UK's former deputy PM defends China

In a letter to the Guardian, former deputy Prime Minister of UK, John Prescott defended China's role at Copenhagen climate summit, saying the blame for its flawed outcome must lie with the United States and Barack Obama.

Prescott criticizes the U.S. climate change special envoy, Todd Stern, who said at Copenhagen “emissions weren't about 'morality or politics', they were 'just math', with China projected to emit 60 percent more CO2 than the U.S. by 2030".

U.S. emits 20 tones per person every year, compared to China's 6 tones, whilst America's GDP per person is almost eight times greater than the Chinese, said Prescott.

As a frequent visitor to China, Prescott helped negotiate the Kyoto protocol in 1997, and was in Copenhagen acting as an informal bridge between the Chinese delegation and others.

He also attacks President Barack Obama for suggesting there had been a period of "two decades of talking and no action. That might have been true in America, which refused to sign up to Kyoto, but not in the case of China or Europe, who have followed a lot of that protocol's policies.

By People's Daily Online