Global warming, a “threat to humanity”, requires “a new definition of cooperation” between China and the United States, urged US climate envoy John Kerry in Beijing on Tuesday.
John Kerry in China to renew climate dialogue
Arriving in China on Sunday, Mr. Kerry met China’s top diplomatic official, Wang Yi, on Tuesday, as the world’s two biggest polluters attempt to renew dialogue after several months of diplomatic cooling. The two men shook hands and exchanged a few words before starting a meeting at the People’s Palace, an imposing building overlooking Tiananmen Square.
“You’re our old friend,” Wang Yi told John Kerry, who enjoys a rather cordial and uninterrupted relationship with China.
A former Secretary of State, the American envoy is making his third trip to Beijing since taking office in 2021. “Climate, as you know, is a global problem, not a bilateral one. It’s a threat to humanity,” Mr. Kerry told his interlocutor, at a time when some regions of the northern hemisphere are experiencing extreme temperatures.
John Kerry, whose trip to Beijing ends on Wednesday, has called for “urgent action” on climate issues between China and the United States, the world’s two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases.
– “Resolving differences” – “We (Americans) hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a new definition of cooperation (on climate) and the ability to resolve the differences between us”, insisted John Kerry. “Cooperation on climate change is progressing between China and the United States, so we need the joint support of the peoples of both countries,” said Wang Yi. “We need a healthy, stable and lasting relationship between China and the United States,” he warned, however.
John Kerry was then received by Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
“All the countries of the world, including China and the United States, need to strengthen cooperation, build consensus and speed up responses” to climate change, stressed Mr. Qiang, China’s second most important government official.
“We can now, I hope, make progress between now and the December meeting in the United Arab Emirates of COP28,” John Kerry assured him, referring to the forthcoming UN climate conference in Dubai. – Working together –
On Monday, John Kerry held four hours of talks with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua, according to state television CCTV.
Washington and Beijing “need to take urgent action on a number of fronts, particularly with regard to coal and methane pollution”, the US envoy then stressed on Twitter. “The climate crisis demands that the world’s two largest economies work together to limit global warming,” he added.
Diplomatic visits to restore dialogue
The climate dialogue was interrupted almost a year ago: China suspended it to protest against the visit to Taiwan of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives. The mood now seems to be one of resumption of trade, even if Washington wants to show its firmness in this area.
Recent months have seen an increasing number of visits to China by high-ranking US officials to warm up diplomatic relations: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken went there in June, followed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in early July.
Mr. Kerry’s trip to the country comes at a time when the impact of climate change is being felt most acutely around the globe, with heat waves in many parts of the world, including China. A mid-July temperature record was set in the semi-desert region of Xinjiang (west), with 52.2°C recorded on Sunday.
