As the climate-change deal deadline in Copenhagen loomed
late Thursday, Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton huddled with world leaders in an impromptu meeting that
lasted into the wee hours of the morning, a State Department official on the scene reports.
Following Clinton's attendance at the Queen's dinner (after her
meeting with Chinese premier Wen
Jiabao), heads of state of key countries decided to go back to the Bella Center and talk it all out
until past 2 a.m. In attendance were British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, South African
President Jacob Zuma, Brazilian
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva,
and others, the official said.
China was represented by chief negotiator Su Wei (rather than Wen) and Clinton
stepped out of the room twice to consult privately with Chinese Foreign
Minister Yang Jiechi, who was also
in town. The last-minute dealings showed the urgency and concern about reaching
an agreement or at least keeping the possibility open as President Obama flew
toward the conference.
Politico's Glenn
Thrush reported
that Wen boycotted Friday morning's leaders meeting, which Clinton attended.
But then, Clinton sat in on Wen's one-hour meeting with President Obama later
in the morning, after which progress
was reported.
When not shuttling around doing climate-change diplomacy,
Clinton found time to sit in on National Security Advisor Jim Jones's meeting with his Russian counterpart on the follow-on
to the START nuclear reductions treaty. She also sat in on Obama's bilateral
with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev,
which covered START and a number of other issues. Busy day.
Clinton's plan is to leave Copenhagen tonight but the
schedule is fluid, our State Department official on the scene reports. One
concern is the
blizzard that's headed to the Washington area now.
Either way, she's going to miss State Department spokesman Robert Wood's going-away party at 3 p.m.
He's headed to Vienna to be DCM there. Congrats, Robert!
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