Monkeying around on global warming won't pay

The Bali action plan keeps cropping up these days of continuing debates on climate change.

Last month, I was in Bali, attending the Cairns Group Trade Ministers Meeting as an observer. One evening, my colleague and I decided to take a walk in the mountain nearby. The view was fantastic, with the wind adding motion to the colorful patterns created by the setting sun both in the sky and on the sea. We were lost in nature. And then suddenly my colleague screamed: "My glasses!"

I turned around to see his glasses had indeed vanished, and there were claw marks on his shoulder. One of the many monkeys jumping around had run away with his glasses, and there was nothing we could do to get them back.

But the local kids could and they did. They managed to exchange the glasses with the monkey for some peanuts. So relieved was my colleague that he fished out some money from his pocket and gave it to the kids, thanking them for their help.

On our way back to the hotel, we found something odd about the entire episode. Did the monkeys always snatch belongings from visitors? Did the kids always exchange the belongings for some peanuts and return them to the visitors in return for some reward? Our local driver confirmed our suspicion. So the interesting chain did exist.

The monkeys have probably learned the relation between snatching visitors' belongings and peanuts they get as reward for returning them. And the critical link in that chain is the speed and agility with which they snatch visitors' belongings.

Let's return to the ministers' meeting. The media have interpreted the report by the WTO Secretariat and the UN Environment Programme as "WTO signals backing for border taxes". Drafters of the report have actually tried to explain only the relevant provisions in the WTO agreement such as the conditions where general exceptions would apply, without saying they support border taxes. Nonetheless, they should have known it is beyond the public's and the media's ability to fully understand the legal relationship between the general provisions and the exceptions.

One thing is clear, though. Border taxes would restrict the competitiveness of others rather than fight climate change.

Given this premise, it is impossible to define the conditions where they would apply and where they wouldn't because there can be "no discrimination between countries where same conditions prevail".

Even US President Barack Obama has said: "At a time when the economy worldwide is still deep in recession and we've seen a significant drop in global trade, we have to be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there I am very mindful of wanting to make sure that there's a level playing field internationally but there may be other ways of doing it than with a tariff".

With this in mind, the international community should condemn in one voice the attempt by any country to resort to trade protectionism. It is only to be expected that the public and the media will have doubts when the focus is on exceptions. There are two ways of interpreting exceptions. One is to say you cannot do something except under very special circumstances. The other is to say you can do something as long as certain conditions are met.

Climate change is a very controversial issue, and the WTO needs to be very cautious about its opinions on it.

At best, the existing WTO rules on climate change can be described as a small cage that cannot hold big games like smart, agile monkeys.

The only way out is to first reach a multilateral agreement on climate change.

The WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy has termed it as "Copenhagen first".

Once such an agreement is reached, the relationship between climate change and trade measures could be further clarified under the WTO framework. These clarifications, though, will still have to be based on the outcomes of multilateral talks, and not unilateral measures.

I need to mention here that we had a very responsible driver in Bali. He swung a bamboo stick to prevent the monkeys from coming anywhere near us.

He did his duty, even though in the end he couldn't prevent them from running away with my colleague's glasses.

And his duty didn't end with that. He even told us not to give too much money to the kids because it would encourage them to "demand more" from others and intensify their mischievous game.

Monkeys can be forgiven for their wild ways because that is their wont. It's up to humans to behave like humans in the fight against climate change.

The author is Deputy Representative of China's Mission to WTO.

(China Daily 07/21/2009 page9)