A Comparative Study on the Role of Sino-US Participation in Climate
Governance in the Post-pandemic Era
Haoyu Gong
a
, Yanyi Yang
b
and Jieyu Zang
c
School of Northeast Asia Studies, Shandong University, Wenhuaxi Street, Weihai, China
Keywords: Climate Governance, Post-pandemic Era, China and the United States, Role Theory, The Biden
Administration.
Abstract: COVID-19 has profoundly affected the development process of global climate governance. Under the Biden
administration, the United States announced its return to the multilateral cooperation framework on climate
governance with an ambitious policy, which brought an opportunity for the interaction and cooperation with
China. From the perspective of role theory, the roles of China and the United States on climate issues mainly
depend on their interest cognition, identity perception and external expectations. Under the interest cognition
of "realizing sustainable development" and the identity of "a responsible major country", China holds the
expectation of seeking cooperation with the United States, while the United States regards participation in
climate governance as a key action to achieve national recovery and effectively compete with China. Based
on the governance roles, China and the United States have certain positive prospects for cooperation in
promoting low-carbon transformation and implementing climate assistance, but there are also potential
options for competition and confrontation. The role of the two states in climate governance will have a great
impact on the framework of the Paris Agreement and their future interaction.
1 INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 pandemic, which broke out in early
2020 and has spread around the world till this day, has
profoundly affected the international order.
Uncertainty and instability have significantly
increased in the international community, posing a
great obstacle to the practice of global governance.
The trends of global governance in the post-pandemic
era and China's role have become the focus of
academic discussion. The urgency of climate change
and the serious consequences of disasters make
climate a huge crisis threatening human civilization
in the post-pandemic era, and no country can be
immune from the impact of climate change.
As major carbon emitters and major players in the
international community, what roles will China and
the US play in global climate governance in the post-
pandemic era? Given the respective roles of China
and the US, what are the prospects for China-US
cooperation on climate governance?
a
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8415-9398
b
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5684-8818
c
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2448-1027
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Role Theory in International
Relations Studies
The concept of national role is a country's recognition
of its status in the international system, determined by
its role concept and the cognition of other countries
in the system (Holsti 1970). The role also involves a
collectively constructed conceptual structure whose
external meaning is given by interaction (Wendt
1992). The combination of national self expectation
and others’ expectations forms the role orientation of
the state, and the state achieves the role performance
driven by its orientation foundation under a specific
structure (Harnisch 2011).
32
Gong, H., Yang, Y. and Zang, J.
A Comparative Study on the Role of Sino-US Participation in Climate Governance in the Post-pandemic Era.
DOI: 10.5220/0011151200003437
In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis (PMBDA 2021), pages 32-37
ISBN: 978-989-758-589-0
Copyright
c
2022 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
2.2 Framework of the Role’s Internal
Expectation and External
Expectation
Roles come from both the internal expectation and
external expectation of actors (Thies and Breuning
2012). Two variables-interest cognition and identity
perception-could be used as the measurements of
internal expectation (Klose 2018).
2.3 Analysis Framework
Figure 1: Theoretical Analysis Framework.
3 THE ROLES OF CHINA AND
THE UNITED STATES IN
GLOBAL CLIMATE
GOVERNANCE
Since the end of the last century, the climate issue has
gradually drawn the attention of mankind, and the
role definition of China and the United States on the
climate issue has changed to different degrees. As
climate change has become a hot topic in the
international community, both China and the United
States will increasingly regard participation in the
governance on climate issue as an important way to
realize national ambitions.
3.1 Interest Cognition of China
China’s national interest in climate governance has
undergone a transition from denial to positive
acceptance. For China, participation in climate
governance has always been closely related to the
country's development interests. The idea
“development is the absolute principle” has
profoundly influenced the construction of national
interests since the beginning of reform and opening-
up more than 40 years ago. In the early stage of
reform and opening up, China pursued rapid
development to resume production, even at the cost
of environmental pollution in the process, holding
passive attitude to climate problems and global
climate governance cooperation, and argued
environmental responsibility would overburden the
national economic interests. However, since the 18th
CPC National Congress, as the economy
development has entered the new normal stage of
medium-high speed growth, China has begun to take
social and ecological benefits into comprehensive
consideration in the process of economic
development. Although participation in climate
governance will restrain certain development,
economic transformation and upgrading, reducing the
reliance on natural resources and participating in the
global green low carbon development have become
the urgent requirements of sustainable development
of China's national interests. In addition, with China’s
increasing emphasis on soft power in recent years,
building a good national image has become an
important part of China’s national interests. Over the
last decade, China actively promoted the Paris
Agreement, firmly maintained the climate of the
multilateral system, submitted China’s Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions, etc. As the big
emitter in the international community, China tries to
build a more responsible image of the country.
