China insists it is taking ‘real action’ to tackle climate change after Joe Biden criticises Xi Jinping’s no-show at COP26 summit
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi insisted the country is a ‘serious and responsible’ participant in efforts to tackle the problem in call with Spanish counterpart
- Beijing and Washington have been indulging in a blame game after US President said it had been a ‘big mistake’ for Xi to miss the talks in Glasgow
“I think it’s been a big mistake, quite frankly, for China – with respect to China not showing up,” Biden told a press conference.
“They’ve lost an ability to influence people around the world and all the people here at COP – the same way, I would argue, with regard to Russia,” he said.
He said China has not only announced goals to reach peak emissions and carbon neutrality, but has introduced a series of policies to ensure it hits those targets, according to a readout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In the past decade, China has eliminated 120 million kilowatts of coal power capacity — more than the total installed capacity of Great Britain, he added.
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