How do I know China wrecked the Copenhagen deal? I was in the room.
by Mark Lynas
Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth aboutwhat actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin andinevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: Chinawrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insistedon an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying theblame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen.
China’sstrategy was simple: block the open negotiations for two weeks, andthen ensure that the closed-door deal made it look as if the west hadfailed the world’s poor once again. And sure enough, the aid agencies,civil society movements and environmental groups all took the bait. Thefailure was “the inevitable result of rich countries refusingadequately and fairly to shoulder their overwhelming responsibility”,said Christian Aid. “Rich countries have bullied developing nations,”fumed Friends of the Earth International.
All very predictable, but the complete opposite of the truth. EvenGeorge Monbiot, writing in yesterday’s Guardian, made the mistake ofsingly blaming Obama. But I saw Obama fighting desperately to salvage adeal, and the Chinese delegate saying “no”, over and over again.Monbiot even approvingly quoted the Sudanese delegate Lumumba Di-Aping,who denounced the Copenhagen accord as “a suicide pact, an incinerationpact, in order to maintain the economic dominance of a few countries”.
Sudanbehaves at the talks as a puppet of China; one of a number of countriesthat relieves the Chinese delegation of having to fight its battles inopen sessions. It was a perfect stitch-up. China gutted the deal behindthe scenes, and then left its proxies to savage it in public.