The role of global climate change negotiations in the people's Republic of China - United States competition

Although environmental problems affect human activities and health, they have not been an important agenda item in international relations and national policies of states for a long time. Our world has started to sound the alarm in the 21st century due to the understanding that uses and destroys natural resources without hesitation, and even sees this capacity as a degree of development. Starting with the Industrial Revolution, II. Environmental problems (air pollution, depletion of water resources, increase in invasive species, etc.) have reached transboundary dimensions with the influence of the 3rd World countries that followed the developed states in the industrialization race that spread rapidly all over the world after the World War II. At this point, the seriousness of the situation started to be noticed gradually, and efforts were made to take precautions as environmental problems began to threaten the security of the states. With the understanding that international solutions should be produced for transboundary problems, international institutions and agreements have emerged, mostly in the neo-liberal context. Although these institutions have managed to bring out important declarations and agreements under the influence of hegemonic powers from time to time, the realist paradigm's "interest" and "relative gain" understanding has come into play at the point of taking concrete steps. Climate change, which was previously known as global warming and expanded its scope over time, has made it mandatory for nation states to follow a multilateral climate diplomacy. In particular, the efforts of the EU, which is one of the most important actors of global politics, as well as the USA, which is the biggest polluter in history, and China, the biggest polluter of today, are the most important variables in the fight against climate change. If the EU's attitude is accepted as positive and stable, the main question is whether China and the USA, which are interpreted as being on the brink of a new Cold War, can cooperate in the negotiations process. In addition to a multilateral negotiation process against the problem of climate change, the role of the two states is extremely vital for our common home Earth and future generations. Because it is now obvious that the two states are competing for global leadership. With its unpredictable rise, China has become a challenge to the hegemon position of the USA and has given the message that it does not shy away from the struggle for its global leadership role. Against China, which found the opportunity to undermine this goal in the Trump era, the Biden administration and the USA are trying to establish their "leader" position again. In this study, the importance of climate change negotiations in the competition between US and China is questioned. The study consists of three parts. In the first part of the study, a conceptual framework was drawn with climate change and the problems caused by climate change in China and the USA and their national policies towards it were examined. In the second part of the study, the development of climate change negotiations from the past to the present and the attitudes of the USA and China, which are the subject of the study, are mentioned. In the last part of the study, two countries were compared in terms of global leadership position, the role of climate leadership for a possible global leadership was questioned and an analysis was made whether the hegemon position could change hands and whether a new world order could be created.