[Epoch Times October 15, 2021](Epoch Times reporter Xia Yu comprehensive report) According to the British “Times” report, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was told that Chinese President Xi Jinping will not attend in person COP26 climate summit.
The United Kingdom held the 26th United Nations Conference of the Parties to Climate Change (COP26) in Glasgow from October 31st to November 12th to seek support from major powers to develop a more radical climate change plan.
The Times quoted an unidentified British source as saying: “It is now clear that Xi Jinping will not appear, and the Prime Minister has been informed of this.” “We don’t know what position China will take.”
China is the world‘s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. According to The Times, British organizers are worried that Xi Jinping’s decision not to participate in the climate summit under the energy crunch is a prelude to Beijing’s refusal to set new climate change targets.
The Times could not immediately reach the Chinese Embassy in London for comment.
It is expected that all countries will publish new climate change targets in advance, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). However, with two weeks to go before the summit, only half of the G20 countries, including the world’s largest emitters, have put forward their plans.
If Beijing fails to publish its own Nationally Determined Contributions, or formulate a Nationally Determined Contribution that fails to further reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, it may undermine the summit’s attempts to reach an agreement that indicates that the world is expected to limit global warming to 1.5. Celsius target. China accounts for 27% of global carbon emissions.
Xi Jinping participated in the Paris Climate Summit in 2015, and the meeting agreed to limit global warming to less than two degrees above the pre-industrial level.
At the United Nations this year, Beijing promised to stop investing in new overseas coal projects, but did not make any further domestic commitments. The UK still hopes that Xie Zhenhua, the climate envoy of the Chinese Communist Party, who is about to visit Glasgow, can take further action.
Lauri Myllyvirta, a China expert and chief analyst at the Energy and Clean Air Research Center, told The Times that he does not expect Beijing to release an NDC before the summit.
“Once Beijing does this, it will lock itself on these promises, and the pressure from Glasgow (the summit) will make them do more,” he said.
The President of the United States, the Queen of England, the Prime Minister of Australia, and the Prime Minister of Israel have confirmed their participation in the COP26 climate summit.
Since mid-January 2020, Xi Jinping has not been abroad. The last time Xi Jinping went abroad was on January 18, 2020, when he visited neighboring Myanmar. Five days after returning home, the Chinese authorities suddenly announced that Wuhan was completely closed. Since then, Xi Jinping has not visited overseas again.
In the past year, he participated in more than a dozen international conferences through video, and made about 60 calls with world leaders, including many conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Merkel and French leader Macron. . Xi Jinping also had a phone conversation with US President Biden recently.
Bloomberg reported on October 5 that four people familiar with the matter disclosed that the Chinese diplomat had notified G20 officials that Xi Jinping currently does not plan to attend the G20 summit in Rome, Italy from October 30 to 31 in person.
The timing of the G20 summit may be delicate for Xi Jinping. The top leaders of the Communist Party of China decided to hold the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Beijing in November this year. The Communist Party of China has held 8 Sixth Plenary Sessions since the reform and opening up. This meeting is usually held in September and October.
Li Yanming, a CCP expert and current political commentator, previously stated to The Epoch Times that the Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is critical to the CCP’s 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China next year.
Editor in charge: Gao Jing#
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