US scholars and industries have come up with some strategies. One of them is to equalize GHG-related costs for US and other emitters by imposing a cost or other requirement on energy-intensive imports from countries with weaker or no GHG constraints.

Imagine a scenario in which these provisions look sensible and applicable. Every country would be eligible to impose taxes on imports based on their own domestic bills. And that would suit the US as the largest GHG emitter.

The developing countries, including China, are seeking time to catch up. It is not their ruse for emitting more pollutants. Admittedly, China is as big a GHG emitter as the US. Yet it would be incorrect to accuse it of not doing anything on climate change.

China's per capita emission is still a fifth of the US'. Its cumulative per capita emission from 1960 to 2005 is less than one-tenth of the US', according to the Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress.

China is already making progress on the low-carbon economy front, laying the foundation for clean-energy jobs and innovations. Climate Group ranked it second in the world in 2007 in terms of absolute funds invested in renewable energy. In actual terms, China spent US$12 billion, behind just Germany's US$14 billion. These investments have placed China among the world leaders in solar, wind, electric vehicles and grid technologies.

The developments do not mean that China's emissions are not rising. The country can surely do more to fight climate change. But the fact is that it has decided to act even though its per capita GHG emission level, both historical and current, is a fraction of the US'. And China will take more steps to fight climate change for the sake of its national security and economic prosperity.

But it is waiting, along with the rest of the world, to see how the US plays out its role in the battle against climate change.

(China Daily July 17, 2009)