为期两周的联合国气候大会（第21次缔约方会议 COP21）正在巴黎举行，会议主会场位于巴黎市郊的布尔歇展览中心，靠近布尔歇机场，暂时用作会议场馆的展览中心内部还稍有些寒意。目前，第一周会议已经结束，中国代表团似乎显得很轻松。中国国家主席习近平的演讲为中国代表团在巴黎的第一周谈判开了一个好头，习近平和其他政治领导人一样，在演讲中表示支持大会达成强有力的气候协议。这第一周谈判收尾时，阿里巴巴集团创始人兼首席执行官马云在气候大会上发表了一场主题演讲。他解释说自己坚持要来参加气候大会，并说道中国民众因为他的长相戏称他是外星人，“我目睹了那么多朋友（因为空气污染）患癌症住院，我真希望自己是外星人，这样我就能回自己的星球去了。”
除了习近平主席和马云的演讲，中国代表团团长解振华以及资深首席谈判代表苏伟都非常积极地参与了这周的公开讨论和其他边会活动。同时，幕后技术团队也在努力确定协议草案，将内容限制在可控范围之内。接下来一周，各国部长将接过谈判的接力棒，在会议主席、法国外交部长洛朗·法比尤斯的主持下，就主要的争议点进行谈判，努力达成协议。
中国代表团似乎比之前更加自信、更加开放：中国馆积极主持召开了一系列活动，邀请了商界代表、民间社会、专家以及政府代表前来参加。其中，国外代表的参与更是表明了中国希望在接下来的会谈和行动中扮演更加积极开放的角色。中国的公共外交——以及去年中美气候协议带来的友好姿态——在一周的积极活动中取得了回报。
伊莎贝尔•希尔顿，中外对话的首席执行官及总编。
Based in a series of chilly temporarily-equipped buildings near Le Bourget airport in the Paris suburbs, China’s delegation seemed relaxed at the mid-point of the two-week United Nations climate conference (COP21). Their week had begun with an address by President Xi Jinping, who joined other political leaders in expressing support for a robust agreement, and ending with a barnstorming speech from Jack Ma, founder and CEO of Alibaba, one of China’s most successful companies.
Explaining that people in Beijing thought he was from ‘another planet’ when he insisted on coming to the climate conference, Ma said: “When I see so many friends in hospital with cancer (from air pollution) I wish I was on another planet and could go back there.”
During a week bookended by speeches from China’s president and the country’s richest businessman, the head of China’s delegation, the genial Xie Zhenhua, and the veteran chief negotiator Su Wei, both put in numerous appearances in public discussions and side events. Technical teams worked behind the scenes to bring the draft agreement text down to manageable proportions.
In the second week, ministers take over, their task to negotiate the outstanding points of disagreement and reach a deal, under the guidance of the French foreign minister Laurent Fabius, the chair of the conference.
The Chinese delegation also seemed more confident and increasingly open than previous climate conferences.The Chinese pavilion hosted an active programme of events that included business, civil society, expert and government voices, and the presence of a number of non-Chinese contributors reinforced the impression that China wanted to play an open and positive role in both the talks and the action that will follow. China’s public diplomacy—and the continuing goodwill engendered by the US-China climate deal last year—paid off during a week of intense negotiations at the most important climate summit since Copenhagen in 2009.
But aside from China’s positive ‘mood music’, questions have been raised about China’s negotiating position on the details of a potential Paris text. At previous sessions of UN climate talks, China has positioned itself as a defender of the most vulnerable, but in the closed door talks in Paris, Chinese negotiators supported the Venezuelan and Saudi Arabian delegations, both of whom are notorious for their efforts to derail an agreement on one issue of central importance to the most vulnerable countries, and small island states in particular.
For countries such as the Marshall Islands, where a rise in sea levels is already forcing people to leave their homes, the ambition to keep global average temperature rise below 2C is not enough. They want the world’s leaders to adopt a 1.5C target, in order to give their small nations a chance of survival. Saudi Arabia, China and Venezuela all opposed that this week. In the case of Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, counties with oil-dependent economies, self-interest is a clear motive. But China, as an emerging world power, is expected to have a much more varied range of interests. China’s position will be closely observed in the coming week. Will it position itself in support of the most vulnerable? Or quietly put the brakes on the ambition of the Paris agreement?
