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“Twenty years from now, folks, I do not want to be debating who lost Earth,” Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) stated Wednesday during an address at the National Press Club in Washington.

“One hundred and ninety-two nations will gather this December in Copenhagen to hammer out a new global climate treaty, but two [the U.S. and China] have the capacity to set the tone and define what is possible,” he said, citing that the two nations together produce 40 percent of all carbon emissions in the world.

Kerry said there are grave misunderstandings between the American and Chinese populations that place a souring effect on the relationship between the two countries. He argued that America underestimates China’s willingness to fight climate change, and that China unreasonably fears that the U.S. is attempting to smother China’s economic rise.

Actually, Kerry said, China has already taken much more initiative towards renewable energy than most Americans realize. He reported that China is second in the world only to Germany in renewable energy investment; China currently invests $12.5 million per hour.

“China needs to understand that we will not enter into a global treaty ... without a meaningful commitment from China to be part of the solution,” said Kerry. He argued that the U.S. must persuade China to act quickly and decisively and that to do so is in their best interests.

Kerry said that the United States’ perception of China is far different from how China sees itself. America sees China as the leading producer of carbon emissions today, and a burgeoning economic powerhouse. However, he said, China sees itself as a country with less cumulative emissions historically than the U.S. and with 500 million citizens living on less than two dollars per day.

“Our climate diplomacy depends on building a framework that is flexible enough to accommodate individual countries’ wants and needs, but firm enough to bring all of us on board and hold all nations accountable,” said Kerry.