Recently, U.S. President Joe Biden sent both climate envoy Kerry and his close friend, former U.S. Senator Todd, to visit China and Taiwan. The difference in treatment between the two men in China and Taiwan has also been discussed.
On the 20th, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry attended a video conference of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.
Kerry traveled to several countries for the Climate Change Leadership Video Summit on the 22nd. On the 14th, he traveled to Shanghai, China, where he took a bus and stayed at the Dongjiao Hotel in Pudong. For the next three days, Kerry did not make any public trips. The meeting with Vice Premier Han Zheng was held by videoconference only. The meeting with the Communist Party’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Xie Zhenhua, was not made public until after Kerry’s arrival in South Korea on the 18th.
U.S. climate envoy Kerry (2021.4.18): “It’s clear that the United States and China will work together to solve the climate crisis. This is the first time, I think, that the Chinese side has gotten involved and said this is a crisis.”
Former U.S. Senator Chris Dodd, a close friend of President Joe Biden who visited Taiwan at the same time, received a very different treatment in Taiwan. Dodd arrived at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on the 14th and was greeted by Foreign Minister Wu Chiu-sup, and met with President Tsai Ing-wen on the 15th and attended a dinner at her residence. That evening, President Tsai Ing-wen also posted on Facebook a group photo with the delegation at her residence. The delegation, led by Todd and the former U.S. Secretary of State from across the aisle, visited Taiwan in a “diplomatic bubble” mode for three days, calling on the President, the Executive President, and members of Congress from across the aisle, and received warm hospitality from Taiwan, in contrast to the cold reception Kerry received in Shanghai.
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