the Paris climate conference, Obama said nowhere had coordination with Beijing been more critical or fruitful than on climate change. He credited US and Chinese leadership with leading 180 nations to make their own pledges to curb emissions in the run-up to the Paris talks.
“Our leadership on this issue has been absolutely vital,” Obama said.
Photo: AP
However, Obama also invoked hot-button issues that have long vexed US-China relations as he and Xi opened their meeting.
Obama said the US and China have developed a “candid way of discussing these issues,” adding that he hoped to build on that tradition during his meeting with Xi.
“Our teams have found ways to work through these tensions in a constructive fashion,” he said.
Xi, speaking through a translator, said that global worries made it even more important for the US and China to work together. He called for the US and China to build a new model of cooperation, using diplomatic language long preferred by Beijing.
As the conference got underway, Britain’s Prince Charles — delivering the keynote speech — issued a rallying cry to world leaders to address climate change, describing it as the greatest threat faced by humanity. The prince urged world leaders to think of their grandchildren in seeking a deal. Echoing the sentiment offered by former British prime minister Winston Churchill to Battle of Britain pilots during World War II, he said that “rarely in human history have so many people around the world placed their trust in so few.”
The heir to Britain’s throne and champion of green causes told delegates: “I urge you to consider the needs of the youngest generation, because none of us has the right to assume that for our today they should give up their tomorrow.”
Obama called the Paris climate talks an “act of defiance” by the world community following the Islamic State-linked attacks in Paris two weeks ago. Obama painted a dire picture of the future without aggressive action to curb carbon emissions. He described submerged countries, abandoned cities and fields that would not produce crops. He drew a link with the refugee crisis, saying climate change would lead desperate peoples to seek sanctuaries outside their home nations.
In his address to the conference, Xi said that an eventual global climate deal must include aid for poor countries and acknowledge differences between developing and established economies.
An agreement should also include the transfer of climate technology to developing countries, he added.
A deal should accommodate national interests, he said, adding that “it’s imperative to respect differences” among countries, especially developing ones.
“Addressing climate change should not deny the legitimate needs of developing countries to reduce poverty and improve living standards,” he said.
The question of what to expect from rich and poor countries is a key sticking point in the talks. The last climate deal, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, only required developed countries to cut manmade emissions.
Western countries say that this time all countries must chip in, including China, the world’s biggest emitter.
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