china and the EU will meet on Friday to rescue an international accord against climate change from that President Trump announced his readiness to withdraw from. China has become Europe’s new global partners on the aspects of free trade, security and defense and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is expected to meet high ranking european union officials in Brussels at a summit. The issue of North Korea’s nuclear tests will top the agenda. Li stressed China’s total support for the 2015 Paris climate pact while addressing newsmen in Berlin. China overthrew the US in 2007 to become the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world.
EU found a new ally
“China will stick to its commitments on climate change,” Li told reporters after having a meeting with Angela Merkel German Chancellor before he left for Brussels. The EU and China will devote to total implementation of the Paris climate accord, in a speech supported by the entire 28 member EU states, according to a joint statement from officials of the European Union and China.
This is the first ever joint statement between the EU and China pledging to curb global warming by adopting more green technology and by raising $100 billion in a year by 2020, assisting developing countries to reduce their emissions. According to the European Council President Donald Tusk, the European Union and China sees climate action and the clean energy transformation as more important than ever.
China's defense of open trade
The summit, which usually holds in the middle of July every year, was moved forward on the request by China to present President Xi Jinping’s justification of open trade at the World Economic Forum held in Davos in January in reaction to President Trump’s protectionist stance. The EU commissioner for energy Miguel Arias Canete said that the European Union was sadly disappointed by Trump’s declaration but would look for new allies and partners in the battle to curbing the overbearing effects of climate change.
The effects of the new partnership
While China needs to study and fully understand European Union’s technical know-how to combat the pollution ravaging its cities, the EU on the other hand, is looking forward to Beijing to act against emissions resulting to increase in drought, rising sea level and many other consequences of climate change.
In an extensive final resolution focusing on a series of other pressing issues, China’s Li, EU’s Junker and Tusk are expected to agree to free trade and curb an international steel glut that the US and EU accused China of attempting to muddle local markets.
