The nation whose name Trump seems incapable of pronouncing has what may seem like unrealistic expectations when it comes to Trump and climate change.
Seemingly unfazed by President-elect Donald Trump's campaign promises to yank the U.S. out of the Paris pact on global warming, a Chinese delegate says he expects the new administration to stay committed to the deal.
"We have to expect they will take a right and smart decision," Liu Zhenmin, the deputy leader of China's delegation, told reporters at U.N. climate talks.
Apparently, China does not realize that Trump has been on to them for years.
The cooperation between the United States and China was what made the Paris accords possible. Those would be the same accords that Donald Trump swore he would tear up during the campaign as he pursued his hatred of wind and fluorescent lightbulbs.
But China may have a reason to think Trump will ultimately go their way.
… an office building on Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan, of which Mr. Trump is part owner, carries a $950 million loan. Among the lenders: the Bank of China, one of the largest banks in a country that Mr. Trump has railed against as an economic foe of the United States ...
It’s become clear that Trump means to make less than zero effort to separate his personal business and the nation’s business. When he’s not tossing himself billion dollar contracts, maybe his debt to China will actually turn out to at least slow Trump’s attack on the environment.
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry has something to say.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says failing to fight climate change would be a "moral failure, a betrayal of devastating consequences."
With 2016 on track to be the hottest year on record, Kerry said the impacts of global warming are so evident that "at some point, even the strongest skeptic has to acknowledge that something disturbing is happening."
The strongest skeptic? Maybe, but Trump isn’t really a skeptic. He knows well enough what’s happening. He’s not operating out of skepticism. It’s just spite.