China to Trump: No, We Didn’t Invent Climate Change

In a briefing with reporters, China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin noted that Donald Trump‘s now-infamous Tweet that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese could not possibly be true.

“If you look at the history of climate change negotiations, actually it was initiated by the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] with the support of the Republicans during the Reagan and senior Bush administration during the late 1980s,” Liu said.

Many speculate that a possible international leadership vacuum on climate caused by a Trump presidency may pave the way for China to take the lead—and it has offered strong signals of its intention to take up the challenge.

According to Bloomberg:

China’s President Xi Jinping underlined the importance of cooperation between the two largest economies when he spoke to Trump on Monday, said Liu, who added China will continue its fight against climate change “whatever the circumstances.”

Trump Plans to Quit Paris Deal, Hires Climate Denier for EPA Transition Team https://t.co/VmIFodrnka @CeresNews @UCSUSA

— EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) November 15, 2016

For a deeper dive:

News: Bloomberg, The Hill, TIME, USA Today, Global Times, Guardian, Vox, Christian Science Monitor, LA Times, SBS, Washington Post, Verge, CNN, Mashable, New York Daily News, Cosmopolitan, Guardian

Commentary: Global Times, Kathleen Naday column; South China Morning Post, Li Jing analysis

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.