“Let’s wait and see. If they can catch up and produce more electric vehicles very quickly that are affordable for customers, I think that’s fine, no problem,” he said. “But if not, I think the tariff policy is a little unreasonable.”
The Chinese diplomat noted that in 2023, more than half of the world’s newly installed renewable energy capacity would come from China. In addition, China’s total investment in the renewable energy sector reached $676 billion, accounting for 38 percent of total global investment, Wu said.
Wu, who became China’s ambassador to South Africa in June, said the US and EU would continue to blame China for what they called “overcapacity” in the electric vehicle sector, but no country should be held responsible for green energy production capacity.
“If we are really serious about combating climate change, the capacity to generate green energy in every country actually belongs to the whole world,” Wu said.
On June 12, the European Commission shocked China by announcing that it would impose additional tariffs of up to 38 percent on imported Chinese electric vehicles starting July 4.
The news came just a month after the U.S. announced similar plans to increase tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles from 25 percent to 100 percent.
The tariff increases are the result of an anti-subsidy investigation launched by the European Commission last October. Both Brussels and Washington accuse China of distorting the market by subsidizing Chinese car manufacturers, leading to an influx of cheaper electric cars.
In addition, China produces 70 percent of the world’s solar and wind farm equipment and other key components.
“Yes, we export these green energy products to developed countries. They may not be very happy about it,” Wu said.
He said the US and EU should be aware that it is precisely these products made in China that are helping to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in these industrialised countries by about 570 million tonnes per year.
This represents nearly 41 percent of global carbon savings from renewable energy over the same period, Wu added.
According to Wu, green development cooperation will be a topic of discussion at the FOCAC ministerial conference, which begins on September 3 in Beijing.
“I found that we have a lot in common with the African ambassadors stationed in Beijing. They said that green development must be an issue and we completely agree with that,” he said, referring to a meeting with African envoys he held earlier this year when he was still director-general for African affairs at China’s Foreign Ministry.
“China has implemented hundreds of clean energy power generation and green energy projects in Africa, many of which are milestone projects for local clean energy development,” Wu said.
China has signed 18 cooperation documents on climate change with 16 African countries, including Nigeria, Ethiopia and Benin.
Cobus van Staden, research fellow at SAIIA and senior editor of the China-Global South Project, said he expects green energy cooperation to be on the FOCAC agenda, as China has already promised more investment in renewable energy at the last FOCAC summit in 2021.
