US has ruined chances of climate cooperation

By working together on the climate front, China and the United States will not only help the international community better address the climate crisis but also improve global climate governance. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem possible at the moment because the US has been trying to hollow out the one-China principle, the base on which Sino-US relations have been built. This has created a dilemma for those leading the global fight against climate change.

The resumption of bilateral climate cooperation requires the US to stop making provocative moves against China. In particular, the US should stop interfering in the Taiwan question, which is China's internal matter, and challenging China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Intensifying the fight against climate change has become all the more important because extreme heat and drought or drought-like conditions in many places this year have reduced agricultural production, thereby affecting people's livelihoods and curbing economic growth.

But fighting climate change requires global efforts, in which cooperation of major economies is particularly crucial. And since the US and China are the two largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters－the two countries' combined carbon emissions account for more than 40 percent of global emissions－and thus have a significant impact on the development of global climate governance, their cooperation is critical to the success of the global fight against climate change.

China and the US are global leaders in clean technology and industrial standards, and complement each other in technologies and management experience. As such, there is a huge scope for Sino-US cooperation in the fields of clean energy and environmental protection, which in turn can improve global climate governance and promote R&D in clean technologies.

For China, energy cooperation with the US is an effective way to change its development mode and overcome the constraints of resources and better protect the environment and preserve the ecology. As for the US, only by strengthening cooperation with China and getting its support in international climate negotiations can it play a leading role in global climate governance and fulfill the Joe Biden administration's climate promises.

Sino-US climate cooperation has never been easy. And given that the US now describes China as its "largest strategic competitor", bilateral climate cooperation appears even more difficult.

Last fall, speaking on Sino-US climate cooperation, which is still moving forward despite the numerous obstacles, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that although the climate negotiations are an "oasis" in the present state of bilateral relations, if the desert continues to advance around it, the "oasis" would soon become part of the desert.

US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has accelerated the advance of the desert around the climate "oasis" by visiting the Chinese island of Taiwan on Aug 2. The Chinese people understand the profound importance of the Taiwan question. And according to the one-China principle, there is only one China, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate representative of China and Taiwan is part of China.

Despite the strong protests from China, Pelosi made the reckless visit to the island which was followed by the visits of several other US officials. These are nothing but provocative moves against China and blatant violations of the one-China principle, which Washington has acknowledged in the three joint communiques it has signed with Beijing. Such moves by US officials have naturally made the Chinese people indignant and angry.

In response, Beijing suspended the China-US climate talks, which means the plan to form a bilateral climate change working group has been shelved, and the talks on issues such as methane emissions reduction, forest protection and clean energy generation scheduled for September stand canceled.

China-US climate cooperation has always been related to the overall development of bilateral ties. When the US threatens China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, when US officials continue to visit the Taiwan island, and when issues the Chinese people are very sensitive about are constantly trampled on by the US, bilateral climate cooperation becomes unfeasible.

If the US wants to work with China to address the climate crisis, it should stop provoking China by hollowing out the one-China principle and challenging its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The author is a research fellow at the Institute of American Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.