“Just as I believe the Paris agreement will ultimately prove to be a turning point for our planet, I believe that history will judge today’s efforts as pivotal”, he said, speaking alongside Chinese president, Xi Jinping and United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon.
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But the welcome ceremony didn’t go entirely smoothly.
The trip also potentially marks Obama’s final meeting as president with Xi.
A senior adviser to President Obama, Brian Deese, observed that the joint announcement should push other countries to formally join the deal.
The US action plan, known as a Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) in the United Nations jargon, sets a goal to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 26 per cent to 28 per cent by 2025 against a 2005 baseline.
The White House has attributed the accelerated pace to the unlikely partnership between Washington and Beijing on the issue.
An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China had no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and had infringed on the rights of the Philippines, which brought the case under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Obama asked his Chinese counterpart to comply with a ruling by an worldwide tribunal at The Hague that denied China’s historical claims to most of the South China Sea. The U.S. doesn’t take positions in the various disputes between China and its Asian neighbors, but is concerned about freedom of navigation and wants conflicts resolved peacefully and lawfully.
In a speech Saturday, Mr. Xi pledged to cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 18 per cent in the next five years.
Throughout his tenure, Obama has sought to check China’s influence in Asia by shifting USA military resources and diplomatic attention from the Middle East.
Glass said Trump represents “politics of fear and hate” and that “minorities of all kinds have much to lose taking a chance on someone like” Trump.
Other countries have ratified the agreement, but after the United States, North Korea is the next largest emissions producer to have done so.
Countries that ratify the deal will have to wait for three years after it has gone into legal force before they can begin the process of withdrawing from it, according to the agreement signed in Paris last year.
China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee agreed to the proposal Saturday morning, the official Xinhua news agency reported. In the U.S., Senate ratification is not required because the agreement is not considered a formal treaty.
After more than four hours of meetings with Xi and his top officials, Obama emphasized the importance for China to “abide by its obligations” to an global maritime treaty in the dispute over rights to a territory rich in oil and fish through which $5 trillion in trade travels each year.
The U.S. Republican Party Platform has also questioned the legality of the executive order used to ratify the Paris deal, saying it will need the consent of the Senate before it becomes binding.
It will come into effect 30 days after at least 55 countries, accounting for 55 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, have ratified it.
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On Monday, he will take part in the second and concluding session of the G20 and hold bilateral meetings with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Argentinian President Mauricio Macri before returning to Delhi.
