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US, China aim to revive climate cooperation as tensions simmer

17 July 2023 09:56 (UTC +04:00)

The United States and China will look to revive efforts to combat global warming this week, in bilateral meetings that observers hope will raise the bar on ambitions ahead of UN-sponsored climate talks in late 2023, APA reports citing Reuters.

The talks follow two other high-level U.S. visits to China this year, as the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters work to stabilize a relationship strained by trade disputes, military tensions and accusations of spying.

John Kerry, the U.S. special envoy on climate change, will join bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in Beijing from July 16-19 that will focus on issues including reducing methane emissions, limiting coal use, curbing deforestation and helping poor countries address climate change.

The pair, who have cultivated a warm relationship over more than two decades of diplomacy, will also likely discuss China’s objections to U.S. tariffs and other restrictions on imports of Chinese solar panel and battery components, observers say.

Washington is seeking to protect U.S. manufacturers from low-cost competitors in China, including those it suspects of using forced labor, which Beijing denies.

"I wouldn't look for breakthroughs in these meetings but my hope is that they restore climate diplomacy," said David Sandalow, director of the US-China program at the Center on Global Energy Policy.

Kerry addressed his objectives for the China trip at a House foreign relations subcommittee hearing on Thursday, saying: "What we're trying to achieve now is really to establish some stability with the relationship without conceding anything.”