US envoy 'exploring possibilities' of renewing climate cooperation with China

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) - Washington is "exploring possibilities" to renew cooperation with China on tackling climate change, US climate envoy John Kerry said on Tuesday.

"I'm in Beijing meeting with high-level leadership to explore the possibilities of renewing cooperation on reducing emissions and other critical pathways to addressing the climate crisis," tweeted Kerry, who reached the Chinese capital on Sunday.

The presidential climate envoy was received by Chinese Premier Li Qiang and the foreign affairs chief Wang Yi.

Seen in his latest tweet posing separately with Li and Wang, Kerry had met on Monday with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua for around four hours in Beijing.

Calling Kerry an "old friend," Wang told the visiting US envoy that climate change cooperation was "advanced by the progress of overall China-US relations."

"It is important to earn the recognition and support from the people in the two countries, which requires healthy, stable and sustainable bilateral relations," Wang said, according to the Beijing-based Global Times.

He urged the US to have a "rational and pragmatic attitude."

"Today, we have a good opportunity and I'm willing to exchange opinion on any issues. In recent years, we saw less communication, leading more problems to occur, sometimes, small problems become big ones," Wang told Kerry.

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- Mending ties

The world's two largest economies resumed talks Monday on how to combat climate change after a hiatus of nearly a year.

"The climate crisis demands that the world's two largest economies work together to limit the Earth's warming," Kerry said after his meeting with Xie.

Pointing to record-breaking daily temperatures around the world, Kerry added: "We must take urgent action on a number of fronts, especially the challenges of coal and methane pollution."

The two nations had suspended climate talks after, in August last year, then-US Congress Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

Kerry is the third senior US official to visit China in the last two months.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Wang Yi in Indonesia's capital Jakarta last Thursday.

The meeting between them on the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) came less than a month after an earlier visit by Blinken to Beijing.

Analysts say the US is trying to stabilize ties with China, particularly in the realm of climate talks, despite Beijing's strong reaction to Pelosi's Taiwan visit