Xi to join online climate summit hosted by Biden
Chinese leader Xi Jinping has accepted an invitation from US President Joe Biden to join a summit today on climate change, one area where the two countries are cooperating despite frosty ties on other issues.
Mr Xi will attend via video link, China’s Foreign Ministry confirmed yesterday, and China hoped the conference promoted “a global joint response to climate change,” ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said. He repeated that the Asian nation was ready to cooperate with the US on the basis of mutual respect.
Washington and Beijing are at odds over a range of issues, from allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang and China’s tightening political grip over Hong Kong to US efforts to curb China’s role in supply chains. Mr Xi used a speech on Tuesday to challenge Washington’s global leadership, saying the world needed “justice, not hegemony”.
Still, the two nations have shown they’re eager to work together to tackle climate change. A joint statement released after US climate envoy John Kerry visited Shanghai last week said Washington and Beijing would support implementation of the Paris Agreement and promote a successful United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow this year.
“China maintains an open attitude when it comes to climate cooperation and welcomes dialogue,” said Zhang Monan, senior fellow at the US-Europe Institute at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, a thinktank in Beijing.
“However, if countries continue to pressure China or adopt confrontational and non-cooperative tactics, then China will address this with corresponding actions.”
Mr Xi met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron last week for a virtual climate conference. The European leaders welcomed his renewed commitment for China to achieve CO2 neutrality by 2060 and the three also discussed the coronavirus pandemic and global vaccine supplies.
Washington dropped out of the Paris climate accord under the Trump administration, and China has been critical of the move. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said during Mr Kerry’s visit that the US was to blame for delaying the agreement’s progress.
The US is preparing to host 40 world leaders at the summit today and tomorrow. The virtual conference will bring together 17 countries responsible for 80% of global emissions and gross domestic product.
Biden will pledge to cut US greenhouse-gas emissions by at least half by the end of the decade, the
reported.