Ling Shengli: Sino -US climate cooperation is limited by the political climate of the

Source: Ming Pao

Author: Ling Shengli

Recently, John Kerry, a special envoy of the US Presidential Climate, visited China.This is in the past month, the third -place senior official of the Biden government has visited China, which also reflects that the recent recovery of high -level exchanges between China and the United States has been restored.

The United States seeking climate cooperation is driven by dual factors

The issue of climate change is an important political achievement that the Biden government tried to achieve, and it is also an important issue for the United States to seek cooperation with China many times.At present, the world is facing extremely severe challenges of climate change, and the two major powers of China and the United States play an irreplaceable role in global climate governance.Whether the two sides can achieve a major consensus on the topic of climate change have attracted the attention of the international community.

Kerry's visit to China for climate cooperation is driven by its domestic political and international environment.First of all, from the perspective of domestic politics, the Democratic Party represented by the Biden government has a significant different attitude on the issue of climate change.The Republican Party and the traditional energy industry's interest groups have close relations, so they have opposed stances in responding to climate change; while the Bayeng government has close relations with interest groups such as clean energy, and has a more positive attitude in responding to climate change issues.Based on the consideration of the United States election next year, in order to respond to their voters' demands, the Bayeng government needs to come up with some results on climate change issues.

Secondly, from the perspective of the international environment, the current global climate change is facing a severe situation, and the Bayeng government is eager to obtain some foreign achievements.Whether it is to promote the success of the 28th Conference (COP28) of the United Nations Climate Change Framework Convention Convention, or to promote the cooperation between China and the United States in climate financing, the Bayeng government will be regarded as climate diplomatic achievements.

Biden climate diplomacy is inseparable from China

Crida's visit to China mainly focuses on issues such as international cooperation, climate financing, and Chinese climate responsibility. The main goal is to seek political achievements for the Bayeng government's climate diplomacy.To this end, on the one hand, China requires more international responsibilities in climate financing and supports the United States to hold a global climate conference; on the other hand, it is to urge China to implement climate emission reduction tasks, and even require China in accordance with the standards of developed countries.

However, the cooperation of Sino -US response to climate change in clean energy technology was difficult to recover.Due to the deterioration of the overall situation of Sino -US relations, the cooperation between the two parties on clean energy technology on climate change was interrupted.However, for climate change, cooperation between Sino -US clean energy technology is also very important, and it should be an important part of the two parties to deal with climate change cooperation.

For the United States, the climate diplomacy of Biden's government is obviously inseparable from cooperation with China. After all, China has a pivotal position on the issue of global climate change.Climate change is currently a global challenge and requires the international community to work together.China and the United States have carried out good cooperation on the issue of climate change to jointly promote the Paris Agreement to take effect.If China and the United States can do each other, the corresponding role will have a very positive effect on climate change.

Sino -US relations fluctuations affect cooperation between the two sides

At present, in important issues such as climate change, the lack of any side of China and the United States is difficult to promote the effective solution of this problem.As the largest developed country and developing countries, China and the United States can form a cooperation in dealing with climate change issues and implement common but different responsibilities, which will not only help promote the effective solution of global climate change issues, but also release the positive positive of the coordination of great powersThe effect indicates that China and the United States can still cooperate in some areas.

However, looking back at the process of climate change in the past, it can be described as twists and turns. The most important reason is that the overall relationship between China and the United States has a significant impact on the cooperation in the field of climate change.In other words, the cooperation between China and the United States is limited to the political climate of both China and the United States.At present, the United States has repeatedly called on China to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of climate change, asking China to bear more climate responsibilities and cooperate with the United States' global climate diplomacy.On the other hand, the United States has continued to target China in the fields of trade, technology, and exclude clean energy technology with China.The basic principles of international cooperation should be mutual benefit. On the one hand, the United States cannot want China to bear more climate responsibilities to cooperate with the climate diplomacy of the United States; on the other hand, it is severely targeted at China.

For China, facing the problem of climate change has its own thinking.On the one hand, the international responsibility announced on the one hand is that it will not discount at all.In the general debate of the 75th UN General Assembly in September 2020, China promised to improve the country's independent contribution, take more powerful policies and measures, and strive to reach the peak of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 by 2030, and strive to strive for in 2060Realize carbon neutrality before.In the National Two Councils of 2021, carbon Dafeng and Carbon neutralized were also written into the government work report for the first time.On the other hand, China also agrees that cooperation with the United States in the field of climate change is very important, which is in line with the common interests of both parties and the world.However, China -US climate cooperation should reflect mutual respect and win -win cooperation.Only in a more friendly political climate, the two sides can promote sustainable climatic cooperation.

The author is the deputy director and professor of the Institute of International Relations of the School of Foreign Affairs