Shaping the U.S. Position vis-a-vis China: Two Upcoming Events
On climate change, things are heating up on the international front. Last week, we saw the second Major Emitters Economies Forum in Paris and separately, a delegation led by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Senator John Kerry visited China to talk climate, energy and other things. This week, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in Beijing and the Bonn climate meetings are also taking place. The news wires are going a little tizzy.
I will be sad to miss Zou Xi’s talk at BEER on toxic waste management (or the lack thereof), which if you are in Beijing you should try to attend. But while I am in D.C., I can console myself to two great looking events. On Wednesday (June 3), 10:30 am EST (10:30 pm Beijing time, after BEER), Todd Stern, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, will be at my place of work to share his views on how he sees China fitting into the climate change accord. A live webstream of the event will be available here.
On Thursday (June 4, 10:00 am EST), the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will conduct a hearing with the self-explanatory title of “Challenges and Opportunies for U.S.-China Cooperation in Climate Change.” An all-star trio of China hands will give testimony: Bill Chandler of the Carnegie Endowment (”secret talks”!), Elizabeth Economy of Council on Foreign Relations and author of A River Runs Black, and Ken Lieberthal of University of Michigan.
Needless to say, you’ll hear what I have to say right here on The Green Leap Forward!