Meanwhile, China is actively putting the green
sustainable economic growth pattern into practice,
providing the Chinese governance plan and
development experience for the world and calling
upon all states to take climate governance into
account.
A Comparative Study on the Role of Sino-US Participation in Climate Governance in the Post-pandemic Era
33
3.2 Identity Perception of China
The initial identity of China's participation in the
global climate governance process was shaped in
terms of a developing country. Before the signing of
the Kyoto Protocol, the global climate negotiations
highlighted the stark North-South confrontation. As a
developing country, China is relatively cautious in its
cooperation on climate governance, arguing that the
emissions of developing countries are “survival
emissions”, while the emissions of developed
countries are “luxury emissions”, and developed
countries should bear their own responsibilities. With
China rapidly developing, the environmental threat
theory about China emerged in the international
community. Some western media reported Chinese
pollution and western think-tanks also repeatedly
issued reports on the research of Chinese pollution
threat. The serious pollution and scientific research
have gradually deepened Chinese understanding of
the climate problem. In addition, with the continuous
rise of comprehensive national capability, China
increasingly expects to play a more active role in
global climate governance and gradually change its
identity as a "latecomer" in climate governance.
Especially since the 18th CPC National Congress,
China’s diplomatic style has gradually shifted to
comprehensively and actively participating in global
affairs. China’s identity perception in global climate
governance has gradually become a responsible
major country that “plays a constructive role”.
Therefore, China has actively made responsible
commitments to the international community in
addressing climate change. Meanwhile, China also
actively provides capital, technology and equipment
support through the Belt and Road Initiative,
China+G77, engaging in South-South climate
cooperation in order to improve the ability of
developing countries to cope with climate change.
3.3 Interest Cognition of US
Since the climate policy of the Biden administration
was implemented, the US national interest mainly
consists of three aspects. The first is the economic
benefits of climate policy. During his campaign,
Biden proposed the “Green New Deal” to stimulate
economic recovery by combining climate change
policies with the economic agenda of developing a
green economy, promoting clean energy
transformation, realizing new energy utilization and
transforming the economic structure. Biden
advocated the clean energy revolution, planning to
accelerate the construction of the sustainable
economic system and green infrastructure. He hopes
that these policies can create a large number of high-
quality jobs in the process.
Second, the Biden administration is trying to build
the possibility for climate policy to promote social
issues with the political narrative of “climate justice”.
The Biden administration attaches great importance
to environmental justice. It is hoped that efforts on
climate governance can provide justice access for
ethnic minorities and vulnerable groups such as low-
income groups, and deliver assistance to traditional
energy communities such as coal, oil and gas
industries affected by climate policies, so as to
alleviate social conflicts.
Third, the Biden administration hopes to revamp
its damaged national image and restore global
leadership through its climate policy. Biden
announced the return of the US to the Paris
Agreement on his inauguration and held a global
summit on the Earth Day. In his presidency, Biden
showcased his climate ambitions with a series of
domestic and foreign climate policies.
3.4 Identity Perception of US
During his election campaign, Biden put climate
policy at the core of domestic and foreign affairs,
emphasized the government duty to mobilize
enthusiasm in an all-round way, and tried to regain the
leadership in the multilateral climate governance
system. At the same time, the Biden administration
attached importance to leading multilateral climate
cooperation efforts with the establishment of a strong
and professional climate team. To re-establish
leadership among allies, the US frequently engaged
with traditional allies such as the EU, trying to create
cooperation in global governance through
international multilateral cooperation mechanisms.
3.5 The Mutual Expectation between
China and US
China’s expectation of the US’s role in climate
governance under the Biden administration is based
on cooperation principle. In April 2021, Xie Zhenhua,
China’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, and John
Kerry, the US President’s Special Envoy for Climate
Change, exchanged views on bilateral climate
cooperation and issued the China-US Joint Statement
on Addressing the Climate Crisis, which reflects
China’s openness to cooperate with the US on climate
issues. However, political relations and strategic
mutual trust between the two countries have been
severely damaged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
PMBDA 2021 - International Conference on Public Management and Big Data Analysis
34
Whether China and the US can effectively manage
differences, focus on cooperation, and maintain the
overall stability of basic political relations is the
premise of climate cooperation between the two
countries. For its part, the US has no choice but to
cooperate with China because of its emphasis on the
climate issue. John Kerry visited China shortly after
Biden took office, and President Xi Jinping was
invited to attend the Global Climate Leaders’ Summit
hosted by the US. However, several important
government officials in Biden’s climate team claimed
that China should take on more responsibilities. The
Biden government tried to curb Chinese influence on
climate governance through a series of propaganda
and agenda setting efforts, putting pressure to force
China to accept more responsibility and limit the
development of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Table 1: Table of the roles of Sino-US on climate governance.
