Steve Chapman: Why China Is Cooperating on Climate Change

Americans
like to keep the world simple, dividing important countries into
two groups: valued allies and hateful enemies. That approach
suffices when we’re talking about South Korea and North Korea. But
it doesn’t work well when it comes to China.

Many people see it as a giant, looming menace. The truth is more
complicated. With China, we have a worrisome
rival and an indispensable partner, writes Steve
Chapman.

That latter status has never been clearer than today, after a
summit that produced several new accords between Washington and
Beijing. The most important and surprising was an agreement to curb
emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. It is, in
the words of a former Obama administration official, “the most
important bilateral climate announcement ever.”

Life and U.S. foreign policy would be simpler if China were as
hostile and duplicitous as some Americans assume. But they wouldn’t
be easier, according to Chapman.

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