China retaliated over US President Joe Biden’s criticism of Beijing for failing to demonstrate leadership after President Xi Jinping missed the crucial COP26 United Nations summit in Glasgow.

Xi, who heads the world’s top emitter of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, has not left China since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak and has not attended COP26.

Biden had already lashed out at the Chinese and Russian leaders for failing to attend the meeting.

“Actions speak louder than words,” said Wang Wenbin, a spokeswoman for China’s foreign ministry.

“Concrete action, rather than hollow rhetoric, is required in order to combat climate change,” he went on to say. “It is true that China is taking genuine action in response to climate change.”

He also poked fun at the United States by stating that the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Agreement under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, has hurt global climate governance and the execution of the agreement, among other things.

Biden has expressed regret about Trump’s decision.

https://www.theasianaffairs.com/china-retaliates-as-biden-criticizes-xis-absence-on-cop26/