Two items that seem to go hand-in-hand

Item 1:

China Says World ‘Cannot Afford’ Failed Climate Talks

“We have to remain optimistic,” Yu Qingtai, the Chinese foreign ministry’s climate-change negotiator, told a briefing in Beijing today. “The Copenhagen conference must succeed for the sake of mankind.”

Item 2:

Report: Oil reserves less than estimated

Birol told The Independent that the public and many governments are ignoring reports that the oil is running out faster than predicted. Birol said global production likely will peak in about a decade, 10 years sooner than most governments have estimated.

Faith Birol is chief economist at the International Energy Agency in Paris.

Now it seems to me... if China thinks the talks have to succeed for the sake of mankind, and we're running out of oil, then realistic, makeable, but tough targets for CO2 emissions reductions would force a move toward alternatives -- and that's good for the long-term global economy (so it's in China's self-interest to make it happen) as well as long-term global climate.

So China needs to get its *ss off square one and start negotiating like it means what it says.