In response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China announced a series of sanctions, including a suspension of climate talks with the United States. Almost a month has passed, and the U.S. side cannot hold back its breath.
On August 30, John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy for climate issues, said in an interview with the Financial Times that he hoped China might resume bilateral climate negotiations. Kerry also praised China’s overall fulfillment of its commitment to addressing climate change.
The Financial Times reports: “Climate envoy John Kerry seeks US-China resumption of emissions talks”.
The U.S. climate envoy, John Kerry, said in an interview that he hoped China and the United States might “get back together” before the 27th meeting of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in November, and urged bilateral negotiations to resume as soon as possible. He also emphasized: “The climate crisis is not a bilateral issue, but a global issue, and no two countries can contribute more than Sino-US cooperation.”
Kerry also praised China on the issue of climate change. “China, by and large, has fulfilled its commitments.”
Referring to renewable energy, Kerry said, “China is the largest renewable energy producer in the world, and it also happens to be the largest renewable energy deployer in the world. China has its own concerns regarding the climate crisis, and they obviously have economic concerns as well. Sustainability, economic development concerns.”
Public reports show that following Biden took office, he vigorously advocated for the United States to reduce emissions, and also acted as a promoter of global climate change carbon reduction. China and the United States have also cooperated more in this field. In April last year, the US President’s special envoy for climate issues, John Kerry, held two-day talks in Shanghai with China’s special envoy for climate change, Xie Zhenhua, and then issued the “Sino-US Joint Statement on Addressing the Climate Crisis”, stating that in addressing the climate crisis, the two countries “are ” Committed to mutual cooperation”.
From August 31 to September 3 last year, Kerry visited China once more to exchange views on China-US cooperation on climate change and the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. During the period, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that China and the United States have differences on some issues and at the same time share common interests in a wide range of areas such as climate change.
However, all this progress was paused because Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan.
China-U.S. climate change cooperation hits the pause button following Pelosi hit the stage. AP picture
On the evening of August 2, Pelosi’s special plane landed at Taipei Songshan Airport, and various departments including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of National Defense issued a statement of condemnation. On the 5th, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced eight countermeasures, including the suspension of Sino-US climate change talks.
On August 17, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that due to the serious impact of Pelosi’s departure from Taiwan, China had to suspend bilateral climate change talks between China and the United States. The United States does not represent the whole world. China will, as always, actively participate in international and multilateral cooperation on climate change, continue to unswervingly advance the goal of peaking and carbon neutrality, actively participate in negotiations on major channels for climate change, and provide developing countries with support and assistance to the best of their ability. , and make its own contribution to addressing the global challenge of climate change. What the U.S. has to do is not to criticize and maliciously smear other countries, but to earnestly fulfill its due obligations, implement its long-term commitments, and not confuse right and wrong and divert attention.
Qin Gang, Chinese Ambassador to the United States, has also repeatedly emphasized that before Pelosi came to power, all levels and departments of the Chinese side expressed their protests and opposition to the United States through diplomatic channels, and explained to the United States that doing so would lead to serious consequences, and all this It will be the responsibility of the US side.
It is obvious that the responsibility for the suspension of the climate change talks between China and the US lies with the US side. It is impossible for the US side to continue challenging the one-China principle while at the same time wanting to resume cooperation with China in other areas such as climate.
