William’s attempt to turn China green: Prince of Wales tries to ease strained relations between Beijing and the West (including his own father) by taking his Earthshot Prize to the world’s biggest polluter

Prince William is reportedly hoping to ease tense relations between China and the West by bringing his annual Earthshot Prize to China.

The Prince of Wales will travel to China in a bid to transform the environmental policies of the world’s biggest polluter.

The heir’s decision comes despite his father King Charles’ troubled relationship with Beijing.

The king, who celebrates his 75th birthday on Tuesday, has never visited mainland China because of his views on the country’s human rights record and treatment of Tibet.

Sources have said so The Sunday times However, William believes that you “can’t exclude a large part of the planet when you think about fighting for its future.”

William was in Singapore this week for his third annual Earthshot Prize ceremony, which recognizes solutions to ‘fix’ the planet.

On Tuesday, at an awards ceremony co-hosted by actress Hannah Waddingham and actor and producer Sterling K Brown, five winners each presented £1 million to support efforts to scale up their innovative climate and environmental solutions.

Speaking at the glitzy awards ceremony in Singapore, Prince William said: ‘The past year has been one of great change and even greater challenge.

‘A year in which the consequences of the climate crisis have become too visible to ignore.

‘And a year in which many felt defeated and their hopes dwindled.

“But as we have seen tonight, hope remains.”

During his three-day visit to Singapore, William spoke with the country’s Prime Minister and President about his plans for China.

William traveled without Catherine, Princess of Wales, who remained in Britain to help Prince George, 10, with his ‘first set of major exams’.

The next two Earthshot Prize awards will take place in Africa and South America. China and India are expected to be next.

Kensington Palace has said that Prince William wants to ‘make Earthshot truly global’.

Britain’s relationship with China has suffered greatly in recent years for a number of reasons.

The People’s Republic has alienated itself from the West over its human rights violations against the Uyghur Muslim minority, amid threats of espionage and cyber attacks.

The hostile approach to Taiwan’s sovereignty, which China claims as its own, has also fueled the tension.

King Charles’s problems with China are well documented, and none more so than when he described the country’s communist leaders as “terrible old wax figures.”

The comments about his 1997 visit to Hong Kong, which emerged in his 2005 diary entries, caused a diplomatic storm.

The king is also seen to have close ties with Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, describing them as ‘the best of friends’.

Relations between Charles and China were further strained when he was pictured smiling and holding hands with the Dalai Lama in 2012.

A royal source told The Sunday Times: ‘Prince William believes Asia is crucial when it comes to the climate and environment.

‘He believes that you cannot leave out a large part of the planet when you think about fighting for its future.

“To accelerate the change and impact he wants, he knows he must engage with China and India – two of the world’s largest economies and the biggest emitters of carbon dioxide.”

It comes after Rishi Sunak warned at the G7 summit in May that China poses ‘the greatest challenge of our time to global security and prosperity’.

Sunak’s Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden followed suit, saying in July that China was the “biggest state threat” to British economic security.

William last visited China in 2015 when he met President Xi and condemned the illegal wildlife trade as a ‘cruel crime’. Two years later, China banned the trade.

President Xi also visited Britain in 2015 and he and his wife were received by King Charles at Clarence House.

Although Charles made an effort to receive President Xi, he did not attend the state banquet at Buckingham Palace, which William and Kate did.

China is by far the world’s biggest polluter, responsible for 29 percent of global emissions last year. This compares with 11 percent for the US and 0.8 percent for Britain.

President Xi has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2060, although China approved 52 gigawatts of new coal power in the first six months of this year.

Chinese politicians need to be seen to take climate action because air pollution in China causes approximately two million deaths every year.

China has invested billions in renewable energy such as hydro, wind and solar power, while also producing 57 percent of the world’s electric vehicles.