President Barroso announced an interesting shift in the Chinese attitude to the post-Kyoto agreement when visiting Beijing last week. The Chinese premier Wen Jiabao is said to have indicated that China could participate fully in an international agreement provided that the old industrialised nations promised to reduce their emission until 2020 and a financial mechanism for technology transfer is established.
If the Chinese really will be a full and acting participant in a future international solution with mutual binding targets, it is hard to imagine that the other giant, India, will stay out. The concerns are the same, not to be left with a commitment that no one else honours, and awareness about needs and actions is high.
It will then just leave us with the U.S., but the deck of cards will soon shift.
The EU-delegation, however, also discussed other issues, including the topical ones about the Olympics, Tibet and Human Rights. It is said that it is important for Chinese not to lose face and, if one can trust the press release, it seems as if President Barroso and the team of commissioners have managed quite well in showing both respect and profound will.
A matter of growing concern is the Chinese presence in Africa and an EU-China-Africa partnership in development cooperation was initiated. Such co-operation might be interesting since the reports of Chinese activities are a bit disturbing. Will the new co-operation mean that there will be less arms trade and less exploitation of raw materials in vulnerable African states?