China is claiming a major role in Copenhagen and talking about most other countries as obstructing the good compromises and diplomatic work they had in the works.

For my money, this is one of the biggest stories to come out of Copenhagen. It is well-known that many countries, moreso the developing nations, didn’t get what they wanted out of the Copenhagen summit, and while there was a lot of effort put into making what did happen happen, for those of us who weren’t in the rooms where the decisions were actually being made, all we know is coming out of our national media outlets- which are just that, OUR national media outlets.

I’m a blogger and I love blogging, the power of anyone to have a voice, an opinion and something of an influence in matters that were up until recently the realm of credentialed journalism and, in many countries, state controlled news media. I am seeing a lot of ink going to this story and with good reason- it is perhaps the first of many collisions between China and both the U.S. and the EU around international diplomatic issues. China is no longer a rising power or someone to keep an eye on (if you are in the West). The country has allies, influence, and in many regards the economic and financial upper hand and they know it. China framing themselves as the hero and others as the problem at the Copenhagen summit sounds distinctly like… what the U.S. does in almost every international debate.

How often do you hear that the EU is this or that, or that the UN is just not working, or that this or that country is a threat to democracy or to the world order? I live in the U.S. and I am not ashamed of that- I enjoy a lot of privileges and freedoms that I don’t take for granted- and I understand that along with that is a huge national ego that looks at the world from a very American-centric point of view. Of course other nations do the same, but until now there has been little credence or critical thought given to the truth or influence of those perspectives on the whole- and certainly not much press.

This is almost playing out like an international game of he said she said, except the he and she are entire countries. Britain is saying that China hijacked the negotiations by not attending the final round of direct negotiations and refusing the firm targets the EU was pushing- China is saying premier Wen Jiabao did everything he could, with the Xinhua News saying that Wen led: "the last minute attempt to exchange ideas and reach consensus…” and that “China showed the greatest sincerity, tried its best and played a constructive role.”

China is taking a lot of heat for being against allowing international checks on any limits set, saying that allowing people into their country would violate their national sovreignity.

"On the transparency issue in self-mitigation actions, Wen said China was willing to conduct talks and cooperation," according to Xinhua.

I expect this kind of bickering to continue to play a huge role in the politics of any future climate change reduction agreement- again going back to the fact that the U.S. and China need to agree on something, and the rest of the world will go with it.

Photo Credit: Worldeconomicforum (via Flickr under CCL)