US Climate Envoy John Kerry is heading to China for talks on global warming as tensions simmer between Washington and Beijing.
Kerry is set to travel to the country later this month, following this week’s visit by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a June trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because it hasn’t yet been announced. It will be at least Kerry’s third visit to China since President Joe Biden tapped him to lead US climate diplomacy two and a half years ago, though the longtime diplomat has frequently met with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua.
The visit will likely take place around the week of July 16, said one of the people. Plans are fluid and timing is subject to change. A meeting could help build a foundation for more progress at a UN climate conference in the United Arab Emirates starting in November, another person said. Inter-country bickering and concern about ambition from the host country are already provoking concerns ahead of the pivotal negotiations.
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Representatives of the US State Department did not respond to a request for comment. China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment also didn’t immediately respond to emailed questions.
Kerry frequently laments that climate change is a pressing, universal threat that demands cooperation — not a bilateral issue. And he shares a close working relationship with Xie forged over years of negotiations.
Yet rocky relations have nonetheless complicated talks between the world’s top two greenhouse gas emitters. US-China tensions are still high following last year’s visit by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan — which Beijing claims as part of China — and amid export controls on advanced chips and other technology.
The visits by Kerry, Yellen and Blinken are part of a broader push to ease those tensions. Yellen is set to meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in Beijing Friday.
Kerry and Xie are expected to discuss climate cooperation and exchange views on the upcoming COP28 summit, as well as other topics including deforestation. They are also likely to address potential cooperation on curbing emissions of methane, a particularly potent greenhouse gas released from coal seams, oil wells, livestock and landfills.
At the annual UN climate summit in Egypt last November, Xie said the country had drafted a plan for tackling methane, but it was still subject to approval and has not yet been publicly released. China said it intended to develop that comprehensive strategy in a joint statement on climate with the US during 2021 talks.
(Updates with details on Yellen visit in sixth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected the number of climate envoy visits to China in second paragraph.)
Author: Jennifer A. Dlouhy and Alfred Cang