China, India pledge joint efforts to advance climate negotiations

At the Sino-India symposium on climate change held in India's capital New Dehli on Oct. 21, representatives from both countries signed the Agreement on Cooperation Addressing Climate Change, and set up a "climate change" working group to enhance the exchanges and cooperation in this regard. The signing of the agreement marked a step forward for collaboration in climate change between the two Asian neighbors.

The Sino-Indian partnership on climate change will play a vital role not only in pushing forward the development of climate issues in Asia, but in the world as a whole. Since the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee for United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was established in 1990, the disputes between the North and the South have become a hot topic among the industrial countries and the emerging economies.

The developing countries tend to negotiate as the G-77 (plus China), which will play a crucial role in maintaining their national interests. However, as the negotiations go deeper, the developing countries find the relations between themselves playing a more prominent role.

Members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) disagree on priority areas and capital use, while Brazil and other Latin American countries care more about issues concerning their immediate interests such as forest protection and emission cuts. China and India, two of the world's most populous nations, occupy a pivotal position in global climate negotiations. The two Asian giants can push forward cooperation among all the developing countries and magnify their voices through enhanced cooperation and active participation.

India firmly holds that developed countries should be responsible for global climate changes, that they take the lead in cutting emissions and provide developing countries with the necessary capital aid and technique transfer. Like many developing countries, India also faces the duel challenges of climate change and sustainable development. The South Asian country advocates the idea of equal emission among all countries, calls for a fair financing mechanism, opposes official development assistance (ODA) and financing through market channels as well as the trade protectionism developed countries adopted against rising economies.

Given the different national conditions, there are differences among the developing countries on climate change, and there is also competition for international capital and technological assistances through a clean energy development mechanism. Exchanges and understanding are quite important.

China issued a National Plan for Coping with Climate Change in June 2007, and has achieve positive results in energy saving and emission cuts so far. In 2008, Indian government promulgated an action plan for coping with climate change, putting forward the objectives to raise efficiency and promote renewable energy development.

The enhanced cooperation between the two sides in climate change is a major step forward for the developing countries to cope with global climate change, sending a proactive signal to the international community in advancing global climate negotiation.

By People's Daily Online