The Chinese media are a a fairly reliable indicator of that government’s thinking. Yesterday they spoke on the issue of Europe’s effort to have the matter of global warming debated in — and presumably acted upon by — the United Nations Security Council. UNSC’s competence is over the issues of international security; further, this implicitly acknowledges the failure of the Kyoto regime under which so much of the UN’s membership are reaping massive rents. A majority of that membership also believes that this is a matter of economic and social development better left to the General Assembly, if the stance taken by the 130-nation Group of 77.

What catches one’s eye when reading coverage of the week’s activities by The People’s Daily — no, not The New York Times — isn’t just the rakish use and sneer-quoting of the phrase “environment card” tossed back at Europe in response to Eurocrats singling out to the media China’s opposition to this particular stunt. Most entertaining is the penultimate paragraph:

“Behind the contention are EU efforts to gain domestic support and boost its international image by suggesting the environmental threat is a security issue. Apparently, some western countries hope to break the ‘common but differentiated responsibilities’ principle laid down in the [UN Framework] Convention and other institutions to shift more obligations to large developing countries, including China.”

In sum, preen and pose all you want to score points among your masses and international elites, but we aren’t about to help end the free-ride and gravy train that are Kyoto, under which most of the world remain party-to yet exempt from Kyoto and therefore subjected only to massive wealth transfers.