The planet is heating up — and so are global geopolitics.
With less than two months until the crucial United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the United States and China must commit to cooperate on the existential challenge global warming represents. But bilateral relations remain burdened by mistrust, antagonism and even warmongering.
Technically, the U.S. and China are both willing to cooperate on climate change. But China wants to do so only in a broader context of constructive engagement. The U.S., by contrast, wants “climate cooperation a la carte,” so that it can maintain a policy of containment and competition in virtually every other arena.