Tensions will impact climate cooperation: China tells US

RELATIONS BETWEEN BEIJING AND WASHINGTON HAVE BEEN STRAINED DUE TO DISPUTES OVER TRADE, HUMAN RIGHTS AND TECHNOLOGY

BEIJING: China has warned the US that bilateral diplomatic tension could slow down cooperation between the two countries on climate crisis, the top two emitters of greenhouse gas.

Chinese state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi told visiting US climate envoy John Kerry that China-US climate cooperation would benefit humanity but it could not be separated from the worsening state of ties between the two countries.

Wang pointed out that the US side had described climate change cooperation as an “oasis” of the China-US relationship.

However, if the oasis is all surrounded by deserts, then sooner or later the “oasis” will be desertified, Wang said, according to Chinese media.

Wang spoke via video link with Kerry, who is visiting the northern city of Tianjin, some 100km from Beijing, for climate talks with Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, China’s special climate envoy.

“We have shown our sincerity,” Wang was quoted by state broadcaster CCTV as saying. “Everyone who met with you will have to spend two weeks in quarantine, but we’re willing to pay that price, to discuss cooperation with the US on affairs of mutual concerns.”

“The past achievements indicated that the two countries should respect each other and seek common ground while shelving differences to reach win-win results,” he said.

“However, a major strategic miscalculation by the US has resulted in the sudden deterioration of bilateral relations in recent years,” Wang said, adding that the ball now is in Washington’s court.

Kerry, a former US secretary of state, said that China “plays a super-critical role” in the effort to combat climate change, according to a brief video clip from the meeting shown on national television.

“Given the science and what’s happening, we are all gonna be dealing with this for the rest of our lives,” Kerry said, adding that climate cooperation will also create opportunities for addressing difficulties facing US-China relations. “This challenge is as big as any that we face on a global basis, and China, my friend, plays a super critical role,” he added.

China has also been relentless in its strong criticism of the US’s pullout from Afghanistan, what Beijing sees as a hasty and ill-planned withdrawal.

But the sides have identified the climate crisis as an area for possible cooperation.

“Chinese leaders have long said they are engaged in climate action not because of outside pressure, but because it benefits China and the world at large,” Alex Wang, climate expert and professor at University of California, Los Angeles, told Reuters. “If that is so, then US-China tensions should not slow Chinese climate action.”