Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd On US-China Relations

How do the two global superpowers work to fight the climate crisis?

If we have any chance of staying under 2 degrees Celsius of warming above pre-industrial levels and hitting the targets of the Paris Agreement, the United States and China will have to act aggressively to reduce emissions now. The next few decades require global cooperation across the board to see the world’s biggest emitters decarbonize and provide the resources for other nations to do the same. Without China and the United States working together effectively, which has become increasingly uncertain in recent years, we don’t stand a chance. So how do we change the current trajectory and steer away from escalating conflict? How do we support global competition without backsliding into chaos?

In his new book, The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China, former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who currently serves as President of the Asia Society, outlines a detailed plan for how the two global superpowers can establish strategic competition with each other without resorting to catastrophic war.

Rudd has a unique set of qualifications that inform his positions on navigating Chinese-American relations. Beyond his years as Australian Prime Minister and current day job at the Asia Society, Rudd is fluent in both English and Mandarin Chinese. He served as Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs before his time as Prime Minister and knows both President Xi and President Biden well. As a world leader serving a country greatly impacted by the fallout of US-Chinese relations, he’s been able to negotiate with each nation’s leaders in their own language.

So, in this hour-long conversation, Rudd outlines how he thinks the United States and China can work more effectively on the climate crisis while avoiding conflict. He explains why he thinks Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to Taiwan was a mistake and what we should learn from the breakdown in talks following the trip. Lastly, Rudd gives his thoughts on the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in the United States and Australia's plan to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030 from 2005 levels.

You can listen to the full conversation as a podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever you listen to podcasts. We now have 201 episodes of The Climate Pod available!