Posted on 06/12/2012 3:22:00 PM PDT by Olog-hai
China will take swift countermeasures that could include impounding European aircraft if the European Union punishes Chinese airlines for non-compliance with a scheme to curb carbon emissions, the China Air Transport Association said on Tuesday.
Chinese airlines, which have been told by Beijing not to comply with the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, refused to meet a March 31 deadline for submitting carbon emissions data.
EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard has said carriers have until mid-June to submit their data before enforcement action is taken.
"Chinese airlines are unanimous on this. We won't provide the data," Wei Zhenzhong, secretary general of the China Air Transport Association, said on the sidelines of an International Air Transport Association (IATA) meeting in Beijing.
The Chinese group represents major airlines there, including the big three state-controlled carriers Air China, China Southern Airlines, and China Eastern Airlines .
"The government at least will take the same kind of measures and these anti-sanction moves will be lasting," Wei said.
However, he said: "We would try to avoid any trade war."
A raft of countries including China, India, Russia and the United States have protested against the inclusion of all flights using EU airports into the emissions scheme.
"It's not about the money. It's an issue of sovereignty," said Paul Steele, IATA's director of aviation environment.
The EU plans to charge airlines a fee for their carbon emissions based on the quantity of carbon calculated for complete flights with an EU origin or destination, rather than just the portion flown over Europe.
Critics say this amounts to interference with national airspace. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Might have to root for China on this one. The EU needs to tend to its own severe economic problems and stop thinking it is a Master of the Universe.
The EU is run by fanatics. I doubt they’ll get their way on this issue though.
Ecoweenie Ping.
I have to root for China on this one as well. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Even the mad-dog Chinese rulers can see through the sanctimonious fraud that is global warming.
Wanna bet Obama-smegmalips will force our airlines to comply?
Yeah! Is the popcorn on yet?
I love the smell of Euro-weenies roasting over an open fire.
Barry won’t be in the White House long enough to force this on the US...
The EU will be very different in a year. They can’t afford all these bureaucrats any more.
They’ll be very different insofar as there will be fewer national governments. The only way to get them to rid themselves of the bureaucrats is for an external force to do it.
“The EU is run by fanatics.”
So is China, though. I agree, the EU will swerve first in a game of chicken.
Worth noting however.
It’s these sorts of “gimmes” which become more about the war, rather than the smaller contests, as the stakes grow.
This is moving from the smaller states, to the bigger states.
Rapidly.
Just what the global economy needs is a trade war based on eco-nuttery. It’s the new mercantilism.
This is why the libs like “free trade” so much—it enables the neo-mercantilists and decimates the free market.
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