Obama Is Snubbed by Wen at Climate Summit as U.S.-China Tensions Escalate

[Purveyor]

Source: Bloomberg

By Kim Chipman and Nicholas Johnston

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama’s first closed-door meeting with world leaders in Copenhagen to forge an agreement to slow climate change had a notable absentee: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

While the U.S. leader and Wen later met privately for almost an hour, China’s premier didn’t show up for a second meeting with Obama and other leaders this afternoon, adding to speculation the world’s two biggest producers of greenhouse gases are far apart on an agreement to fight climate change.

Obama and Wen are now set to meet for a second one-on-one talk at 7 p.m. in Copenhagen, the U.S. administration said.

Negotiators from 193 countries are in the Danish capital for the United Nations talks, which are stuck on aid to developing countries facing damage from climate change, pollution-reduction goals and how to verify individual country’s pledges to cut harmful emissions.

“I have to be honest, as the world watches us today, I think our ability to take collective action is in doubt right now and it hangs in the balance,” Obama told more than 8,000 delegates in Copenhagen earlier today, where discussions are supposed to conclude at 6 p.m.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMd_VEyskvcE&pos=8

[WriteDown]

1. China will not allow any restrictions to be placed on their CO2 output....

Luckily, the weakening dollar may give the US enough trade strength to eventually support tariffs.

[still_one]

2. It is quite simple, setup tariffs on goods made in China unless they play ball

[WriteDown]

3. Can't be done until the trade deficit is brought under control. nt

[galileoreloaded]

4. China is getting ready to crash. HARD. And it's well documented.

China nor the US give two shits about environmental policies or climate change. They are trying to not get politically or literally lynched by an increasingly austere populous.

Sometimes we DU'rs worry about the wrong shit, at the wrong times.

[FarCenter]

5. China recongnizes that the most important function of government is economic success

Compared with the United States, which considers various military and political adventures abroad to be the most important function of government.

[WriteDown]

6. Good analysis. nt

[Duppers]

7. ....

excuse me but those "various military and political adventures abroad" are about control of oil, which in their little brains = economic success.

[Psephos]

8. I don't see much evidence of US control of global oil these days...

...but I'm always open to some clear, simple examples if you have any to provide.

[Duppers]

10. Oh, I agree

What I posted was that, in their little brains, our interference in the ME was/is primarily about control of oil. They failed.

Afghanistan is about the oil pipeline line too, is it not?

[democrat_patriot]

9. Misleading title. Obama wasn't snubbed, they all were.

Obama met with him twice one-on-one. How did Obama get snubbed again?

[Duppers]

11. better, in-depth article here

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/18/obamas-copenhagen-speech_n_397152.html

[progressoid]

12. Not surprised.

China wants to do their version of the dirty industrial revolution we did a century ago.

[m3e92man8850]

13. the chinese are in no position to talk