Entirely self-serving and not incredibly meaningful, of course--both the Chinese and the attention. Then again, China seldom undermines itself.
The praise is a bit cloying and comes across as insincere. From 1980 to 2005 the US did precisely what China is proposing as its great sacrifice. It's not exactly information that's trumpeted, perhaps because it was done for reasons of economics and efficiency, not because it was a political concession or the subject of a treaty. In fact, for all of that time the US was still billed--accurately--as the largest producer of CO2. Now that China has that dubious honor, the US is still #1 because the reports have shifted to saying we have the highest per capita CO2 emissions.
In fact, the increase in carbon intensity passed unnoticed, even though it's far below China's 2020 goal:
"China in 2006 emitted 2.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels for every $1,000 of gross domestic product (GDP), around 15 percent lower than a decade earlier. In comparison, the United States in 2006 emitted 0.52 tonnes of carbon dioxide for every $1,000 of GDP, while Switzerland produced 0.17 tonnes, and impoverished Chad just 0.07 tonnes."
Of course, I'm not sure that these numbers are entirely useful. If the yuan were revalued higher, for instance, that would affect exports and how GDP, and therefore productivity and carbon intensity, are expressed in US dollars.
However, what's noteworthy is that while China already set carbon intensity increases as a goal because it's just plain cost effective in the long term and better for the population, the government can milk what's already a good idea for them to get tech transfer and financial assistance for what they'd do anyway. And pressure will, no doubt, be applied to make sure this extortion attempt succeeds.