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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned the United States that the deteriorating relationship between Beijing and Washington could undermine efforts to tackle global warming and climate change.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday, Wang told visiting US climate envoy John Kerry that “climate cooperation cannot be separated from the broader environment of US-China relations” and called on Washington to take active measures to improve relations.
Wang Yi said that the joint efforts of both sides on the issue of climate change are an “oasis.”
“But there is a desert around the oasis, and the oasis will soon become desertified,” he said via a video link. He added that climate cooperation “cannot be sustained without improving bilateral relations” and urged the United States to “stop viewing China as a threat and competitor” and “stop containing and suppressing China worldwide.”
According to the US State Department, Kerry, who is conducting climate negotiations in Tianjin, China, told Wang that the United States is still committed to cooperating with other countries to address climate change.
He said that the climate crisis “must be resolved with the seriousness and urgency it requires,” while encouraging China to “take additional measures to reduce emissions.”
After President Donald Trump’s four-year hiatus, the United States has resumed its role in global climate diplomacy and has long wanted to separate the climate issue from its broader disputes with China on issues such as trade, human rights, and climate origins. The COVID-19 pandemic.
Kerry held face-to-face talks with China’s special climate envoy Xie Zhenhua in Tianjin on the two countries’ joint response to the climate crisis. The former U.S. Secretary of State called for greater efforts to limit temperature rise to pre-industrial levels not exceeding 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit), and urged China to work with the United States to urgently reduce carbon emissions.
The meeting in Tianjin was the second meeting between Kerry and Xie, and the first meeting was held in Shanghai in April. Except for climate change issues, Kerry has no right to discuss anything.
Climate observers hope that the talks will prompt the two countries to make more ambitious commitments to address the issue of greenhouse gas emissions.
China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, followed by the United States.
“The G2 (China and the United States) need to realize that, except for bilateral oasis and deserts, the entire planet is in danger,” said Li Shuo, senior climate adviser at Greenpeace, an environmental group.
“If they can’t let the climate progress together fast enough, it will soon become a desert,” he added.
Although Wang warned that climate change may now be linked to other diplomatic issues, China insists that its efforts to control emissions and switch to cleaner energy sources are an important part of its ambitious domestic policy agenda.
Alex Wang, a climate expert and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said: “Chinese leaders have long stated that their participation in climate action is not because of external pressure, but because it benefits China and the world.”
“If this is the case, then the US-China tensions should not slow China’s climate actions.”
As the world’s largest coal user, about 60% of China’s electricity comes from coal. It plans to build more coal-fired power plants, but still plans to reduce the use of fossil fuels.
China has set a goal that renewable energy will account for 20% of the country’s total energy consumption by 2025, and will reduce total emissions from 2030.
At the same time, Chinese President Xi Jinping hopes that China will be carbon neutral by 2060.
US President Joe Biden announced a goal of reducing the country’s greenhouse gas emissions by 52% by 2030-twice the target set by former President Barack Obama in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
Global decarbonization efforts will be the focus of the United Nations conference in Glasgow, Scotland in late November, which is called the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26.
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