China, US to Form Climate Change Working Group, China Says

[Hamartia Antidote]

China, US to Form Climate Change Working Group, China Says

Two nations also discuss consulates, journalist visas, Xinhua reports

www.voanews.com

After two days of tense talks with his Chinese counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that despite their differences, there are places where the interests of the two nations intersect. On Saturday, China acknowledged as much, a sign of possible progress.

In a dispatch from Alaska, China's official Xinhua News Agency said China and the U.S. would set up a working group on climate change.

Xinhua did not give any details about the climate working group but did say the U.S. and China discussed changing COVID-19 travel and visa policies and vaccinating each other’s diplomats. Both sides also agreed to discuss “diplomatic and consular missions" and journalists’ visas, Xinhua said.

Last July, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas, to shut down, citing the persistent problem of theft of U.S. intellectual property. China strenuously objected and later closed the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu.

The dispute over journalists began in February 2020. Eventually both countries expelled several of each other’s journalists and reduced the length of their visas to three months, although those stays are usually renewed.

A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday, said that while no formal agreements on new talks were reached, there were areas “in the normal course of our diplomatic engagements where we may be able to explore" mutual interests.

Prepared for confrontation

Blinken told reporters after the Alaska talks ended Friday night that U.S. diplomats "knew going in that there are a number of areas where we are fundamentally at odds, including China's actions in Xinjiang, with regard to Hong Kong, Tibet, increasingly Taiwan, as well as actions that it's taking in cyberspace."

"And it's no surprise that when we raise those issues clearly and directly, we got a defensive response,” he added.

"The U.S. side should not underestimate China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Chinese media after the meeting.

The Chinese delegation, headed by Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left the talks Friday without making a statement.

Blinken said that despite the difficulties, the two sides were also able to have a “very candid conversation” on topics where their interests intersect, including Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and the climate.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

The outclassed US side trying to save their face after a shameful, appalling performance.

What climate change agreement when China is already in compliance with its commitment with Paris Treaty and USA has not even started yet.
Loads of diplomatic bullshit from Biden USA.

The Chinese side as usual keeping their silence to let their arrogant and rude counterparts keep their pride and hide their shameful face.

 

[GumNaam]

The outclassed US side trying to save their face after a shameful, appalling performance.

What climate change agreement when China is already in compliance with its commitment with Paris Treaty and USA has not even started yet.
Loads of diplomatic bullshit from Biden USA.

The Chinese side as usual keeping their silence to let their arrogant and rude counterparts keep their pride and hide their shameful face.

u.s. should by thankful to China...Beijing gave washington a face saving opportunity after slapping it around on her own turf by saying that she is not in a position of power, she isn't the intl community & nor is the west considered as the intl community.

 

[Kyle Sun]

Haha, neither the US nor China give a damn about climate change.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

Haha, neither the US nor China give a damn about climate change.

That is not simply true.
Example.
China is the leader in alternate green energy, has planted more than a billion trees, have reclaimed more land from deserts than any other nations, and even the new coal energy plant they are building utilized the newer green technologies.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

In December 2016, the Center for American Progress brought a group of energy experts to China to find out what is really happening. We visited multiple coal facilities—including a coal-to-liquids plant—and went nearly 200 meters down one of China’s largest coal mines to interview engineers, plant managers, and local government officials working at the front lines of coal in China.

We found that the nation’s coal sector is undergoing a massive transformation that extends from the mines to the power plants, from Ordos to Shanghai. China is indeed going green. The nation is on track to overdeliver on the emissions reduction commitments it put forward under the Paris climate agreement, and making coal cleaner is an integral part of the process.

From a climate perspective, the ideal scenario would be for China to shut down all of its coal-fired power plants and switch over to clean energy full stop. In reality, China’s energy economy is a massive ship that cannot turn on a dime. The shift toward renewables is happening: China’s Paris commitment includes a promise to install 800 gigawatts to 1,000 gigawatts of new renewable capacity by 2030, an amount equivalent to the capacity of the entire U.S. electricity system.1 While China and the United States have roughly the same land mass, however, China has 1.3 billion people to the United States’ 325 million.2 It needs an electricity system that is much larger, so adding the renewable equivalent of one entire U.S. electricity system is not enough to replace coal in the near to medium term. To bridge the gap, China is rolling out new technologies to drastically reduce local air pollution and climate emissions from the nation’s remaining coal plants.

