Posted on 12/23/2009 12:40:29 AM PST by myknowledge
A writer and environmental activist who was present at the final Copenhagen climate talks says China sabotaged the deal and ensured Barack Obama would shoulder the blame.
While China's Premier Wen Jiabao insisted his government had played an "important and constructive" role, the talks in the Danish capital ended with a political accord rather than a binding agreement.
Mark Lynas, who was attached to the Maldives delegation, described what he saw at the talks as "profoundly shocking".
"I am certain that had the Chinese not been in the room, we would have left Copenhagen with a deal that had environmentalists popping champagne corks in every corner of the world," he wrote in the The Guardian.
"The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful 'deal' so Western leaders would walk away carrying the blame.
He says Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other Western leaders were visibly upset when China started "removing all the numbers that mattered" in the final talks, including emissions cuts by developed countries of 80 per cent by 2050.
"'Why can't we even mention our own targets?' demanded a furious [German Premier] Angela Merkel.
"Australia's prime minister, Kevin Rudd, was annoyed enough to bang his microphone. Brazil's representative too pointed out the illogicality of China's position. Why should rich countries not announce even this unilateral cut?
"The Chinese delegate said no, and I watched, aghast, as Merkel threw up her hands in despair and conceded the point. Now we know why - because China bet, correctly, that Obama would get the blame for the Copenhagen accord's lack of ambition.
"But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage a deal, and the Chinese delegate saying "no", over and over again."
Lynas says the 2020 peaking year was then "replaced by woolly language" and the global 50 per cent cuts by 2050 were also removed.
"No-one else, perhaps with the exceptions of India and Saudi Arabia, wanted this to happen," Lynas said.
'Took the bait'
Lynas fears "the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations".
"China's strategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, and then ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west had failed the world's poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies, civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait," he said.
"The failure was 'the inevitable result of rich countries refusing adequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility', said Christian Aid. 'Rich countries have bullied developing nations,' fumed Friends of the Earth International.
"All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth."
He is dismissive of the role played by Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping, who negotiated on behalf of China and developing countries, accusing Sudan of behaving as China's puppet and helping to create the "perfect stitch-up".
Lynas also said China carried out a clear diplomatic snub at the talks.
"The Chinese premier, Wen Jinbao, did not deign to attend the meetings personally, instead sending a second-tier official in the country's foreign ministry to sit opposite Obama himself," he said.
"The diplomatic snub was obvious and brutal, as was the practical implication: several times during the session, the world's most powerful heads of state were forced to wait around as the Chinese delegate went off to make telephone calls to his 'superiors'."
India's stance
India has already confirmed it worked with China and other emerging nations to ensure there were no legally binding targets at the talks.
India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh earlier faced parliament for the first time since the UN talks, saying the nation had "come out quite well in Copenhagen".
"We can be satisfied that we were able to get our way on this issue," declared Mr Ramesh, who has consistently said India would be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change.
He said India, China, South Africa and Brazil had emerged as a powerful force and said the group had protected its right to continued economic growth.
Mr Ramesh said India would continue to work with its allies "to ensure that the interests of developing countries and India in particular are protected in the course of negotiations in 2010 and beyond".
Britain's blame
Britain has also said the meeting was lurched into farce and pointed the finger of blame at Beijing.
While British Prime Minister Gordon Brown refrained from naming countries, his climate change minister Ed Miliband said China had led a group of countries that "hijacked" the negotiations which had at times presented "a farcical picture to the public".
"We did not get an agreement on 50 per cent reductions in global emissions by 2050 or on 80 per cent reductions by developed countries," he wrote in The Guardian.
"Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries."
China, the world's top polluter, doggedly resisted pressure for outside scrutiny of its emissions.
Wow. There are two really clear things from this story.
1. In the short term I’m thankful for what the Chinese did. Copenhagen could have been a disaster for the American economy and standard of living. But on the other hand...
2. This is the watershed moment in history where the “American Century” ended and the “Chinese Century” began. The Chinese now have the economic muscle and unlike America of 1909, the Chinese have plans right now on how to use it for their own ends. We have been deliberately and publicly humiliated in the international arena, and worse, appear utterly powerless to do anything about it.
The ignorant 53% of the American voters were too stupid to realize what they were doing in November 2008. Thanks. Thanks a lot.
