United States envoy John Kerry arrived in China on Sunday (July 16), reported the Chinese state media, as the world’s two biggest greenhouse gas emitters look to revive stalled efforts to combat global warming and are set to hold several bilateral meetings.
What will US and China envoys discuss?
The talks between US special envoy on climate change Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua will begin on Monday and go on till Wednesday. “China and the United States will have an in-depth exchange of views,” on climate issues, reported the state broadcaster CCTV upon Kerry’s arrival in Beijing.
The meetings will also focus on issues including reducing methane emissions, limiting coal use, curbing deforestation and helping poor countries address climate change, reported Reuters. The talks, observers hope, will raise the bar on ambitions ahead of the upcoming United Nations climate summit, COP28, which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in Dubai, later this year.
The official from Washington during his visit to Beijing will talk to Chinese officials “with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” said the US state department. This also comes as several regions across the world have been experiencing record-breaking temperatures.
Ease in diplomatic tensions between Washington and Beijing
It is also worth noting that the bilateral climate talks between US and China had stalled, back in August, after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the democratically-governed island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory, and the Chinese infuriated.
Additionally, former US president Donald Trump’s administration put tariffs on Chinese goods including solar panels, while Washington also introduced a law blocking imports from China’s Xinjiang region where Washington believes Beijing uses forced labor.
However, both countries have recently said that they should be able to collaborate on climate change despite other disagreements. The informal talks about climate issues resumed during the COP27 summit in Egypt in November.
Prior to his trip to China, the US envoy addressed his objectives at a US House subcommittee hearing on Thursday and said, “What we’re trying to achieve now is really to establish some stability with the relationship without conceding anything.”
Kerry’s visit also follows two other high-level visits from officials in Washington – Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen – to Beijing, in a bid to reestablish and stabilise US-China ties.
The talks between Washington and China will be closely watched including by Republican lawmakers who criticised Kerry’s trip and reportedly said how he is flying a carbon-spewing private jet halfway across the world to discuss climate change with a political adversary.
However, observers and environmental groups see it as a good sign and have hoped for a positive outcome from these meetings. The scheduled talks showed that climate change “is still the touchstone for the most important bilateral relationship of the world,” said Li Shuo from Greenpeace in Beijing, as quoted by Reuters.
(With inputs from agencies)
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