In The China Challenge, Thomas J. Christensen adopts the context of an international system which demands that China bear more environmental responsibility than its willing to take, translating directly into a struggle to coordinate effective policy towards mitigating global climate change between the United States and China, the world’s two largest carbon emitters. However, the international status quo has changed dramatically since the publication of Christensen’s argument: with the US abandonment of the Paris climate accords, the prospect of a joint US-China crusade on climate change seems far less viable. At the same time, China now has the potential to become the world leader on climate issues, which is not so farfetched of an idea when
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Even if China is likely to continue developing its green initiatives and stands resolute behind its commitments to global action towards climate change, the international state of affairs continues to look quite bleak. With the world’s second largest carbon emitter in the US absent from the international effort while undoing some of its progress on environmental issues (Trump is ending “America’s war on coal”), the mounting expectations for China to go even further in its efforts may continue to spark debate. There is still no answer to the collective action problem posed by Christensen, though China’s continued presence and investment in developing countries across the globe may lead to positive environmental impacts through the diffusion of political and technological expertise. Finally, China’s individual efforts, though impressive, are still simply not be enough; as Christensen notes, local measures may even be harmful to global climate health in the long run, though this shouldn’t be taken as a sign that China’s domestic efforts are failing to produce real benefits. In any case, the ability of China to re-integrate the United States into the international order while continuing to coordinate with other polluting bodies like the European Union is likely the only way that meaningful change will be achieved beyond a local
Even if China is likely to continue developing its green initiatives and stands resolute behind its commitments to global action towards climate change, the international state of affairs continues to look quite bleak. With the world’s second largest carbon emitter in the US absent from the international effort while undoing some of its progress on environmental issues (Trump is ending “America’s war on coal”), the mounting expectations for China to go even further in its efforts may continue to spark debate. There is still no answer to the collective action problem posed by Christensen, though China’s continued presence and investment in developing countries across the globe may lead to positive environmental impacts through the diffusion of political and technological expertise. Finally, China’s individual efforts, though impressive, are still simply not be enough; as Christensen notes, local measures may even be harmful to global climate health in the long run, though this shouldn’t be taken as a sign that China’s domestic efforts are failing to produce real benefits. In any case, the ability of China to re-integrate the United States into the international order while continuing to coordinate with other polluting bodies like the European Union is likely the only way that meaningful change will be achieved beyond a local