I too seriously doubt the Chinese wrecked this ridiculous meeting. If so, then my hat’s off to them. More likely, however, is that the “Blame Bush” crowd simply needs an international scapegoat to blame, and they’ve settled on “Blame China”. Thus the Chinese now fulfill the role of an international “Bush” for the blamers.
If on the other hand the Chinese really did wreck this conference, what does that say about their relative power in the world compared to the U.S., U.K., and EU? Could, for instance, Uganda, have wrecked the climate talks? I don’t think so. So, either China is now the world’s economic leader or it is the latest scapegoat for the lame left. Take your pick.
(BTW, isn’t the “blame China” game sweetly ironic, given the adoration with which the leftests worship Mao?)
They also have a lot to lose if 0bozo crashes our economy with hyper-inflation and they end up getting back twenty cents on the dollar in buying power on the T-bills they bought. I think they're treading carefully in some ways so they can apply pressure when and where it counts for them.
Also, evil and brutal or not, the Chinese are not comfortable with standing on an absurd and neurotic premise like Glowbull Whining TheoryTM. They see the pragmatic problem with that. It could all fall apart* at any time and anyone holding the bag when it does is SOL.
ROTFLOL Best new pseudonym for 0bummer in six months!
We're on the same page. See my post #63.
And then there are those of us who, when being serious, see it as simply a matter of choice. Liberals/Progressives/communists choose to ignore reality to further their power grab agenda. China, India and others choose to recognize reality and preserve their economic security in a rational manner.
0bummer had a real job once. Scooping ice cream.
Now he just shovels BS. So he is the First Pooper Scooper.
Go Bo!
Isn't it interesting that Brazil, the world's leading producer of ethanol from sugar cane, has no illusions about building a robust economy without massive quantities of petroleum!
Even that enviro-Star, Thuggo Chavez, depends solely on black gold to feed his regime. Too bad for his people that he feeds them with half-arsed Russian military equipment instead of actual food.
My reading of this is that the Chinese did everything they could to prevent that from happening. Wen Jinbao was wisely making himself unavailable while the drama queens, ie the third-world begging-cup dictators and the hoaxter scientists, played out their farcical tragi-comedy on stage.
In classic oriental style the Chinese, as serious players, were waiting and working behind the scenes in order to come in and close the deal/s at the end with the other high-stakes competitors.
But 0fullofhimself screwed that pooch. He publically pressed the Chinese, who continued to try and broker their position privately, now with an urgency and a need to do it without the U.S., and 0postturtle took it personally and crashed their meet in a public way.
He humiliated the Chinese Premiere and scotched whatever arrangements they were making with Brazil, India and South Africa. (or maybe not) An arrangement the U.S. could have been in on if not for the leftist position we now take made a thousand times worse by 0bungler's Messiah complexed ego.
I admit that's reading between the lines but I think it's plausible. Wen Jinbao wouldn't show any personal feelings unless the party back home wanted him to on behalf of the regime.
Exactly!!
Americans are starting to wake up and are not buying the "blame everyone else" bit.
China and India had an opportunity to accept a portion of the 100 Billion a year bride proposed by our great Hillary. A proposal made to try and save face for the great 0.
It didn't work.
So yes, blame big China instead of blaming our Climate Change Religion zealots for this BS conference in the first place.
No doubt the Washington and Britain are hell bent on destroying their countries from within.
100 Billion didn't work, wonder what they will offer next time to bride nations in helping destroy the USA?
If someone owed you a lot of money, and you knew they were gutting their own business and heading for bankruptcy, would you loan them some more to pay you a bribe? lol
You hit it on the head. LOL
India wanted no part of it as well.
They have a vested interest in stopping the U.S. from committing fanatical suicide or they will never get their loans repaid.
Brazil and Venezuela are two leftist nations where enviro-wackos will get zero traction. Both nations will extract oil and other resources any darn way they please
It’s the wimpy developed nation that have a left-environmentalist alliance full of global warming dolts and polar bear lovers who think they are going extinct. Not so in the 3rd world
After all, one reason tyrannical states do that is because the general populations in socialist states have no real loyalty to the state and must be kept quiet with at least a minimal subsistence living.
Praise Gaia and pass my party membership card it's off to the strip mine I go!
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