China Shouldn’t Try to Blackmail Biden on Climate
Xi Jinping will will want to set a high price for cooperation but he has less leverage than it may appear.
Playing hardball could backfire.
Photographer: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images
U.S. President Joe Biden has made no secret of his desire to work with China on combating climate change. His counterpart Xi Jinping might hope to trade China’s cooperation for concessions on other issues, whether trade or Taiwan. In this case, however, Xi would be wiser not to haggle.
In theory, Biden does need Xi more than the other way around. Climate change is the U.S. president’s top priority. And, if Biden wants to rally the world behind a major new effort to prevent global warming, he will need China’s support at the follow-up to the Paris climate conference, to be held in Glasgow later this year.