This issue brief covers three things American observers need to understand about coal in China:

1. China’s new coal-fired power plants are cleaner than anything operating in the United States.
2. China’s emissions standards for conventional air pollutants from coal-fired power plants are stricter than the comparable U.S. standards.
3. Demand for coal-fired power is falling so quickly in China that the nation cannot support its existing fleet. Many of the coal-fired power plants that skeptics point to as evidence against a Chinese energy transformation are actually white elephants that Chinese leaders are already targeting in a wave of forced plant closures.

Energy solutions that work well for China will not necessarily work well for the United States. In addition to the massive population disparity, the United States has access to cheap and plentiful shale gas, and China does not. If China is going to reduce emissions substantially, more efficient coal generation has to be part of its equation, at least for the near to medium term. In the United States, investing in next-generation clean coal plants is not a good solution because natural gas is cheap, plentiful, and lower-emitting than all but the most expensive coal-fired power.

Regardless of what works best in the U.S. market, understanding how Beijing is transforming its coal sectors is critical for understanding what to expect from the Chinese energy market going forward and how we should view China’s position in the global effort to combat climate change.

To read the full article...

Everything You Think You Know About Coal in China Is Wrong

China’s new coal-fired power plants are cleaner than ours—and stronger on climate change.

www.americanprogress.org

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

 

[Kyle Sun]

That is not simply true.
Example.
China is the leader in alternate green energy, has planted more than a billion trees, have reclaimed more land from deserts than any other nations, and even the new coal energy plant they are building utilized the newer green technologies.

I mean the CN-US talk has nothing to do with climate change.
Both govs just want to find something to grandstand to the public.

 

[GumNaam]

I mean the CN-US talk has nothing to do with climate change.
Both govs just want to find something to grandstand to the public.

yeah I'm other words show the public that gained something, these were "fruitful" negotiations, as they say in diplomatic circles. I'm just calling it face saving for the u.s.

 

[CAPRICORN-88]

More bad news for the zero sum game for USA after her humiliating Alaska meeting.

Saudi Aramco has agreed to sign a joint venture with China.

Is the end of Petrodollar in sight?

 

[SBUS-CXK]

China, US to Form Climate Change Working Group, China Says

Two nations also discuss consulates, journalist visas, Xinhua reports

www.voanews.com

After two days of tense talks with his Chinese counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that despite their differences, there are places where the interests of the two nations intersect. On Saturday, China acknowledged as much, a sign of possible progress.

In a dispatch from Alaska, China's official Xinhua News Agency said China and the U.S. would set up a working group on climate change.

Xinhua did not give any details about the climate working group but did say the U.S. and China discussed changing COVID-19 travel and visa policies and vaccinating each other’s diplomats. Both sides also agreed to discuss “diplomatic and consular missions" and journalists’ visas, Xinhua said.

Last July, then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ordered the Chinese Consulate in Houston, Texas, to shut down, citing the persistent problem of theft of U.S. intellectual property. China strenuously objected and later closed the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu.

The dispute over journalists began in February 2020. Eventually both countries expelled several of each other’s journalists and reduced the length of their visas to three months, although those stays are usually renewed.

A senior U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday, said that while no formal agreements on new talks were reached, there were areas “in the normal course of our diplomatic engagements where we may be able to explore" mutual interests.

Prepared for confrontation

Blinken told reporters after the Alaska talks ended Friday night that U.S. diplomats "knew going in that there are a number of areas where we are fundamentally at odds, including China's actions in Xinjiang, with regard to Hong Kong, Tibet, increasingly Taiwan, as well as actions that it's taking in cyberspace."

"And it's no surprise that when we raise those issues clearly and directly, we got a defensive response,” he added.

"The U.S. side should not underestimate China's determination to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests," Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Chinese media after the meeting.

The Chinese delegation, headed by Communist Party foreign affairs chief Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left the talks Friday without making a statement.

Blinken said that despite the difficulties, the two sides were also able to have a “very candid conversation” on topics where their interests intersect, including Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan and the climate.

so US is trying to cover up its lies and embarrassment with the topic of "climate"?

 

[powastick]

This is actually bad news. Prices of renewable might go up if worst case scenario. Why? Because US may want large piece of renewable business, US is not stupid on fixing climate change for free. This may force bad practices of price fixing like what cartels are doing.