by BEIJING — John Kerry, the presidential special envoy for climate, will visit Beijing from July 16 to 19, according to announcements from the US and China.
“During meetings with [People’s Republic of China] Officials, Secretary Kerry aims to engage with the People’s Republic of China to address the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” the US State Department said. it’s a statement. statement.
Kerry’s trip will mark the third time in a month that a high-level US official has traveled to China for talks.
While the meetings have not yet resulted in any specific action, they mark a resumption of in-person communication which was reduced due to the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen finished a Four days trip to Beijing on Sunday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing at the end of Junemonths after he originally planned to travel there in February.
Blinken postponed his initial plans after news of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over US airspace. Beijing claims it was a weather balloon that went off course.
While Blinken’s trip to China led to general agreement on the need to increase flights between the two countries, the secretary of state said that failed to re-establish military-to-military communication.
“It is clearly in the interest of both countries to avoid any kind of miscalculation, especially a military one,” Blinken said in an interview Tuesday with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, according to a State Department transcript. “So that’s something we’ll keep looking for.”
Blinken said he and Yellen had had “long discussions” with officials in China about the “profound differences” between the two countries, as well as areas in which they could cooperate. “That’s going to continue,” he said.
A space for cooperation
The United States and China have signaled that they can cooperate on climate and macroeconomics. The climate talks were suspended after then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. Her trip angered Beijing, which considers the democratically self-governing island part of her territory.
After US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in person in November, the two countries resumed communication on climate issues.
Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy, attended a virtual meeting of the US-led Forum of Major Economies on Energy and Climate in April, according to a White House reading. Xie also attended a US-led event at COP27 in Egypt in November, Kerry said in a reading.
Regarding his upcoming trip to Beijing, the United States and China did not specify which Chinese officials Kerry would meet with.
The two sides are ready to “exchange views on cooperation to address climate change,” China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said in a statement.
Rising global temperatures
The national average temperature in June was 0.7 degrees Celsius (33 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than a year ago, and the second hottest of the month dates back to 1961, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
Daily high temperatures in Beijing have been approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or higher for the past several weeks. Different parts of the country have also seen heavy rain or flash flood warnings.
Meanwhile, wildfires in canada Record heat and drought have sent smoky air over New York and other US cities.
Kerry, secretary of state during the Obama administration, became the presidential special envoy for climate in 2021 when Biden took office.
