It's the planet, stupid, not China's global leadership

It was sad to hear US President Donald Trump's announcement last week to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change agreement. And it's puzzling to see so many people interpreting it as the US ceding the global leadership to China.

The Paris accord, adopted in December 2015 and signed by 195 United Nations member states, is about efforts to combat climate change rather than a geopolitical jostling between the US and China. It was actually the close cooperation between the two countries and their determination and commitment to combat the global challenge that led to a relatively speedy acceptance of the Paris agreement. And the US was expected to play a leading role in implementing the accord despite the agreement not being enough to limit the average global temperature rise to 2 Celsius above pre-industrial figures. Therefore, the US' withdrawal will jeopardize global efforts to save the planet.

Yes, it will also be a blow to US leadership in the world. But focusing on or condemning it as the US ceding global leadership to China is simply a wrong approach.