Climate change: China vows to defend Paris agreement

[ZearFoss]

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to protect the landmark Paris agreement, which aims to curb climate change and fossil fuel emissions.
He made the promise in a phone call with incoming French President Emmanuel Macron, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump is still deciding whether to withdraw from the accord - an election campaign promise.
Climate experts worry such a move would throw the agreement into chaos.
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A White House meeting to discuss the topic on Tuesday has been postponed, amid reports of divisions among senior Trump advisers.
It is the second time the meeting has been cancelled. No new date has been given.
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The current disagreement within the White House over whether the US should withdraw from the Paris climate agreement is a prime example of the much-reported palace intrigue within the Trump administration spilling out into a policy debate.
In one corner you have senior officials like strategist Steve Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, who are on record calling for an exit from the accord. Others, like Energy Secretary Rick Perry, have been noncommittal. Meanwhile, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said the US should keep a "seat at the table" and presidential adviser/daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner are pro-Paris.
Donald Trump, while he did once tweet that global warming was a Chinese conspiracy, has largely avoided extended discussions on the subject. While his administration is steadily driving to roll back many Obama-era regulations, environmental issues as a whole seem of little interest to him.
Any White House meeting to hash out a coherent policy on the Paris agreement is destined to be contentious and with a decidedly uncertain resolution. A battle no-one is convinced they will win is one that is ripe for delay - again.
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Mr Xi told Mr Macron China and France "should protect the achievements of global governance, including the Paris agreement", according to the Chinese foreign ministry.
Under former President Barack Obama, the US and China issued several joint statements on climate change, even announcing together they would sign the Paris agreement. The two countries are the world's biggest polluters.
For his part, when Mr Macron received his congratulatory phone call from the US president he told him he would also seek to defend the climate deal.