China and the US could use climate cooperation to redefine their troubled relationship and lead the way in tackling global warming, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry told senior Chinese officials yesterday.
Kerry’s three-day visit to China aimed at reviving climate cooperation between the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters has coincided with waves of extreme weather across the planet, including a heat dome in the western US that brought temperatures in California’s Death Valley to 53°C on Sunday.
“Our hope is that this can be the beginning of a new definition of cooperation and capacity to resolve differences between us,” Kerry told Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Commission Director Wang Yi (王毅), the nation’s top diplomat, in a meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Photo: AFP
Addressing Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強), Kerry warned that the situation could get worse this summer and cited reports that a weather station in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region had recorded an all-time high temperature of 52.2°C on Sunday.
“The predictions are much more serious than they’ve ever been,” Kerry added after an unusual interruption by Li expressing doubt about the Xinjiang temperature.
Li later in the meeting acknowledged the severe climate impacts facing China and elsewhere, people in the room said.
Topics of discussion between the two sides include the issue of climate financing, China’s coal consumption and the abatement of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Li urged rich nations to “take the lead” in cutting emissions and meet their commitments to provide climate financing to developing nations, Xinhua news agency reported.
Kerry told Wang that talks could provide a fresh start for the two nations that have been mired in disputes over Taiwan and trade.
“We are very hopeful that this can be the beginning, not just of a conversation between you and me and us on the climate track, but that we can begin to change the broader relationship,” Kerry told Wang.
He also delivered a message from US President Joe Biden, telling Wang how much Biden “values his relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
“President Biden is very committed to stability within this relationship and also to achieve efforts together that can make significant difference to the world,” Kerry said. “I know he looks forward to being able to move forward, change the dynamics.”
Wang referred to Kerry as “my old friend,” saying they had “worked together to solve a series of problems between both sides.”
The US and Chinese delegations were to pick up yesterday where they left off the previous day and negotiate through the day.
US Department of State officials said the negotiations were on two tracks, with one focused on national action on climate change and the other on the COP28 talks to be held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, later this year.
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