Top US diplomat in China quits over climate policy
♦ India hits back at Trump in war of words
♦ Bloomberg delivers US pledge to continue goals to UN
David Rank, the chargé d'affaires of the US Embassy in Beijing, has left the State Department over the Trump administration's decision to quit the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change, a senior US official said on Monday.
A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Rank's departure, but said she was unable to verify Twitter posts that said he resigned as he felt unable to deliver a formal notification to China of the US decision last week to quit the agreement.
Trump's announcement on Thursday that he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, saying it would undermine the US economy and cost jobs, drew anger and condemnation from world leaders and heads of industry.
India also hit back at Trump, after he accused the country of receiving "billions" of dollars in return for signing the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
"First of all, there is absolutely no reality [in what Trump alleged]," India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj told reporters Monday. "India signed the Paris agreement not because of pressure from any country nor greed. We signed the agreement because of our commitment to protecting the environment."
Meanwhile, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg submitted a statement to the United Nations on Monday that over 1,000 US governors, mayors, businesses, universities and others will continue to meet the goals of the Paris climate agreement abandoned by Trump last week.
Signatories to the new initiative include 13 Democratic and Republican governors, 19 state attorneys general, over 200 mayors, and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies and small businesses.
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