China and India continue to accuse the United States of not being transparent in negotiations
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It's a cloudy, somewhat snowy day. The metro stop at the Bella Center has been shut down because of protests. Outside, the police presence is massive, with officers cordoning off streets.
The Copenhagen climate talks are entering their last phase, yet negotiators here have clearly made less progress toward reaching an agreement on global greenhouse gas emissions than they would have hoped. Some world leaders are already arriving; dozens more are expected tomorrow and Friday for the final day.
Yesterday, negotiations stretched late into the night. China, India, and other developing countries continue to accuse the United States, the European Union, and others of excluding them from negotiations and not being "transparent" about their intentions. "You can't just put forward some text from the sky," China's lead negotiator, Su Wei, charged this morning, referring to a new draft text being circulated.
This issue of "transparency," vague as it may sound, is now a major theme. On one level, China and India are accusing Western countries of shady tactics, of trying to keep them on the sidelines of discussions. At the same time, the United States is calling out China for so far not being willing to agree to the idea of letting inspectors into the country to verify that China's leaders are, in fact, fulfilling their pledges to curb the growth of their country's emissions.
For the Obama administration, this commitment from China would mean a lot, and it would do a lot politically.
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