U.S. President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, called for “real progress” before the year-end U.N. climate summit during four hours of talks with China’s special climate envoy, Xie Zhenhua, in China on July 17.
However, the meeting appears to have made no progress in addressing longstanding concerns about China’s commitment to reducing carbon emissions while pushing its climate agenda globally.
“It’s imperative that China and the United States make real progress” in the four months before the 28th U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP 28) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mr. Kerry said as delegates gathered in a conference room overlooking Beijing’s Forbidden City on the morning of July 17.
Mr. Kerry called on the two nations to work together to reduce methane emissions and other greenhouse gases.
He also tried to push China to reduce its reliance on coal-fired energy production. Mr. Kerry praised the “incredible job” China has been doing in building up renewable energy capacity but said it had been undercut by the construction of new coal power plants.
China agreed to phase down coal use starting in 2026, which means that its coal consumption will continue to rise in the next two years. Last year, Chinese officials approved more new coal plants than ever in the past seven years.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping pledged to cut carbon emissions, but it won’t start until 2030. Mr. Xi vowed to make the country “carbon-neutral” by 2060.
Before the meeting, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN on July 16 that the world should “pressure China to take far more dramatic action to reduce emissions.”
“They should not be able to hide behind any kind of claim that they are a developing nation to step up to their responsibility,” Mr. Sullivan said. “And their responsibility, under the Paris climate accord, is to take significant, substantial action to reduce emissions on a defined time frame in the near-term.”
Leverage
Mr. Kerry landed in Beijing on July 16 for three days of talks, becoming the third U.S. official to travel to China in less than two months. With tensions continuing to rise, the Biden administration seeks to resume communication lines between Beijing and Washington.During the July 17 meeting, Mr. Kerry urged the two countries to set aside diplomatic tensions to focus on the climate agenda.
“In the next three days, we hope we can begin taking some big steps that will send a signal to the world about the serious purpose of China and the United States to address a common risk, threat, challenge to all of humanity created by humans themselves,” he said.
Mr. Xie also said he hoped that their talks could improve bilateral ties.
Mr. Kerry and Mr. Xie met on July 17 for a one-on-one dinner. Mr. Kerry complimented Mr. Xie for being back at work after overcoming illness. Both referred to each other as old friends.
“Yesterday, after we met each other, I did a little calculation,” Mr. Xie said on July 17. “I counted that since the two of us have been appointed special envoys, we have met 53 times.”
Despite their warm tones, China’s hawkish state-run media outlet Global Times, in an editorial published on July 16 after Mr. Kerry arrived in China, dampened any expectation that there might be a breakthrough in bilateral cooperation on climate issues.
“China–U.S. climate cooperation is unlikely to see a real ice-breaking outcome with Kerry’s visit alone,” the outlet wrote, before questioning whether the U.S. government is “sincere about climate cooperation.”
The communist regime has been demanding that the U.S. government agree to its “one-China principle,” which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, while labeling any U.S. measures that support the self-ruled island, such as selling the Taiwanese government defense weapons, as “interfering” in its “internal affairs.”
There’s no doubt that the Biden administration wants the help of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), with Mr. Kerry telling lawmakers during a hearing last week that China “is critical to our being able to solve this [climate] problem.”
“The CCP is going to let the world broil unless we cough up Taiwan. That’s extortion, clear and simple,” Mr. Corr wrote. “Taiwan isn’t the only concession Beijing seeks for closing down its coal-fired power plants.”
Ambitions
The Oil & Gas Workers Association, a Texas-based independent trade association that has been outspoken about the threats posed by China’s communist regime, took to Twitter on July 12 to suggest that there would be “no deal” on climate between China and the United States, tagging Mr. Kerry’s Twitter account in the post.“China is preparing for war, not saving the planet,” the association wrote, quoting Chuck DeVore, chief national initiatives officer of the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
Mr. DeVore’s comments were published by Fox News in November 2022. In his op-ed, he wrote, “The Chinese have been cloaking their preparations for war as a green energy push.”
He said China had been “laying the groundwork” to reduce its dependence on imported oil and natural gas while expanding its use of coal to generate electricity. In other words, Beijing was “rapidly increasing its coal-to-liquid capacity.”
“Simply put, China’s coal-to-liquids effort allows China to weather a U.S. Navy blockade of the Strait of Malacca, giving the Chinese Communist Party enormous latitude to pursue military aggression against its neighbors while keeping its economy running,” Mr. DeVore wrote.
The report further explained why the CCP would commit to climate issues while expanding BRI globally.
“Beijing will continue to promote the BRI while adjusting its response to public criticism and sustainability challenges by pledging deeper cooperation on clean energy, electric vehicles, and climate change,” the report reads. “It will diversify project selection in an attempt to improve the initiative’s brand and minimize international criticism.”
