US lawmakers differ on chances of China climate deal
28 May 2009 15:29:41 GMT Source: Reuters
By Chris Buckley BEIJING, May 28 (Reuters) - United States lawmakers visiting China gave widely divergent views on Thursday of the prospects for a new global climate pact by the end of the year, after talks with Chinese leaders. The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has this week led a group of Congress members to China to discuss how the two nations can work to contain greenhouse gases from human activity blamed for global warming. Such cooperation will be crucial to reaching agreement in Copenhagen in December, when nations will negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which did not require China and other developing countries to restrict greenhouse gas emissions. Experts believe China is now the world's biggest emitter of carbon dixoide, the main greenhouse gas from fossil fuels. It has overtaken the United States, although China's average per capita emissions are still well below those of the U.S. But in what may be a sign of rifts that may trouble the U.S. role in negotiations, Democrat and Republican lawmakers gave very different assessments of whether China is doing enough to make an acceptable climate deal possible. Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat behind a bill before Congress to curtail U.S. emissions, said he was heartened by what he saw and heard. "We leave here encouraged that progress can be made heading towards Copenhagen," Markey told a news conference in Beijing. "We do believe that there is movement," he added, citing China's goals to develop clean energy and reduce energy waste. Jay Inslee, a Democrat from Washington State who works on climate change, also sounded upbeat. "We now know that China is playing in the major leagues," he said. James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin, gave a very different assessment. "I am less than optimistic," he said of chances for accord in Copenhagen. China's leaders were doing too little to stem their rising emissions, said Sensenbrenner. "The message that I received was that China was going to do it their way regardless of what the rest of the world negotiates in Copenhagen." Sensenbrenner said China's demand that rich countries divert up to one percent of their economic worth to help poor countries combat climate change would never pass the U.S. Senate, which must approve any U.S. participation in a climate pact. The United States signed Kyoto but President Bill Clinton never sought to ratify it after the Senate showed overwhelming disapproval, in part because the pact did not demand mandatory emissions caps of China and other emerging economies. Pelosi and the other Congress members did not offer details of what they think China will have to offer in Copenhagen. Pelosi also said the delegation raised human rights concerns with China's leaders, days before the 20th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown on democracy demonstrations. A Democrat from California, Pelosi has long been pilloried by Chinese officials and media for her criticisms of Beijing's restrictions on political rights and policies in Tibet. At the news conference, Pelosi did not raise any specific rights cases, but said she and the delegation pressed their concerns with Chinese leaders. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
Tsewang Dhondup, a Tibetan exile, shows his wounded arm during a news conference in the northern Indian hilltown of Dharamsala May 28, 2009. Dhondup said he was one of four Tibetan ...
