China has not explicitly criticized the US decision to leave the Paris agreement, but Xi’s meeting with Brown could be seen as a thinly veiled message to Trump.
The Democratic governor’s six-day trip to China focused on combating climate change. After stops in Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces, it culminated in Beijing for an appearance at the Clean Energy Ministerial Conference, which unites public and private delegations to focus on developing cleaner energy
The meeting took on a different tone this year, coming just days after US President Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw from the landmark 2015 climate accord signed in Paris.
Xi and Brown met just as the Beijing conference was kicking off. They discussed the fight against climate change and how China and California could work together to wage it.
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«It’s highly significant that the governor of California can meet with the President of China and talk about the foremost issue of our time, » Brown told CNN.
Though Brown and Xi didn’t directly discuss the Paris accord, Brown told an audience at a forum in Beijing that climate change could be more dangerous than the threat of fascism during World War II. He has called Trump’s decision to drop the Paris accord «crazy.»
A thinly veiled message?
Xi and his government were not unaware of the governor’s views or his intense rhetoric. And yet, they went ahead with a one-on-one meeting, making sure it got positive reviews in state-controlled media.
