President Obama and the "green" lobby actually think China is going to honor the new U.S.-China climate-change agreement that pushes both nations to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions over the next 15 years. China agreed to a "target" of deriving 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable resources "around" 2030. In exchange, Mr. Obama agreed that American families and businesses will aim to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by at least 26 percent by 2025 from 2005 levels.

This is not a planet-saving climate-change pact. Rather this plan represents unilateral economic disarmament by the United States as Beijing continues its quest to replace America as the globe's economic superpower. Raising China's energy prices by transitioning to highly inefficient forms of electricity production conflicts with Beijing's strategic mission of economic pre-eminence, and adherence to the agreement is doubly unlikely to happen at a time when the Chinese economy has shown signs of slowing down.