14 DAY TRIAL // According to top Australian and Chinese officials, there is a good chance that the December 2009 UN summit, to be held in Copenhagen, will be concluded with an international treaty that will replace the Kyoto Protocol. The two representatives say that signs show that the increasing gap between rich and developing nations may also be bridged during the talks. While the underdeveloped world asks first-rated countries to give them more funds and technology to combat global warming, the developed nations argue that they shouldn't be forced to do it, and hesitate in making any firm decision.
Pan Jiahua, a top Chinese climate expert, is quoted by Reuters as saying that rich nations, including the United States and Australia, need to renounce their “wasteful and luxurious” lifestyles, so that others could also develop. He gave India and his own country as examples for this, saying that it would be unfair of the Western world to ask the two states to drop their development plans, when the US, the UK, Germany, and others had already reached their peak levels without being restrained in any way.
“Like in the United States, there is huge waste of energy here. I think that China must say [at the UN talks] the Australians could do a little bit more. The more you take actions to reduce, the deeper cuts you are willing to do, the Chinese may be more likely to engage in exchange,” Pan Jiahua, who is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told at a climate forum in Canberra, Australia. The center-left government is currently engaged in talks with the Greens about the scale of the carbon emission reductions envisioned.
China's involvement in whatever document the Copenhagen conference yields is fundamental to the entire globe. If the Asian nation refuses to join the international agreement, then India will most likely follow suit. As far as carbon dioxide emissions go, China is the top polluter of the world, while India is placed fourth. Without these countries, any agreement would be futile. But China has repeatedly made it clear that it will only contribute to the global effort if all other major actors do so as well. Hence the visit to Australia, which heavily relies on fossil fuels for producing electricity.