Kerry wraps up China visit on climate crisis

Beijing, Sep 3 (EFE).- The United States’ special presidential envoy for climate concludes his visit to China on Friday after meetings with senior officials focused on how Beijing and Washington should jointly address the climate crisis.

So far, John Kerry has disclosed details about videoconference calls held with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Vice Premier Han Zheng and the country’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi.

In the latter meeting on Thursday afternoon, Yang reiterated the official message that his compatriots had been repeating in previous days.

“For some time, China-US relations have faced severe difficulties due to a series of erroneous acts by the United States to interfere in China’s internal affairs and undermine China’s interests,” Yang said, according to a foreign ministry statement issued late Thursday.

“China is open to dialog and pragmatic cooperation with the United States,” Yang added, noting that the two countries can enhance coordination on a range of issues including climate change, Covid-19 control and economic recovery.

The message is aligned with that conveyed by the Chinese foreign minister on Wednesday – that “China-US climate co-operation cannot be separated from the wider environment of China-US relations.”

Wang said the US hopes to transform climate cooperation into an oasis of bilateral relations, “but surrounding the oasis is a desert, and the oasis could be desertified very soon.”

However, part of that message also shows China’s willingness to work with the US on the goals set out in the Paris Agreement.

The US envoy is scheduled to leave the northeastern city of Tianjin Friday, as part of a trip that also took him to Japan and whose objective is to address issues related to the climate emergency, with an eye on the COP26 summit in Scotland from the end of October.

The US Embassy in Beijing has said that Kerry will issue a statement about the trip after his departure.

Kerry’s visit is also in line with the resumption of contact between Beijing and Washington, whose relations were deeply damaged during the term of former president Donald Trump, and which are still suffering. EFE

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