John Kerry visits Beijing as US-China climate talks resume

BEIJING — John Kerry, the presidential particular envoy for local weather, will go to Beijing July 16-19, in response to bulletins from the US and China.

“Throughout conferences with [People’s Republic of China] Secretary Kerry is dedicated to participating with the PRC on the way to handle the local weather disaster, together with rising implementation and ambition and fostering a profitable COP28,” the US State Division mentioned in a press release. rack.

Kerry’s journey is the third time in a month {that a} senior US official has traveled to China for talks.

Whereas the conferences have but to yield concrete motion, they mark a resumption of face-to-face communication that has been minimize off because of the pandemic and geopolitical tensions.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ended a four-day journey to Beijing on Sunday. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing in late June, months after he was initially scheduled to journey to Beijing in February.

Blinken postponed his preliminary plans after information of an alleged Chinese language spy balloon flying over US airspace. Beijing claims it was a climate balloon blown off beam.

Whereas Blinken’s journey to China led to a common settlement on the necessity to enhance flights between the 2 international locations, the secretary of state mentioned he had failed to revive military-to-military communications.

It’s clearly within the pursuits of each international locations to avoid any kind of miscalculationparticularly navy,” Blinken mentioned Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell, in response to a State Division transcript. “In order that’s one thing we proceed to search for.”

Blinken added the “lengthy discussions” he and Yellen had mentioned, the place the US and China have “deep variations” in addition to areas of cooperation. “It goes on like this,” he mentioned.

The US and China have famous that they’ll work collectively on local weather and the macroeconomics. The local weather talks had been suspended after then Speaker of the Home of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. Her journey had angered Beijing, which considers the democratically self-governing island a part of its territory.

After US President Joe Biden and Chinese language President Xi Jinping met in individual in November, the 2 international locations resumed communication on local weather points.

Xie Zhenhua, China’s particular local weather envoy, attended a digital assembly of the US-led Main Economies Discussion board on Power and Local weather in April, in response to a White Home lecture. Xie additionally attended a US-led occasion at COP 27 in Egypt in November, Kerry mentioned in a chat.

Relating to his upcoming journey to Beijing, the US and China haven’t specified which Chinese language officers Kerry would meet.

The 2 sides are set to “alternate views on cooperation to tackle climate changeChina’s Ministry of Ecology and Surroundings mentioned in a press release.

The typical nationwide temperature in June was 0.7 levels Celsius (33 levels Fahrenheit) increased than a 12 months in the past — and the second hottest of the month in response to the China Meteorological Administration relationship again to 1961.

Beijing’s every day temperature spikes have been close to 37.8 levels Celsius (100 levels Fahrenheit) or extra in current weeks. A number of elements of the nation have additionally skilled heavy rainfall or warned of flash floods.

In the meantime, wildfires in Canada resulting from report warmth and drought have despatched smoky air over New York and different US cities.

Kerry, secretary of state throughout the Obama administration, grew to become presidential particular envoy for local weather in 2021 when Biden was inaugurated.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the guardian firm of MSNBC and CNBC.