Jason Courtoy

The Washington Center

Global Policy Issues
Essay 1

What does China want in 2011 and Why?

China, considered the largest if not top carbon emitter, is a major proponent for climate change

legislation. A principal focus of PRC policy, as explained by Li Gao, has been increased pressure on

developed states to take deeper cuts in emission production. However, Li Gao also expressed that the

PRC will not budge on “issues of ‘principle.’” These issues can be expressed in one area, developing

states role in climate change. The PRC has two main objectives for international climate policy in 2011:

the creation of a legally binding document and maintenance of developing states exemption from a

majority of emission caps.

Cancun, according to most, was an utter failure. However, the PRC sees it much like the slow

tortuous. While there was no agreement on a legally binding document, the Cancun Consensus does

express intent to keep global temperature only at 2⁰C and that developed states will pay for emission

redistribution. In other words, the developed states pay a percentage (i.e. $30bn for 2011-2012 and

$100bn in 2020) to cover the cost developing states cannot afford to reduce. The theory states that

having developed states, who can afford to reduce their emissions, pay extra will offset the cost of

developing states industrialization. Industrialization is a major pollutant because developing states lack

the funds and knowledge for the creation of carbon reducing equipment. Therefore, the concept is

excellent for developing states because it gives them a free ride, so to speak, to develop at any capacity

possible. Li Gao describes the Cancun Consensus as the stepping stones for the next meeting in South

Africa. Where he is optimistic, a legally binding document will be reached.

The PRC’s focus on securing developing states exemption from the full impact of emission caps

is because it considers itself a developing state. Unbeknownst to most of the West, China still has a vast

multitude of regions and people that are still under-developed. The designation of developed or
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developing is a mixture of the HDI and a state’s economy (i.e. GDP). This exemption, also, gives China a

major advantage economically by not having to pay the fines of a developed state. If China were forced

to, it would cripple the Chinese economy causing it to stall into decline. Economical decline is

disadvantageous to the PRC, whose social contract with the Chinese people is built upon economic

growth.

The PRC sees the only hindrance to a legally binding document as the United States. This is due

principally because the United States and its allies constantly bombard China with pressure to join the

developed states in reducing its emissions. Nevertheless, the PRC’s attacks on the United States climate

policy are not unfounded. History has an example. The League of Nations, while it was created, failed

because the United States, a major source of funds, did not join. The same could be said about legally

binding international climate change legislation. Since the United States has not yet passed any climate

change policy and never signed the Kyoto Protocol, many states do not see the point. Climate change is

likely to go the way of the League of Nations. However, passage of legislation in the United States will

remain untouched until the political debate surrounding it is settled.

The PRC’s principal desire in 2011 is the creation of a legally binding document in South Africa

this November. This document would be slowly developed, like a tortuous, from the Cancun Consensus.

In continuation, it would seek increased payment from developed nations to supplement developing

state’s industrializations. The PRC would focus on the maintenance of wording protecting the unique

status of developing states in climate change, especially since China’s economic stability depends on it.