US special climate envoy John Kerry began talks in Beijing today with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua.
Details of the meeting between the two officials have not yet been released.
Mr. Kerry arrived in its capital China yesterday Sunday; he is the third top official in Joe Biden’s administration, after Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, to make a multi-day official visit to the Asian country as part of efforts to warm US-China relations after months of tensions .
He will remain in the country until the day after tomorrow, Wednesday.
China’s government effectively suspended bilateral climate talks last summer in protest about the trip Democratic then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made to Taiwan.
Beyond the island, the issues causing tension in the relationship between the two great powers are many and varied: they range from trade to differences of opinion over the war in Ukraine, from Chinese claims in the South and East China Seas to human rights and the Uyghur minority, etc.
Still, Mr. Kerry’s visit is “yet another sign that the two sides are making efforts to stop the downward spiral” of their relationship, noted an editorial in the English-language China Daily.
As China and the US they are the two countries with the largest emissions of greenhouse gaseshave “a special responsibility to find common ground and jointly address climate change,” according to the text, which is consistent with recent statements by Mr. Kerry in the New York Times.
The US special envoy is expected to call on Beijing “not to hide behind the claim of being a developing country”, but to do more, Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser to the US presidency, told CNN yesterday. “Every country, including China, has a responsibility to reduce its emissions,” he said. “I think the world needs to encourage China even more, if not pressure it, to take much more radical measures to reduce its emissions,” he insisted.
The second largest economy has “still a lot of work to do in this area” and Mr. Kerry “will insist on this point on his trip to Beijing”, he added.
The US special envoy’s trip to the Chinese capital comes four months before COP28 and as the impact of the greenhouse effect is painfully felt on the planet, with heat waves in several parts of the world. Not even China is spared from these: its capital has been facing temperatures of around 40° Celsius for weeks.
Mr. Biden’s administration sees the climate as an area in which the two forces, which otherwise engage in ruthless competition, can work closely together.
China has promised to peak its emissions by 2030 at the latest and to achieve climate neutrality by 2060. President Xi Jinping has pledged that the country will drastically reduce its carbon use by 2026 at the latest.
But the authorities gave the green light in April to further increase the production capacity of coal-burning power stations, raising doubts about meeting the climate targets.
Source: News Beast
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