China today rejected calls by Britain to have the U.N. Security Council take action on climate change. From Reuters:
Britain and China faced off on Tuesday in the first-ever U.N. Security Council debate on climate change, with Beijing saying the 15-member body had no competence in dealing with global warming.
But British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, who chaired the meeting, argued that the potential for climate change to cause wars had to move from the fringes of the debate to the Security Council, the most powerful U.N. body.
…But China’s deputy ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, was blunt in rejecting the session: “The developing countries believe that Security Council has neither the professional competence in handling climate change — nor is it the right decision-making place for extensive participation leading up to widely acceptable proposals.”
No resolution is expected and Russia, China, Qatar, Indonesia and South Africa, among others, also warned that the council, whose mandate is only peace and security, was not the place to take concrete action. [Full text]