Is China a Responsible Developing Country? Climate Change Diplomacy and National Image Building

A state’s image is an important resource for wielding national power in global politics. Its prestige and reputation often influence the interactions with other states. As an emerging superpower, China is under pressure to shoulder more responsibility for tackling global climate change. The West has criticized China as a “climate criminal” that threatens global climate stability. In response, the Chinese government implemented a series of comprehensive programs to improve its image abroad. This paper examines China’s national image building in the realm of international climate politics. It draws on the official rhetoric and policy statements to discuss the innovative strategies that China employed to advance its broader diplomatic agendas. By referring to itself as a developing country, China proclaims that it has neither a historical responsibility nor the resources to mitigate climate change, and that it desperately needs the financial and technological support from the West. By employing the rhetoric of being a peace-loving and harmonious nation, China has begun to address the problems of global climate change, even though it refuses to submit to any binding emission reduction targets in the negotiations over a post-Kyoto international climate agreement

China and the UN Climate Regime : Climate Responsibility from an English School Perspective

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Leadership in Global Environmental Politics

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Climate change and China’s rise to great power status : implications for the Global Arctic

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China and great power responsibility for climate change

As American leadership over climate change declines, China has begun to identify itself as a great power by formulating ambitious climate policies. Based on the premise that great powers have unique responsibilities, this book explores how China’s rise to great power status transforms notions of great power responsibility in general and international climate politics in particular. The author looks empirically at the Chinese party-state’s conceptions of state responsibility, discusses the influence of those notions on China’s role in international climate politics, and considers both how China will act out its climate responsibility in the future and the broader implications of these actions. Alongside the argument that the international norm of climate responsibility is an emerging attribute of great power responsibility, Kopra develops a normative framework of great power responsibility to shed new light on the transformations China’s rise will yield and the kind of great power China will prove to be. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of international relations, China studies, foreign policy studies, international organizations, international ethics and environmental politics

China, Great Power Management, and Climate Change : Negotiating Great Power Climate Responsibility in the UN

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