Saturday 15 / March / 2025
Beijing : As United States climate envoy John Kerry arrived in Beijing to start discussions of climate issues with China, Chinese observers expect little concrete progress to yield from the talks, Global Times reported.
Kerry landed in Beijing on Sunday and although observers said it is difficult to let climate negotiation serve as the high-level visits made by US officials in recent months to lead the bilateral relations to a controllable status of "no derailment," and pave the way for a possible meeting between higher-level officials.
Speaking to lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Kerry said he hoped to make progress on talks with China over reducing methane emissions, transitioning away from coal, combating deforestation and jointly increasing the deployment of renewable energy technologies, Global Times reported citing US media.
Global Times is a Chinese daily reporting on national and international issues related to China.
"What we're trying to achieve now is really to establish some stability," Kerry told a subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
"I'm not going over with any concessions," he added.
Kerry's visit and the two countries' predicted climate talks come when a warming planet is raising concern under the strain of record heat, floods, storms and wildfires.
The world's eyes are fixed on whether the climate talks between China and the US, the world's two emitters, can result in progress in helping to solve the more frequent climate disasters, Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs , told the Global Times on Sunday.
Although China has not yet disclosed which Chinese official will engage in talks with Kerry, foreign media reported it will be Xie Zhenhua, China's special envoy for climate change.
Xie and Kerry are both deeply involved in pushing for resolving climate change and having frequent exchanges, thus their meeting is expected to lead to deep and candid communication, said Ma, Global Times reported.
Observers were widely pessimistic that Kerry's visit will yield any substantial result for climate change cooperation between the two countries, and they predicted the climate discussion between the two won't go back to where they were in 2021.
Kerry reiterated at the congressional hearing that the US will not pay reparations to developing countries hit by climate-fueled disasters.
The Global Times reported that Washington has also been seeking to crack down on China's solar panel industry in recent years. The US Senate voted in May this year to reinstate tariffs on solar panels from Chinese companies in Southeast Asia that had been found to be coming into the US which it claimed were "in violation of trade rules."
Kerry's trip marks the third time in a month that a high-level US official has travelled to China for talks, following US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The slew of visits sends a positive signal that China and the US are keeping sound momentum of high-level communication, which is also likely to pave the way for a possible meeting of higher-level officials from the two countries, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Sunday.
Despite that the two countries have discrepancies on many issues, they both share the willingness to control the differences, said Li, noting that it is possible the bilateral relationship may enter a controllable status of "no derail."
The talks have concentrated on strengthening cooperation in areas which could serve as strategic guardrails for the two countries, Li said, noting it isn't clear whether China and the US can step up cooperation in those areas.
