United against the divide

By Meng Si from ChinaDialogue| Dec 02


On November 30, while the Cancun climate negotiations in Cancun were stumbling on, at the climate village an hour's drive from the main venue, over 30 Chinese and American youths were discussing their personal views of how to move forward. Although the arguments in the climate talks going back and forth are becoming more and more intense between China and the US, the two countries' younger generations are opening channels of mutual understanding with hope for the future.

"We hope to encourage both sides to recognise that cultural exchange is necessary before political exchange," said Wang Yiting, one of the organisers. She is a fourth year student at Mount Holyoke College majoring in environment and international relations and was a member of the COP15 China Youth Delegation last year, which also had an exchange with the American youth team. The participants of this exchange included members of the China Youth Delegation, student union, United States sustainable development and ladder climate networks. A considerable number of the young people involved have a climate-related professional background or work in related fields.

It has been a rough year since the start of the Copenhagen talks. During the Tianjin conference, the US was "very disappointed" with China - a great carbon-dioxide-emitting nation - and its refusal to compromise on the issue of verifying emissions reduction efforts (the words of US delegation head, Jonathan Pershing) while Chinese delegate Su Wei accused the United States of using the transparency issue to evade emissions reduction responsibilities.

"Chinese people attach great importance to traditional family values," said Peking University student, Shi Xiangying, one of the Chinese youths to deliver a speech. She demonstrated how "well-behaved" Chinese youths in school are and their academic burdens. She also talked about the abundance of social activities. American youth, Ethan Buckner described the diversity of American families.

In addition, the two sides discussed topics that were more related to climate change. "I was very impressed by the data Chinese students provided, such as detailed charts," said Dr Xu Anqi from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, who was invited to participate in the dialogue. Her recommendation of this exchange on her twitter page was quickly noted and retweeted by some American journalists.

"Chinese culture is characterised by having a good reputation, so the most well-known Chinese cities around the world are often the most affluent cities in China, but this is far from reality." Said Peking University student Chen Yingao. She gave an introduction to the actual problems in China, including population, and believes that China's accession into the WTO, making it a "world factory," has an enormous impact on the country.

American youth Jarey Schy presented the situation of lobby groups in the government's lobbying fund: "There was a peak value of US$3.49 billion in 2009, which was just in time to introduce the climate bill," Schy said. In his ranking of lobbyists, the biggest fund, reaching US$680 million, came from the US Chamber of Commerce. Schy introduced lobbyists including the US Chamber of Commerce, General Electric, and Exxon Mobil, which all represent traditional energy industries.

"This exchange will be much deeper than that of Copenhagen," Wang Yiting said, "in Cancun, we will conduct two seminars and organise private exchanges about issues of interest for both sides." She also mentioned that after the exchange this year, there will be follow-up activities, such as promoting university cooperation projects between the two countries.

"We get to the root of our differences by discussing anything from culture to the establishment of systems. Maybe it won't be able to push the negotiating parties to resolve specific differences, which is why we want to deepen this understanding among youths - in order to evoke change in the future," Wang Yiting said.

Back at the negotiating table, the China-US antagonism seems to have relaxed. The delegates of the two countries, Xie Zhenhua and Jonathan Pershing, have publicly talked about the active dialogue between China and the United States. "I feel we have made some progress," Pershing said in a news conference on 29 November. However, there is a long road ahead.

"Mutual trust between China and the United States has great significance for addressing many global issues. The exchanges we promote have an unprecedented significance in the world," a member of the Chinese youth delegation said.

The photo is China and US youth meeting Jonathan Pershing, chief of US delegation.