President Xi Jinping to meet Barack Obama at climate change summit, but will offer no new concessions
The president will be among world leaders adding political weight to the climate change conference, vice foreign minister says
Chinese President Xi Jinping will bring no new concessions to the negotiating table when he attends key UN climate change talks in Paris next week, a senior Chinese diplomat said yesterday.
World leaders were going to France “to lend political impetus” to the meeting but were “not there for negotiations”, said Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin .
“The Paris conference is not about tabling new proposals – it’s about narrowing differences and reaching agreement on the basis of existing proposals,” he said.
Liu also called for countries to be “realistic” about the different capabilities and responsibilities of rich and poor nations.
His remarks came as a White House official said US President Barack Obama would meet Xi and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the first day of the Paris talks on November 30.
Obama’s meetings with Xi and Modi at the start of the two-week summit would “send a strong message to the world about their strong commitment to climate change”, White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said.
