U.S. Climate Envoy Kerry Expected to Visit China Next Week

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry.

U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is expected to visit China next week in an attempt to make climate change an area of closer cooperation amid deepening tensions between the two countries, according to the Washington Post.

The former secretary of state is expected to travel to Shanghai to meet with Chinese officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The visit comes less than a month after a face-to-face meeting between senior U.S. and Chinese diplomats in Alaska. The two sides traded accusations during that meeting. This will be the first official visit to China by a senior Biden administration official.

A State Department spokesman said the department does not have any “itinerary to announce” at this time. China’s Foreign Ministry did not answer questions about Kerry’s possible visit.

According to a U.S. official who asked not to be named, Kerry is scheduled to meet with Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua. But the visit could still be canceled. The State Department said Kerry and Xie Zhenhua have already begun discussing climate issues.

The visit underscores the Biden administration’s efforts to work with China as well as compete with it. The two sides clash on human rights, trade and security issues, while competing for global influence.

Kerry has repeatedly said that the global climate crisis should be addressed separately, describing it as a “critical stand-alone issue” that requires the combined efforts of the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters.

Kerry’s trip will be part of his trip to Asia, through India, the United Arab Emirates and Bangladesh, ahead of a two-day Earth Day virtual summit hosted by the United States on April 22 and 23. In India last week, Kerry said he had “hope” but “no confidence” in China’s cooperation.

“We want to work with China on this. What President Biden said is that we’re going to have differences on some issues,” Kerry told India Today, “and we can’t be prisoners of all those differences. We have to work together on climate issues.”