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December 1 2009 (LPAC)--China, India, South Africa, and Brazil have signed a draft declaration which includes these nations' non-negotiable demands for the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and they threaten to walk out together, along with Sudan, if they are not met. The declaration was drafted by Beijing, and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao called a previously unannounced meeting in Beijing Nov. 27 with the outspoken Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, Brazilian Presidential Advisor Marcel Fortuna Biato, South African Environment Minister Buyelwa Sonjica, and the Sudanese representative of the G77 nations, who were in China for consultations.

After the meeting, Ramesh emphasized that the draft declaration includes agreement to walk out of Copenhagen, if necessary, to protect their national interests. "We will not exit in isolation. We will co-ordinate our exit if any of our non-negotiable terms is violated. Our entry and exit will be collective," Ramesh said. "This BASIC draft fully meets India's goals and aspirations. We hope it is made the basis of discussions at the conference." The "non-negotiables," he said, are that countries would never accept legally binding emissions cuts, unsupported mitigation actions, international measurement, reporting and verification of unsupported mitigation actions, or the use of climate change as a trade barrier, The Hindu reported Nov 29.

A Capitol Hill office told us accurately Tuesday, "This could make the whole thing a dead letter!"