Right, right, because we can totally trust China, right? They would never cheat, right? They would never say they would do something and not do it, right?
Op-Ed: Jerry Brown: Biden’s first task should be working with China on climate change
In 2017, during my final term as governor of California, I traveled to China in search of climate partnerships with both national and local authorities. I knew that California’s path-breaking vehicle emission standards and other climate laws would prove ineffective unless other states — and countries — enacted similar measures. If California wanted to succeed in forcing the big auto companies to cut their emissions and shift to zero-emission vehicles, there would be no better ally than China, whose market every car company coveted.
U.S.-China relations were less toxic then than they are now, but still very difficult. Nevertheless, I was determined to build an effective climate alliance that would amplify and secure our efforts in California. (snip)
Our discussion that day also set in motion the California-China Climate Institute, a joint initiative of the University of California and Tsinghua University, which has begun research on ways to align carbon markets, accelerate a shift to zero-emission vehicles and achieve carbon neutrality by mid-century. We have also brought together top American and Chinese climate leaders.
California suffers through blackouts, many of them planned, and pays high prices for energy, which makes the cost of living high. And China suffers what, exactly? Nothing? They’re building lots of coal fired energy plants? Huh. Perhaps conspiring with a lying, Communist country isn’t such a good idea, Jerry. A nation that abuses its citizens, has a horrendous human rights record, enslaves citizens for forced labor, you know the rest.
Meanwhile in Washington, Trump has pursued unabashed nationalism, scapegoated foreigners and fostered unrelenting political polarization. Under these conditions, dialogue and building consensus — the very essence of democracy — have become ever more difficult. Beyond our borders, suspicion on every side has led to name calling and avoidance of international cooperation.
ZOMG, Trump put American interests over China’s? How horrible for you, Jerry
But America is only part of the problem and must enlist other nations to combat climate change. That is where China comes in. The overarching fact of life in today’s world is that despite totally different systems of government, China and America share a common interest and a common vulnerability. We will suffer the same devastations from a warming planet. We also share a common responsibility as the two largest producers of global greenhouse gases. Either we turn the tide together and put the world on the path to zero carbon emissions or it won’t be done.
That starts with Biden and Xi jointly pledging — in the first week of the Biden presidency — to work together on climate change. With Biden reentering the Paris Agreement and with both China and the U.S. sharing the goal of mid-century decarbonization, we are now heading in the same direction — at least on one of the biggest threats facing mankind.
I’m sure Joe would love to work with China. And China would love to go back to the old days when they took advantage of America. Anyone who thinks China will keep its word is a halfwit.
Let’s see, we’ve got 12 million people unemployed, and that was before the latest wave of job killing government shutdowns, but Jerry Brown thinks that the first thing that needs to be done is pursue policies that would make everything more expensive, for a benefit which won’t be realized for a hundred years, if it materializes at all?