Can the U.S. and China work together? Don’t look to climate change action for answers.

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The United States and China are the 2 astir almighty nations successful the world. They are besides astatine loggerheads implicit nationalist information connected Taiwan, quality rights successful Hong Kong and Xinjiang, commercialized and tariffs, nationalist wellness and covid-19 — and more. President Biden and China’s President Xi Jinping had their archetypal substantive gathering connected Monday evening, with the U.S. person talking virtually with his Chinese counterpart, who has not near his state passim the pandemic.

There is 1 contented connected which the United States and China person precocious pledged to enactment together, offering a agleam airy for those acrophobic astir the aboriginal of multilateralism: Climate change. But the aboriginal results from COP26, a United Nations clime acme that concluded this play successful Glasgow, Scotland, suggest mixed lessons connected the quality of Washington and Beijing to enactment unneurotic arsenic partners connected planetary issues.

On Wednesday, the 2 nations made the astonishment announcement that the United States and China would enactment unneurotic to dilatory planetary warming and guarantee that the clime talks produced meaningful results. It was a perchance large determination for 2 countries that are the apical greenhouse state emitting nations, unneurotic producing roughly 40 percent of planetary emissions successful 2019, according to 1 caller study.

“The United States and China person nary shortage of differences,” U.S. peculiar clime envoy John F. Kerry said in announcing the agreement. “But connected climate, practice is the lone mode to get this occupation done.” Kerry, a erstwhile caput of state, has been a cardinal advocator for improving relations with China with a extremity of ensuring practice connected large issues similar clime change, according to reporting from my colleagues.

Though not perfect, and airy connected circumstantial commitments, the statement drew cautious optimism. “It could person been truthful overmuch worse,” wrote Sam Geall, main enforcement of nonprofit enactment China Dialogue, in the Guardian connected Friday. But conscionable days aft the U.S.-China statement was announced, the last substance of the COP26 statement was released. While the 2 powers had made a amusement of moving together, the last papers whitethorn person shown the limits of this cooperation.

The Glasgow Climate Pact was the archetypal U.N. clime woody to explicitly notation the request to determination distant from ember power, but the connection had been watered down astatine the past infinitesimal nether unit from respective apical fossil fuel-producing countries. An archetypal purpose to “accelerate the phasing-out of ember and subsidies for fossil fuel” had been changed to “phase-down unabated coal,” alternatively than “phase out.”

China, on with India, was a cardinal operator of that change. It came arsenic a rude awakening for galore and “shocked astir delegates and riled the U.S. delegation,” a elder Biden medication authoritative aboriginal told The Washington Post — though immoderate accounts suggested the United States acquiesced to the weaker language. Alok Sharma, the British curate of authorities and president of the Glasgow summit, appeared upset by the changes. “We’re each good alert that, collectively, our clime ambition and enactment to day person fallen abbreviated connected the promises made successful Paris,” Sharma said Saturday, adding that China and India should “explain themselves.”

As China bureau main Lily Kuo reports, China’s pushback connected ember came arsenic caller home statistic revealed it produced 357 cardinal tons of ember successful October — a level not seen successful six years and an denotation of the effects of an vigor situation presently engulfing the country and putting the broader system astatine risk. And portion the state has promised to highest c emissions earlier 2030 and execute c neutrality by 2060, home concerns whitethorn trump planetary promises.

“Before calling connected each countries to extremity their usage of coal, the vigor needs and shortfalls of these countries indispensable beryllium considered,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Monday, according to the state-run Global Times. China consumed 56 percent the world’s coal successful 2020 — a wont that not lone contributes greatly to its tremendous greenhouse state emissions, astir a 4th of the world’s total, but 1 that could instrumentality a agelong clip to kick.

“I deliberation the existent vigor crunch successful China besides makes it precise hard for China to see immoderate stronger pledge connected phasing retired coal,” Yan Qin, a probe subordinate astatine the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, told The Post.

During Trump’s “America First” era, China portrayed itself arsenic a champion of the planetary order. In an quality successful Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum successful January 2017, Xi gave a speech connected the Chinese system and offered a defence of the planetary order. Two years later, Vice President Wang Qishan jabbed astatine the Trump administration with remarks astir countries “looking inward erstwhile making policies.”

But present the United States has a caller person — and it’s Xi who is stuck astatine home. Though the Chinese leader’s isolation has been justified by an ambitious aim of “covid zero,” it coincides with a home docket based connected accrued repression and provocative, unilateral overseas argumentation moves. “China contiguous is successful the grip of the astir concerted authorities run to asseverate greater power implicit nine successful decades, possibly since the tumultuous days of Mao Zedong,” Michael Schuman, a elder chap astatine the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, wrote for the Atlantic this week.

Some successful the Biden medication hoped that clime could beryllium a bridge. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that Biden and Xi had “encouraged their delegates to find communal crushed up of a virtual summit, according to radical acquainted with the negotiation.” For those acrophobic astir Chinese aggression toward Taiwan oregon its takeover of Hong Kong, determination were already concerns that clime issues gave China excessively overmuch leverage.

“China’s past of biology enactment is 1 of galore words and small action,” Louisa Greve, manager of planetary advocacy astatine the Uyghur Human Rights Project, wrote for the Hill newspaper this weekend, adding that Beijing “is good alert that its bare clime promises let politicians successful the U.S. to assertion triumph successful the media.” The constricted advancement aft COP26 whitethorn reenforce that view.