US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry yesterday arrived in China for three days of talks that would test the ability of the world’s top two greenhouse gas emitters to collaborate in the fight against global warming despite deep discord over other issues.
Kerry’s visit is the latest front in a diplomatic push aimed at re-establishing connections between the superpowers that frayed amid tensions over export controls and human rights, as well as former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan in August last year.
It would also mark the first protracted climate negotiations between the two countries in nearly a year, since Beijing severed consultation on that and other issues in the wake of Pelosi’s visit.
Photo: Reuters
Kerry, a former US secretary of state tapped to be special presidential envoy for climate two years ago, said he is seeking “candid conversations” with Chinese officials and hoping to forge progress in paring releases of potent greenhouse gas methane, while hastening a transition away from coal and deploying renewable power.
“What we want to do is find ways to see if China and the US can advance the cause together for the rest of the world by accelerating rates of doing things, by increasing the deployment of renewables, by improving grid management,” Kerry told a US House of Representatives hearing on Thursday. “If we can make some progress on that, we think we can tampen down this edgy sense of competition which could lead to a mistake which takes you to a place you didn’t mean to go to.”
From today, Kerry and Chinese Special Envoy on Climate Change Xie Zhenhua (解振華) are to have an “in-depth” exchange of views on cooperation to deal with climate change, China’s state broadcaster China Central Television reported, confirming Kerry’s plane had landed in Beijing.
Experts in climate diplomacy cautioned against expectations for any significant breakthrough.
“A critical thing to observe in this visit if there are further steps envisioned, what those steps are, and how explicit the steps will be laid out by both sides,” said Li Shuo (李碩), a policy adviser for Greenpeace East Asia.
The trip might not “resolve anything on paper immediately,” but it could lay a foundation for future statements or commitments, he said.
The restart of US-China climate talks comes on the heels of the hottest week on record globally, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
June was already the hottest ever logged, according to US and European agencies.
Additional reporting by AFP
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