China's President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Barack Obama shake hands at the end of a joint news conference in the Rose Garden at the White House in Washington.GARY CAMERON/Reuters
Setting aside other squabbles, the world's two most powerful leaders unveiled ambitious new efforts on Friday to slow global warming, in effect challenging other big emitters, including Canada, to do more to secure the planet for future generations.
U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping jointly pledged to fight climate change even as the two remained at odds over irritants ranging from the South China Sea to cyberattacks.
"For the world's two largest economies, energy consumers and carbon emitters to come together like this, there is no reason for other countries, whether developed or developing, to not do so as well," Mr. Obama told a joint news conference in the Rose Garden after talks with Mr. Xi.
The new promises, which follow a bilateral deal struck last year on cutting emissions, strengthen Mr. Obama's position for the Paris conference on climate change in December, at which the President is expected to push for sweeping emissions cuts from other counties. Mr. Obama has made curbing emissions from burning fossil fuels a high priority in both domestic and foreign policy, and some see it as a key legacy issue as his presidency nears its end.
Although this week's official state visit by Mr. Xi was largely overshadowed by the Pope's six-day, three-city tour and the surprising announcement on Friday that the powerful Republican House Speaker John Boehner is quitting, joint leadership by China and the United States on climate change may have far-reaching effects.
On Friday, the Pope urged world leaders to regard global warming as an existential threat as he opened the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
"Ecological destruction could place the human species in danger of extinction," he said, warning that action, not just talk, is needed. "I'm confident the Paris conference on climatic change will secure fundamental and effective agreements," he said, adding: "Solemn commitments are not enough, though they are a necessary step."
Mr. Xi announced on Friday that China would create the world's largest cap-and-trade system to curb emissions and then pledged $3.1-billion (U.S.) to help poor countries slash emissions. The commitment to help developing countries cope with climate change matches one Mr. Obama made last year, although it remains unfunded by Congress.
"With this deal, it's clear China is ready to lead on climate," Greenpeace's East Asia analyst Li Shuo said in a statement. "The old political excuses for inaction in Washington have become irrelevant. On the wave of moral inspiration after the Pope's visit, U.S. politicians should raise the level of their ambition."
The pressure on other countries to make equally sweeping commitments and live up to them will increase as the Paris conference approaches.
"The historic climate change announcements that we made last year in Beijing have encouraged other countries to step up, as well, increasing the prospects for a stronger global agreement this year," Mr. Obama said.
Mr. Xi added the two leaders will "work together to push the Paris climate change conference to produce important progress."
Melanie Hart, director of China Policy for the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, said the China-U.S. announcement "represents significant buy-in from the two most powerful nations on the planet to get serious about not only setting targets but also moving forward on climate change mitigation policies."
On other issues, the leaders either politely disagreed or made only vague commitments.
For instance, on the vexed issue of cyberattacks on U.S. firms – widely believed to be launched from China – the two leaders said they had reached a "common understanding," but it amounted to little more than a pledge that neither government would engage in economic espionage by hacking and the creation of a group of officials to discuss the issue.
"I raised, once again, our rising concerns about growing cyberthreats to American companies and American citizens. I indicated that it has to stop," Mr. Obama said, but the talk was tougher than the outcome.
As for the South China Sea, where Beijing is building islands to back its far-reaching maritime claims, stark disagreement remains.
"The United States will continue to sail, fly and operate anywhere that international law allows," Mr. Obama said, although so far he has resisted calls from senior U.S. military commanders to send warships and warplanes inside the 12-mile limits China claims surrounding its artificial islands.
Mr. Xi said: "Islands in the South China Sea since ancient times are China's territory."
On Friday night, Mr. Obama was to host a lavish state dinner for Mr. Xi.