Role expectation
External expectation
Interests cognitive Identity cognition
China
1. Transform the mode of
development to achieve
sustainable
2. Safeguard citizen’s
healthy life
3. Improve the national,
enhance the soft power
1. Gradually closer to the
center of the global stage
2. Constructive role in
global governance as a
responsible major state
1. Against the Belt and Road
Initiative to curb Chinese global
influence in the areas of green
trade, finance and technology
2. Improve relations with China,
holding certain contact and
cooperation in the field of climate
U.S.
1. Participate in climate
governance to maintain its
leadership
2. Revive the economy and
solve social problems
1. Pay attention to
cooperating with traditional
alliances
2. Reshape the identity of
global leader by handling
problems
1. China hopes for a wide range
of cooperation on the climate with
the United States
2. The Chinese willing for
cooperation is based on certain
political premises, managing
differences and problems
4 THE INTERACTION ON
CLIMATE ROLES BETWEEN
CHINA AND THE US IN THE
POST-EPIDEMIC ERA
The Biden administration actively deals with climate
issues and seeks to reshape the US leadership on
climate issues in the post-pandemic era. With its
effective measures, material assistance and
experience sharing, China has further established a
positive image of participating in global affairs, and
its role in global governance has gradually shifted
from participants to the leader. In the post-pandemic
era，the interactions between the two key players in
global climate governance will become more frequent
and have a profound influence on the process of
governance.
4.1 China-US Interactions Have a
Profound Impact on the
Governance System
The Paris Agreement is the core institutional
arrangement for current global climate governance
and provides a legally binding framework for global
cooperation on climate governance. At present, the
effectiveness of global climate governance mainly
depends on the implementation of the Intended
Nationally Determined Contributions. As the top two
carbon emitters in the world, national policies of
China and the United States on climate change will
play a decisive role in the process of the Paris
Agreement. The two countries have proposed
ambitious climate policy options and determined to
drive the global low carbon energy transformation
and development of the green economy, increase
capital scale in response to climate change and
provide technical assistance for a long time, which is
A Comparative Study on the Role of Sino-US Participation in Climate Governance in the Post-pandemic Era
35
conducive to the implementation of Paris Agreement
and its detailed clauses.
4.2 The Interests Cognition Brings
about the Possibility of Positive
Role Interaction
China and the United States share similar national
interests in promoting the transformation and
upgrading of economic development and accelerating
the use of clean energy. For both sides, the intention
of participation in climate governance is to solve the
energy crisis which is the dilemma of development
prospects caused by the old high-carbon industrial-
driven economic development, and to solve a series
of social and public health problems. Driven by the
support of China and the United States, the trend of
green, clean and low-carbon global energy and
economic development will usher in a bright future.
There are also positive opportunities for interaction
between the two countries.
4.3 The Identity Perception Brings
Positive Prospects for Aid
Interaction
Both countries will provide foreign climate assistance
to enhance the capacity of developing countries to
cope with climate problems and achieve economic
development upgrading. They have determined to
form institutionalized aid practice in the future. In the
future, a new tripartite cooperation mode in
international climate assistance may be adopted by
China and the United States to realize assistance
cooperation under the increasingly similar identity
expectations of the two countries.
4.4 The Different External
Expectations Predict the Prospect
of Competitive and Conflicting
Interaction
In addition to re-engaging with China on the
necessary climate cooperation, the Biden
administration still hopes to exert pressure on China
on climate issues, force China to assume more
responsibility for emission reduction and launch
strategic competition with China. In the post-
pandemic era, low-carbon green economic recovery
will become the mainstream trend and all countries
have invested a lot to upgrade clean energy
technologies to gain technological advantages. There
will be a long-term technological competition
between China and the United States. The United
States can support the trade and investment of low-
carbon clean technologies and products through
financing regulatory policies and trade policies to
constantly consolidate its leading position in global
clean energy technology, achieving the strategic
purpose of continuing to suppress China in the field
of technology.
5 CONCLUSION
Under the Biden administration, the United States
declared to return to the global climate governance
framework, the validity of the framework is
substantially increased. With the scientific
understanding of the impact of climate change, China
increasingly considers the upgrading of its
development mode and reduction of greenhouse gas
emissions as the only way for the country to achieve
sustainable development. The change in the cognition
of national interests makes China significantly more
willing to participate in climate cooperation. This
paper attempts to propose a framework for analyzing
the role of states in governance practice, which takes
interests and identity as variables, reflecting the
dynamics and complexity of the evolution of
international relations. Based on the roles of China
and the United States in climate governance practices,
this paper attempts to analyze the prospect of
interaction between the two countries in climate
governance from a theoretical perspective, so as to
provide reference for future academic research on
cooperation and competition between China and the
United States in the field of climate.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This research is supported by the Shandong
University Student Research Training Program,
“Dissemination of Ideas and Regional Approaches:
China's Participation in Global Climate Governance
Based on Big Data” (B21064).
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