The Trump administration has formally notified the United Nations that it will withdraw the U.S. from the historic Paris climate agreement, starting a year-long process to leave the international pact to fight the climate crisis. The U.S. is the world’s largest historic greenhouse gas emitter. It will become the only country outside the agreement. The 2015 agreement aims to limit global temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target that would prevent the worst effects of catastrophic climate change. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the historic agreement has sparked widespread international condemnation. This is the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson speaking Monday.

Geng Shuang: “China expresses regret about the U.S. officially starting the relevant process of withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement. We believe that climate change is a common challenge faced by all of humankind. All members of the international community should join hands to cooperate, each doing their best according to their ability to jointly deal with it. … We hope that the U.S. can take more responsibility and make more constructive contributions to the process of multilateral cooperation instead of adding negativity.”

We’ll have more on the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement after headlines.