G20, sinologist Sisci: “There is a ghost about China question, but perhaps a pause on the environment”

“The China question is likely to hover over the entire summit.” The G20 in Rome is “an important occasion” that comes “at a delicate moment” because “on a global level we are still in the midst of Covid” and “in addition there is the geopolitical and geoeconomic clash with China which is increasing by intensity “but in this context” the G20 is tackling a unifying theme for all “, that of climate, also in view of the COP26 in Glasgow. Sinologist Francesco Sisci, professor of geopolitics at Luiss, speaks with Adnkronos on the eve of the Rome summit, during which – confirmed Beijing – Chinese leader Xi Jinping will speak via video link for an “important speech”. “The absence is due to complicated issues”, says Sisci, but the summit could be an opportunity for “a pause for reflection, to think about what unites and not just what divides”. In its plan, China confirmed the 2060 target for carbon neutrality. It is, notes the sinologist, “a distant horizon” and the current situation is that “the climate problem collides with a dramatic reality, with the surge in energy prices”. The thought goes to “a year and a half ago, at the beginning of the Covid winter “, the” global slowdown of the economy “and” the excess production of gas and oil “. “Producing countries have closed the taps and today reopening them is complicated, not convenient for them, but not consumers – he observes – This means, for example, that China will be forced to go back to burning its coal, which is rich in sulfur. , “because” objectively there is little gas “. ‘Draconian anti-Covid measures in the Asian giant gave an advantage at first but today they are an obstacle to collaboration with foreign countries’ But there is also a” positive move “, notes Sisci with a reference to the agreements with the United States on liquefied natural gas while the Asian giant, first in the world for greenhouse gas emissions, is dealing with the energy crisis and is grappling with a new wave of infections from Covid-19. Also to this Sisci connects the absence of Xi in Rome, to what could be defined as a “technical problem”. “If he had come to Rome together with his large delegation he would have had to remain in quarantine for three weeks on his return like anyone who arrives in China from abroad – he says – It’s impossible”. Xi is “in fact a prisoner” within the Chinese borders in the light of the Covid emergency, “prisoner” of “draconian social control measures that at first were useful internally, but today are objectively an obstacle to collaboration with foreign countries” of the Asian giant where the ‘zero Covid’ strategy with these restrictions it now “works less” also because – he concludes – the country “does not have an efficient vaccine like some American vaccines”.