House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is headed to China over the week-long Memorial Day recess to talk to government officials there about energy and environmental issues.
Pelosi is leading a delegation of Republicans and Democrats who sit on a congressional global warming panel, she said.
The trip comes at a critical time for China, which is for the first time weighing weather to limit carbon emissions in the country. This week China also laid down a tough opening position for the upcoming climate summit to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark this fall. The Chinese are asking for big U.S. Concessions on emissions to sign on to a successor to the failed Kyoto Protocols.
The purpose of the trip, Pelosi said, is to “see what the possibilities are for common ground, learn from each other, as we go forward,” on reducing emissions.
The week-long trip was first reported by a Chinese news service, which has a particular interest in Pelosi thanks to her support of bringing Democracy to the country. Her visit comes almost 20 years since the Chinese government violently cleared a pro-democracy demonstration by students in Tiananmen Square.
Two years later, Pelosi famously unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square that read: “To those who died for democracy in China.” She has met with the Dalai Lama, who is seen as an agitator by the Chinese government and last year urged President George Bush not to attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics in protest over the country’s human rights record.
Pelosi said her trip will also include meetings with private-sector companies and students to talk about global warming and she will speak at an energy forum.
