Can China and the US overcome their distrust on climate action?

Name: Chinese cash funds African coal plants despite environmental concerns
Uploaded: 2021-04-01T04:00:14.000Z
Duration: 2 min 6 s
Description: Chinese cash funds African coal plants despite environmental concerns

Chinese leader has yet to accept White House invitation to global talks but analysts hope dialogue can prevail

Despite tensions, Washington and Beijing do not yet appear to have given up on some form of collaboration on climate issues

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has not yet accepted an invitation from his US counterpart to a virtual climate summit. Photo: Getty Images

Jacob Fromer

Published: 12:00pm, 1 Apr 2021Updated: 1:58pm, 1 Apr 2021

As the US waits to learn if President Xi Jinping will attend a virtual White House climate summit later this month, analysts warn the two countries still have a deep and mutual distrust to overcome about each other’s commitment to saving the environment.

President Joe Biden issued the invitation last week, in a sign his administration has not ruled out working with Beijing to try and solve the looming global crisis. The White House did not respond to an inquiry about whether Xi had accepted, while the Chinese embassy in Washington said Xi’s foreign agenda would be announced by Beijing.

On the US side, analysts say the distrust comes in part from watching China – which announced a carbon neutrality pledge by the year 2060 – continue to build new coal power plants around the world, a major source of pollution.

Coal is the “dominant destination for China’s overseas energy investment,” said Cecilia Han Springer, senior researcher at Boston University’s Global China Initiative. “Biden’s commitment to phasing out public finance for fossil fuels overseas is putting pressure on some other countries, like Japan, to do the same,” she said. “Such a parallel commitment from China would be very surprising to me – welcome, but surprising.”

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Chinese cash funds African coal plants despite environmental concerns

China, meanwhile, will wonder if Washington’s re-commitment to the Paris climate agreement will be temporary or permanent, analysts said. Biden rejoined the agreement on his first day in office, reversing the decision by his predecessor Donald Trump to leave the deal.

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