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Opinion | Why the world must temper hopes for US-China climate change cooperation
- Besides the difficulty of insulating bilateral conflict from areas of collaboration, it is unclear what and how much progress they can deliver
- The US and China can perhaps best cooperate by refraining from certain actions, rather than trying to achieve things together
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Despite their increasingly bitter rivalry, the United States and China have recently been sending the right signals regarding potential cooperation on fighting climate change.
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The joint statement issued after the mid-April meeting between John Kerry, the US special presidential envoy for climate, and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua, indicates that the two governments might be trying to use collaboration on climate policy to prevent their relationship from devolving into outright enmity. The path ahead is strewn with geopolitical landmines, though.
It is not difficult to understand why the US and China are behaving responsibly at the moment. Both countries view climate change as an existential threat and have a strong interest in cooperation. US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping know that open intransigence or obstructionism on this issue would cost them dearly in terms of international public opinion.
During the Cold War, the ideological struggle between communism and capitalism divided the world and cemented alliances. In the coming decade, though, ideology alone is unlikely to win the US or China many friends.
The Communist Party of China no longer has any real ideology to speak of, while political polarisation and Trumpism have tarnished America’s lustre. Instead, as climate change puts human survival at risk, leadership in tackling the problem will shape international alliances.
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World leaders pledge to cut greenhouse emissions at virtual Earth Day summit
World leaders pledge to cut greenhouse emissions at virtual Earth Day summit
Turning rhetorical climate commitments into action will sorely test both countries in the coming years. Shortly after Biden’s recent climate summit of world leaders, for example, Foreign Minister Wang Yi hinted that China’s cooperation with America would hinge on whether the US “interferes in China’s internal affairs”.
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