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Fri, 29 May 09
BEIJING (AP) ― U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Beijing on Thursday to cooperate on climate change, calling a safe environment a basic human right. Speaking at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University, Pelosi continued the theme of her five-day China trip ― that combating global warming represented a new challenge that both governments must tackle jointly. "We are all in this together," Pelosi said. "The impact of climate change is a tremendous risk to the security and well-being" of our countries.
Pelosi's trip comes as U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has emphasized climate change as a new area where the two governments can broaden already wide-ranging engagement. The two countries are the biggest emitters of the carbon gases that are causing warming temperatures. Both governments are staking out positions ahead of a meeting late this year in Copenhagen that will try to forge agreement on targets and steps to reduce carbon emissions.
In a meeting Wednesday, the head of China's national legislature, Wu Bangguo, told Pelosi that climate change was a common challenge and that Beijing stood ready to work with Washington.
Pelosi's trip has been notable for skirting human rights and the fierce public criticisms she has frequently leveled at the authoritarian government. Turning her usual criticisms around, Pelosi linked global warming to environmental justice, saying the right to a clean environment is also a human right.
"I do see this opportunity for climate change to be.., a game-changer," she said at Tsinghua. "It's a place where human rights ― looking for out for the needs of the poor in terms of climate change and healthy environment ― are a human right."
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