China and US break the ice and hold bilateral meeting at COP27

The special envoys for the climate of China, Xie Zhenhua, and the United States, John Kerry, had an important bilateral meeting this Wednesday (9), at COP27, in Sharm el-Sheik, Egypt.

The meeting was not on the climate summit’s formal agenda, but it was the first time the two sides had talked about climate change in recent months.

The joint action of the two countries is considered fundamental for the world to be able to combat the impacts of global warming, since China and the USA are, respectively, the first and second biggest polluters in the world.

The two economic powers had been collaborating on the climate front before, but that ended in August of this year when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island of Taiwan – considered by China to be a rebel province and part of Chinese territory.

Pelosi’s visit provoked an angry reaction from China, which immediately suspended all talks and collaboration on the climate agenda with the US.

Zhenhua said at COP27 that Pelosi’s visit “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”.

Shortly after the meeting, however, Kerry indicated that the ice had been broken, but that much action was still needed for the two sides to return to full collaboration.

The representative of China also announced that his country is willing to help in financing developing nations to change their energy matrix towards a green economy.

This would be a voluntary contribution, as China is also considered a developing country by the World Trade Organization (WTO) – although it is the second largest economy in the world.

Kerry has previously said that China should pay its own way for its own transition to a green economy, and that it should also help poorer nations.

The matter, according to the Chinese representative, was not addressed at the bilateral meeting – and China would have acted on its own account.