China fights climate tariff ahead of G8
China has staked out its positions on climate change and the international currency system ahead of next week's Group of Eight summit, calling for a broader monetary regime and reiterating that global warming should not be used as an excuse to practise trade protectionism.
Beijing opposes a move by US lawmakers to impose a carbon tax on imports from countries that decline to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The measure, part of landmark legislation that passed a key hurdle in US Congress last week, would harm global efforts to tackle climate change and lift the world economy, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs He Yafei said yesterday.
The minister renewed China's call for a more diversified international currency system, but would not confirm whether Beijing had initiated a debate on an alternative global reserve currency at the forthcoming G8 summit in Italy, which President Hu Jintao will attend. A forum on climate and energy will be held on the sidelines.
'We are firmly against such attempts to advance trade protectionism under the pretext of climate change,' Mr He said of the US carbon tax proposal. 'It is not conducive to world economic recovery and it serves nobody's interest.'
The climate change bill tabled by the administration of US President Barack Obama and passed last week by the House of Representatives seeks to cut emissions of greenhouse gases through a so-called cap-and-trade system. But lawmakers added a provision to impose punitive tariffs on goods from countries that do not curb their emissions, which they said would help make US products more competitive.
Although the bill has been hailed as an unprecedented first step by the US to combat climate change ahead of a December conference in Copenhagen to agree on a new global treaty, the import-tax provision has been criticised in China and India, and even Mr Obama has expressed reservations, calling it a protectionist tariff.
Beijing has long opposed punitive import taxes, insisting that trade and environment should not be linked.
Hopes that a successor to the Kyoto Protocol will be negotiated in Copenhagen have been fading because of glaring gaps between developing and developed countries over who needs to do what first.
Tsinghua University climate expert Liu Bin said industrial countries had put unfair pressure on developing countries. 'Debates on climate change are rather more about politics and rights to prosper than environment,' she said.
Mr He sought to play down a news report on Wednesday citing a G8 source as saying that China had asked for a debate on proposals for a new global reserve currency at next week's summit.
'I've not heard about such a request,' he said, but added that it would be 'normal' for other leaders to raise the issue at the summit.
Last week, the People's Bank of China used its annual financial stability report to call for the creation of a super-sovereign currency to reduce the dominance of the US dollar in the international monetary system.
The idea of an alternative global reserve currency has been floated by some emerging powers since the global financial crisis hit last year. China first raised the idea in March.
Mr He renewed that call. The US dollar was still the dominant reserve currency, and China hoped it would remain stable, he added.
