China's Vice Minister for Climate Change Xie Zhenhua launches the China Pavilion alongside UNFCCC Secretariat Cristiana Figueres.

This post originally appeared on ChinaFAQs. When China launched its first official pavilion at a UN climate conference on Sunday, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat Cristiana Figueres was there alongside China’s NDRC Vice Minister Xie Zhenhua to cut the ribbon. Swarmed by journalists in the standing-room only conference center of the China pavilion in Durban, Figueres applauded China for being a “trend-setter” in global renewable energy, resonating around the world and during the first week of climate negotiations in Durban. “As I look at what has happened here at Durban in the negotiations this past week, what I see is a sailboat that has been sailing over very difficult…