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Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The Australian newspaper has praised President Xi Jinping, though the reporter admits China’s policy of churning out coal plants and mining coal as quickly as possible is undermining China’s credibility as a climate champion.
Climate change is a wake-up call, says Xi Jinping
By WILL GLASGOW
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called climate change a “wake-up call … to mankind” in a speech delivered less than a week before the COP26 talks begin in Glasgow.
The declaration came as China’s delegation for the high- stakes summit received final instructions before flying to London on Tuesday and as Beijing’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, called the policy to achieve a carbon peak a “major strategic decision”.
“Climate change is a wake-up call from nature to mankind,” Mr Xi said on Monday in a speech marking 50 years since China joined the UN.
Beijing is attempting to shore up the climate change credentials of its supreme leader ahead of the summit at which the world’s biggest emitter is under pressure to increase the size and hasten the pace of its carbon cuts.
China’s leader will not physically attend the UN-backed talks in Glasgow, which run for a fortnight from Sunday.
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Many are sceptical about Beijing’s claims of climate leadership. China accounts for 28 per cent of global emissions and has continued to build new coal-fired power stations despite Mr Xi’s rhetoric.
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Within China, Mr Xi’s environmental credentials are being loudly championed.
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Read more: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/climate-change-is-a-wakeup-call-says-xi-jinping/news-story/c667bba7a91e724421ec75b6e56b0664
What can I say – I guess if you are the Emperor of China, you can build as much coal power as you want, and still be a green hero.
Update (EW): From The Guardian, October 8th 2021 – China orders coalmines to raise production to address power crunch
Maybe Xi Jinping was not talking to people. but to heaven? China’s weather of the past two years suggests he has lost the mandate of heaven. So maybe he was showing some contrition to whichever gods overlook China?
Yes, there are hints that all is not well in the Chicom leadership. Xi is not seen as the Golden Boy by some of his peers.
The world should boycott the Chicom Olympic Games and give those in China who oppose Xi a chance to oust him from power. His rivals can blame Xi for foisting the Wuhan virus on the world, and for the human rights abuses occurring under Xi’s leadership, and for the loss of the Olympic Games.
The Free World needs to start thinking smarter. Kowtowing to a dictator like Xi is not the way. The opposite of that is the way. Put the focus on Xi’s crimes against humanity.
China is delighted to let the world commit economic suicide by wasting $trillions on wind/solar power projects since they’re the ones selling the bullets: China has global market shares of 80% for solar panels, and 14% for wind turbines…
Meanwhile, China is rapidly building new coal-fired plant capacity at a pace THREE times the entire total all other countries in the world combined.. Oh, my..
https://globalenergymonitor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/China-Dominates-2020-Coal-Development.pdf
China’s long term energy strategy is to rapidly build coal-fired capacity for the next 10~15 years, and then decommission their older coal-fired plants and replace them with new Thorium MSRs which China predicts will become available in the early 2030’s (theoretically capable of producing power at $0.03/kWh)…
Oh, goody.. Game, set, and match..
We will declare an Earth Day holiday in the slave labor camps of western China. So let it be written.
I wonder if there’s a playbook for America’s geopolitical adversaries? They all know they can get concrete concessions from us now and in turn give lipservice to non-specific future actions.
They certainly knew how to play Obama. Biden, well, they own him. Biden’s party think America’s enemies are their domestic political opponents. The Republicans, especially Trump Republicans must be dealt with with an iron fist.
China, Russia Iran, the Taliban? They’re just misunderstood you see? The rulers of those countries all want the same thing our political elites want. We just need to play nice with them no matter how many times they spit on agreements and obligations.