China has its own national interests — who knew?
The NYT has discovered that China has its own national interests:
A fundamental tenet of foreign policy says that nations will seldom voluntarily act against what they have determined, for whatever reason, to be their own national interest. Somebody needs to tell that to the United States when it comes to China…
Beijing has resisted letting its currency rise because it depends on the cheap yuan to drive its export-heavy economy. China has balked at stiff sanctions to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions because it needs access to Iran’s oil and gas fields to fuel its own growth. Beijing doesn’t want to curb carbon emissions because its ability to lift hundreds of millions of people into the middle class over the coming years is directly linked to its increased use of energy.
The last point is particularly telling. Every self-congratulatory party that the AGW hucksters have thrown for themselves has been a scam. China isn’t going to stop building its 500 new coal-fired electric plants, whether its air is crazy bad or not. It’s nice of the NYT to finally let us know.