'Eco-left' urges Biden: Go easy on China

FPI / July 18, 2021

A coalition of leftist groups has called on Team Biden not to badmouth or antagonize China.

Why? Because China might not cooperate on climate change if they are criticized in any way.

The leftist groups, including 350 Action, the Sunrise Movement and the Union of Concerned Scientists, actually believe they can persuade the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which puts the party above all else, including climate change, to join the climate crusade.

Here's something for those groups to mull: Whether it is being criticized by the U.S. or not, Communist China builds the equivalent of a new coal-fired power plant every week.

The 48 organizations in the leftist coalition sent a letter to Joe Biden and Congress last week and implored them to stop the “U.S. demonization of China” and prioritize diplomacy to tackle “the climate crisis,” Valerie Richardson reported for The Washington Times on July 12.

Critics say the utter lunacy of the coalition's plea was captured in this section of the letter: “The escalating, bipartisan anti-China rhetoric in both Congress and the White House damages the diplomatic and political relationships needed to move forward boldly and cooperatively. It also bolsters racist, right-wing movements in the United States, fuels violence against people of East and Southeast Asian descent, paves the way for higher U.S. military spending, and, critically, does nothing to actually support the wellbeing of everyday people in either China or the United States."

Richardson noted that the groups "said nothing about the ruling Chinese Communist Party’s human-rights abuses, including its Uyghur internment camps and Hong Kong crackdown."

The letter from the eco-left coalition even included Chinese talking points, such as the argument that the United States should do more than China on climate because U.S. wealth is greater and cumulative U.S. emissions dating back to the Industrial Revolution are higher.

“The steps each country takes to address this global crisis should be commensurate with historical responsibility and wealth,” said the letter. “In other words, the U.S. can and must do much more than China if the world is to equitably stay on course to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.”

More for the leftist groups to mull: China has been the world's biggest polluter since 2005 while the U.S. leads the world in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. China accounts for about 30 percent of global greenhouse emissions, almost triple that of the U.S.

Under the non-binding 2015 Paris climate agreement, the U.S. pledged to reduce its emissions by 26 to 28 percent by 2025. China only agreed that it might try to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and might think about reducing emissions after that.

Larry Behrens, Western states director of Power the Future, called the environmentalist position “despicable.”

“This pathetic plea for appeasement from the eco-left should make it abundantly clear they will do anything to advance their radical ideology,” said Behrens. “These environmental groups would rather pressure the Biden Administration to work with the Chinese Communist Party than stand up for energy workers at home and against forced labor abroad.”

Steve Milloy, publisher of JunkScience and a member of former President Donald Trump’s EPA transition team, said the eco-left coalition's letter aligned with Biden climate special envoy John Kerry’s approach to China.

“That’s been John Kerry’s position all along, that somehow climate can be managed on a separate track from everything else that China does, which of course is entirely crazy,” said Milloy. “China is not going to compartmentalize climate for John Kerry.”

Free Press International