China urges US to hold the line on climate policy, regardless of election outcome

Senior Beijing climate change official Xia Yingxian says he hopes US will continue to work with other nations to implement Paris Agreement

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The outcome of Tuesday’s US presidential election will determine American climate policy and how much the US and China will work together to meet global climate goals. Photo: AP

Published: 9:00pm, 4 Nov 2024Updated: 10:40pm, 4 Nov 2024

A senior Chinese official has called on the United States to maintain stable climate change policies after Tuesday’s presidential election.

Xia Yingxian, director of the climate change department of China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, told a press conference on Friday that he hoped the US would continue to “work with other countries to implement the provisions of the Paris Agreement”.

China will send a delegation of more than 90 people to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly referred to as Cop29, in Baku, Azerbaijan, this month and will continue to “deepen South-South cooperation on climate change”, according to Xia.

He added that Beijing expected Washington to “maintain the stability and consistency of its climate policy” after the election.

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Li Shuo, director of the China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said if Donald Trump won the election, “his administration will reverse US climate policies and shelve bilateral climate talks with China”.