Jinping not given a chance to ‘speak’ at climate summit?

BEIJING: Amid speculation over the absence of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the COP-26 climate summit in Glasgow, China on Tuesday alleged that the organizers of COP-26 did not provide a ‘video link’ for Jinping’s address. Due to which he had to send a written statement. President Jinping, who did not attend the climate summit, sent a written statement to mention China’s position on climate-related issues.

On behalf of China, Jinping in his written statement sent in COP-26 called for ‘stern action’ on all countries to jointly deal with climate challenges. At the same time, he proposed a three-pronged plan to reach a multilateral consensus, focus on concrete steps, reduce carbon emissions. When asked why the President preferred to send a written statement to COP-26 instead of addressing it by video conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, “As I know, the organizers of the summit have sent a video conference call.” The link was not provided due to which they could not join through video conference.

Jinping has not made any foreign tours since returning from a trip to Myanmar in mid-January last year, which is believed to be a major reason behind the coronavirus outbreak. However, he has been addressing global events through video conference. Jinping addressed the G-20 summit held in Rome on 30 October through video conference. With Jinping not attending COP-26, there is speculation that the Chinese president is staying away from the summit due to China announcing its resolution on carbon emissions targets. In his written address to COP-26, Xi said, “I hope that all sides will take strong action to jointly address the climate challenge and protect this planet, which is the common home for all of us.”