Five people died and another person was injured after a fire broke out in a residential house in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, early Friday morning. The fire began at around 2:50 a.m. in the house located in an industrial cluste… read more
I recently visited the Tayside MS Therapy Centre in Peddie Street to discuss a number of local issues with the team. I have been asked to advertise the following notice for HBO Chamber Operator Volunteers that the centre has recently issue… read more
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Experts from home and abroad take part in a round-table discussion on May 24. [Photo/China.org.cn] |
China will continue to meet promises made at the Paris Climate Change Conference and take effective measures to tackle climate change, no matter what kind of choices the U.S. new administration makes on the issue, a top Chinese climatologist said.
He Jiankun, an expert from the Specialist Committee on National Climate Change, made the remarks during a seminar on “China-U.S. Action and Cooperation in the New Age of Global Climate Governance” held in Beijing on May 24 by the Brookings-Tsinghua Center for Public Policy, Tsinghua-Berkeley Joint Research Center on Energy and Climate Change, and World Resources Institute.
The seminar provided an opportunity for experts from home and abroad to discuss the new age and trends of global climate governance, and also share progress made in China-U.S. cooperation on controlling global climate change.
He Jiankun, also director of the Institute of Low Carbon Economy at Tsinghua University, devoted much of his speech to China’s policy on climate change.
He said that, in order to keep China’s promises in signing the Paris Agreement, a series of plans and strategies on energy development had been formulated. According to the 13th Five-Year Plan, the aim is to put in place measures that can ensure, by the end of 2030, that carbon emissions per unit of GDP will decrease by 60 percent to 65 percent from the 2005 level, and non-fossil energy will account for 20 percent of primary energy consumption.
“China will, as always, seek to ensure progress to be made regarding the Paris Agreement whether the Trump administration withdraws from the agreement or not. Under the international climate governance mechanism, China will strengthen its cooperation with other countries and speed up energy production and consumption reform, greatly reducing carbon emissions,” He said.
Collaboration on climate change between China and the U.S. has always been a focus of the bilateral relationship. As the leading carbon emitters in the world, the two countries have to fulfill their responsibilities and make their own contributions to reducing the intensity of such emissions.
Manish Bapna, executive vice president and managing director of the WRI, spoke about America’s recent climate action development, and stressed the importance of China-U.S. cooperation on climate change.
“China and the United States should continue to join hands on climate change, cooperation at the state and local level, or within the private sector should be strengthened. Only in this way can the momentum of reducing greenhouse gases in these two countries be maintained,” he said.
In his speech, he introduced data showing carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S had fallen while economic growth had been maintained. When talking about the new changes in America’s climate actions, he said that policies adopted by the previous Obama administration was capable of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but the new administration led by President Trump has already started to roll back climate and clean energy progress.
He also mentioned that, after signing the Paris Agreement, actions on creating job, investing in infrastructure and trading should be carried out together with climate change governance.
The attending experts then took part in a round-table discussion. Sam Adams, chief representative of U.S. office, WRI, shared his experiences on dealing with the carbon emission-reducing activities in Portland, Maine of the U.S. Manish Bapna and He Jiankun also discussed climate change governance from the perspective of education, technology, job and infrastructure building.
read moreI have spoken to various Remain voters so far during this election. Many say to me they accept the result of the vote and just want the government to get on and do the best deal they can. Some tell me they voted Remain because they did worry about the possible economic consequences, and they are now relieved to see the bad predictions of recession this winter and collapse of confidence did not come true.
A few have told me they still cannot accept the decision and still fear there will be bad economic results in due course. They seem to think when we leave there will be all sorts of new barriers and restrictions imposed which will get in the way of normal travel, trade and collaboration across the Channel. They have perhaps been Lib Dem voters in the past and are often particularly concerned about academic and student links, research and cultural exchanges.
Let me try to reassure. The UK government has made very clear it wants a UK open to talent and university collaboration. The UK is not planning closed borders, making it more difficult for people to come here to courses in UK universities. We will still welcome tourists,visitor performers, people with good qualifications, entrepreneurs wanting to invest. The government will be generous with visas for talented and qualified people wanting to come to the UK to be faculty members, just as we are today with academics coming from the USA and other non EU countries. It will also want to see a continuation of the many musical, artistic and cultural links and exchanges that take place with EU and non EU countries today.
Nor do I expect the rest of the EU to want to stop EU citizens travelling to the UK or undertaking university work here. Under international law the EU would not be able to block people and ideas to and from the UK, nor can I imagine they would want to. There are no restrictions the EU could place just on the UK – they would have to be common restrictions against the rest of the world. I do not think the EU wants to cut itself off.
The UK has several world class leading universities and many other good ones. Their interests will be upheld by the government. More importantly, as the UK and the EU both pride themselves on a belief in freedom and on a pluralistic society, universities,individual students and academics will remain free to travel, study, work and collaborate in each other’s countries as they see fit. I want to live in a free society. Such a society does not stop free institutions doing as they wish, and allows them under the law to pursue their aims and development. Some people think government is more important and more powerful than it is, and have a very dim view of how the EU will seek to behave.
Published and promoted by Fraser Mc Farland on behalf of John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1XU
read morePRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be here at Bondi Public, to see all these bright young children – great minds, the nation’s future – dedicated teachers, a charismatic headmaster. This school, ten years ago, had only 70 students and was … read more
