Video Speech by Mr. Kevin Michael Rudd, Chairman of Asia Society, Former prime minister of Australia, on China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation

Video Speech by Mr. Kevin Michael Rudd, Chairman of Asia Society, Former prime minister of Australia, on China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation

Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

21 November 2022 

Chairman Luo Zhaohui, Governor Wang Yubo, distinguished guests， 

Hello everyone! I'm Kevin Rudd, Lao Lu. 

First of all, I would like to congratulate the China International Development Cooperation Agency and Yunnan Province on hosting the China-Indian Ocean Region Forum on Development Cooperation. 

We are all concerned about the Kunming Declaration on Biological Diversity issued by COP15. It's a pity that we can't meet and discuss with you in the beautiful Kunming this time. Today, I would like to express my support and encouragement by saying a few words to you through the video. 

At the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, President Xi Jinping provided direction for China's environmental future. He said that Chinese path to modernization is a modernization in which man and nature coexist harmoniously. In those words, he's saying the Chinese style modernization brings about a harmony between humanity and nature. 

At COP 27, Xie Zhenhua, who is our old friend, China's special envoy for climate addressed the parties by referencing the accomplishments China had already delivered domestically.

Notably, these included that in 2021, carbon emissions per capita of GDP have dropped by a cumulative 50.8 percent since 2005. Renewable in installed capacity are over 1.12 billion kilowatts, which is lowering the cost of renewable energy worldwide. 85 percent of the world's solar energy production is now provided by China. And green transport has led to the rapid development of $10 billion in new energy vehicles from China, that account for 50 percent of the world's total, these are outstanding achievements and are only a few of the many that China has achieved in this area. 

China's commitment to climate change and sustainable development through international development cooperation was also evidenced at the Xi Jinping, Joe Biden meeting at the G20. Both President Xi and President Biden acknowledged that cooperation is needed to advance the international climate agenda. In the readout of the meeting, the objective of both sides going into this summit was to put a floor underneath the overall strategic relationship between China and the United States. What I would describe as stabilizing a relationship, constructing guard rails around it. This means both sides are able to develop mechanisms like safety nets to ensure that the temperature of the relationship does not continue to rise. In order to keep the temperature down, there must be a shared understanding of managing competition and managing differences. Both the US and China hold steadfast to their own beliefs on the questions of foreign policy and strategic policy. But in strategic communication, it's necessary to find a point of stabilization between them to avoid war. It's imperative that the world's two largest contributors to carbon emissions are reliant on this as well. Stabilization of the relationship enables the two to work closely on climate change action. While we're a long way away from normalizing the relationship between Beijing and Washington, this summit sets the stage for greater collaboration between the two countries than we've seen for some time. The US and China can manage their differences for the greater good of the international community. No other country has any excuse to evade their responsibility.  

At the Asia Society of which I'm the global president of that a high level policy commission on getting Asia to net zero. The commission's work brings together a diverse set of recognized Asian leaders, including the honourable Ban Ki-moon, the 8th secretary general of the United Nations to provide recommendations on how Asia and key countries can realize net zero emissions. This includes not only asking questions, but finding solutions as to how climate action can boost the region's economy, its trade, its interconnected us and people's livelihoods. Given that Asia accounts for nearly half of global emissions, it's both important and its timely work. 

The independent commission's recent publication on building a powerful and coherent vision for net zero in Asia. This report highlights an array of scenarios and outcomes for the Asian region at varying stages of climate achievement, in the baseline scenario where Asia Pacific governments do not adopt new climate policies, the Asia Pacific region is projected to experience strong GDP growth of 4.2 percent per annum over the 2020 to 2040 period. Whereas achieving COP 26 commitments can lead to 5.4 percent greater GDP by 2030. Then the trajectory implied by currently enacted pre-COP 26 policies. The findings of the report identify increased employment opportunities, lower energy costs, and improve trade balances and energy security as the positive outcomes it can be delivered from achieving these commitments in practice. While the independent commission enjoys its own optimism, it recognizes that Asia will face transitional challenges, including significant investment, fossil fuel job losses as the transition to clean energy takes place and the financial impact on households. 

Despite these challenges, we can come back to a way in which we can execute international development cooperation which brings people along with us and deals with the cost of climate adjustment on the way through. Addressing climate change in sustainable development is not the responsibility of China alone. It is the collective responsibility of each and every nation to acknowledge their own responsibilities to be accountable for meeting those responsibilities and to further their commitments to each other to advance the international climate agenda. 

Now is the time to reorient ourselves, instead of accusing neighboring countries of failing to act or pointing the finger elsewhere, but working instead as a team, all countries together achieving a common global goal in a world which continues to have much negativity. The bottom line is we can work together on this common challenge for us all, a common Challenge for China and the Indian Ocean region, a common Challenge for the entire international community, a common Challenge for international development cooperation. 

Thank you for your attention.