diplomacy
US climate chief John Kerry begins talks in Beijing
US climate chief John Kerry is visiting Beijing. photo
© James Manning/PA Wire/dpa
Kerry is visiting China until Wednesday. He is the third senior US politician to visit the country in just a few weeks.
The US Climate Commissioner John Kerry has started his political talks in China. As reported by Chinese state television, Kerry met the Chinese chief climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua in Beijing. Details of the meeting were initially unknown.
Kerry has been in Beijing since yesterday. He is the third senior US politician to visit China in just a few weeks, after Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The trip is planned until Wednesday.
Climate talks temporarily suspended
Rising tensions between the two rival powers prompted China to temporarily suspend regular climate talks with Washington last August. This was in protest at the visit of then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
Other points of contention between Beijing and Washington include trade issues, Chinese support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine, and China’s territorial claims in the South and East China Seas.
Kerry’s visit was “another sign that both sides are trying to stop the downward spiral in relations,” said an editorial in the Chinese state newspaper China Daily ahead of the US politician’s arrival. Since China and the USA are the two largest emitters of climate-damaging greenhouse gases, they also have a “special responsibility”.