With an irritating self-assessment, China is trying to avoid payment obligations at the climate conference in Egypt. According to the negotiator, the country remains a developing country. Therefore, it does not have to pay for climate damage in poorer countries. On the contrary, Beijing wants to cash in.
According to its climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua, China does not feel responsible for paying into a pot of money for climate damage in poorer countries. This responsibility lies with the industrialized countries, Xie told journalists on the sidelines of the UN climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh. Developing countries could contribute on a “voluntary basis,” Xie said. His country, like the United States, put “great weight” on the question of damage and casualties.
The compensation payments for climate damage in particularly vulnerable countries are the biggest point of contention at the climate conference in Egypt. According to EU circles, this was cleared out in the evening. An agreement on a financial pot on the subject seemed possible. China wants to continue to be treated as a developing country in international climate protection, as was stipulated in the Kyoto Protocol 30 years ago. Western countries, however, no longer want to classify the country as a recipient of funds because of its economic power and its role as the largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
On the question of who should receive the money from the pot, Xie also named the developing countries, but qualified: “I hope that it can be made available to the vulnerable countries first.”
Regarding the resumed climate dialogue with the USA and its climate commissioner John Kerry, Xie said: “We had an open, friendly, positive and active dialogue”, which was “very constructive overall”. “Today we agreed that we will continue our formal deliberations after this COP, including in person,” Xie said.
China broke off the climate dialogue with the US over tensions over Taiwan in August. The talks got moving again after the meeting between China’s head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in Bali on Monday. The resumption of the dialogue was not expressly announced. According to the US government, however, there was talk that both countries had to work together on major issues such as climate change and that “efforts on these and other issues” had to be deepened.