Return of veteran negotiator is good news for Paris summit

After reporting on climate change for a couple of years, I must say Beijing has made a clever and timely decision in having a former minister, Xie Zhenhua, at the climate change negotiation table.

This is not just because he knows the faces so well, such as Todd Stern, the State Department's special envoy for climate change from the United States. He is also ideally placed to know what his counterparts might do ahead of climate change talks in Paris this December.

Xie, 65, has been China's lead negotiator at several United Nations climate change conferences. His comeback to climate diplomacy follows April meetings with a top UN official and a climate change delegation from Sweden.

Xie, who left his position as vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission in February, will work with Zhang Yong, formerly of the China Food and Drug Administration, on climate issues until at least December.

In March, Xie told the South China Morning Post that Zhang, his government-appointed successor, would oversee climate change issues and lead the Paris negotiations.

But Xie will likely continue his role after the NDRC called him China's special representative on climate change affairs.

He and Zhang met Jan Eliasson, UN deputy secretary-general, in Beijing and Xie also met Asa Romson, Sweden's deputy prime minister and minister for climate and the environment.

Normally, China's ministers retire at the age of 65 but can obtain another five-year term with legislative and political advisory bodies or nongovernmental organizations.

Xie became vice-chairman of the National Committee of Population, Resources and Environment of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference after his NDRC departure.

But his return to the front line one month after his "retirement" indicates that China's leadership respects the merits of this veteran negotiator and is pinning its hopes on a Paris treaty, which is expected to allocate the world's carbon budget for the period between 2020 and 2030.

Xie, who studied and later taught at Beijing's Tsinghua University, has decades of experience in environment protection.

He held senior positions at the National Environment Administration between 1990 and 1998 and, in 1998, became the country's youngest minister at 49, at the General Administration of Environment Protection, a post he held until 2006.

Xie witnessed tremendous policy shifts in dealing with climate change after moving to the NDRC. At the climate talks in Cancun, Mexico, in 2010 he told a 70-strong Chinese delegation that China had hit its emissions reduction goal a month ahead of schedule and would finish the overall energy target on time.

He said China had reduced energy consumption by the equivalent of 490 million tons of standard coal and cut carbon dioxide emissions by 1.1 billion tons in the four years from 2006 to 2009.

The government has also set up a special department for climate issues, improving environmental awareness among Chinese against a backdrop of energy- and resource-intensive development patterns.

This attitude change is evident at global summits. Xie was chief negotiator at the Copenhagen talks in 2009. While foreign media blamed China for hindering negotiations, I saw China make diplomatic efforts and compromises to save them.

After that, China undertook further efforts in climate diplomacy. During the 2013 Warsaw talks, which I also reported on, Xie's team started to soften the country's stance on the so-called common but differentiated responsibilities, meaning advanced industrial countries should share more responsibilities in curbing carbon pollution.

Since Warsaw, China has exhibited a can-do mentality, saying domestic responsibility rather than foreign pressure is driving a reduction in carbon emissions.

Another reason for remembering Xie's mandate is that 2013 saw China and US, the two biggest polluters in the world, set up a climate change working group. In November both nations signed a historic joint climate pact and, for the first time, China stated its carbon emissions might peak around 2030.

Colleagues call him "Lao Xie" out of respect and many organizations have recognized his environmental contributions including the UN, the Global Environment Fund and the World Bank.

Beijing is smart enough in asking Xie back to shoulder this big responsibility in Paris, which is no different from top-level trade and financial talks. Beijing is aware of how crucial it is to reach an agreement in Paris.

If Paris is a success, it will be a happy ending for Xie.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. Contact the writer at fujing@chinadaily.com.cn