Minister Liu attended the climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, where the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement to address global warming has been discussed. (Photo : Getty Images)
China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin tells President-elect Donald Trump that China didn’t concoct the “global warming hoax.” This is in relation to Trump’s tweet on 2012 that global warming was a concept invented by China to make U.S. businesses less competitive.
Minister Liu told reporters that Trump can’t blame China because his republican predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George Bush started climate change negotiations in the 1980s—years before China participated in any talks about climate change and the effects of global warming.
The negotiations Minister Liu was referring to was the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was formed by the United Nations in the 1980s. It was supported by both Reagan and Bush.
Minister Liu seems to ask Trump: if previous US presidents in your own party recognized climate change years ago, why are you blaming China?
Along with officials from almost 200 countries, Minister Liu attended the climate conference in Marrakech, Morocco, where the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement has been discussed.
Liu said the participation of the United States in the Paris Climate agreement is very important. Next to China, the U.S. is the second largest emitter of greenhouse gasses which cause global warming.
"As the largest developed economy in the world, U.S. support is essential,” Liu said. “We have to expect they will take a smart and wise decision.”
At the conference, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry tried to pacify anxieties regarding the U.S. commitments to the Paris Climate Agreement.
"While I can't stand here and speculate about what policies our president-elect will pursue, I will tell you this: in the time that I have spent in public life, one of the things I've learned is that some issues look a little bit different when you're actually in office compared to when you're on the campaign trail," Kerry said.
During the campaign, Trump said he would pull the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Agreement. His stances have alarmed several scientists in the country and across the globe.
As for the part of China, Minister Liu said it will keep adhering to the agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions and urged Trump to reconsider his stance and do the same for the U.S.
