White House climate envoy John Kerry emerged Wednesday from his days-long talks with top Chinese officials absent new climate change agreements between the world’s two biggest polluters.
The lack of substantive headway underscored the hurdles for the Biden administration to convince the foreign adversary to embrace a more aggressive approach to curbing emissions, which China expects to increase until 2030 as coal production soars before achieving net zero by 2060.
Mr. Kerry said that while it’s “going to take a little bit more work to break the new ground,” he still considered his four-day trip to Beijing meaningful. The two sides have agreed to continue regular meetings about how to better combat climate change.
“I think we did the wise thing, which is make sure that what we’re holding out to folks as a step forward is indeed a step forward, that we’re not just putting words on paper,” Mr. Kerry said. “We’re not finished finding the pathway with clarity on both sides that will allow us to achieve what we need to achieve.”
Expectations were low, including from Mr. Kerry, going into the trip after nearly a year of dormant diplomatic talks prompted by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infuriating Beijing by traveling last summer to Taiwan amid its territory dispute with China. Mr. Kerry tamped down hopes last week to lawmakers that his visit would produce any major breakthroughs as Republicans pressed him on why the Biden administration was focusing on a country that continues to ignore U.S. pleas to curb emissions.
The state news agency Xinhua reported that during Mr. Kerry’s visit, Chinese President Xi Jinping took a shot across the bow at the roving U.S. climate czar. In a speech, Mr. Xi reportedly said that while China’s “commitments are unswerving” to reaching its emission targets, “the path toward the goals, as well as the manner, pace and intensity of efforts to achieve them, should and must be determined by the country itself, rather than swayed by others.”
Mr. Kerry denied to reporters that the remarks were a rebuke to U.S. climate lobbying.
“I think we all agree nobody should be dictated to, and we’re not doing that. That’s why we had three days of intensive discussions,” he said. “There was no dictation here. There was a clear exchange of ideas. If anything is dictating, it is the science.”
Republicans quickly chastised Mr. Kerry for courting China amid heightened tensions over what GOP lawmakers say are more pressing issues like human rights, Taiwan and economic competition.
“The Biden administration’s continued attempts at appeasing Communist China are pathetic,” House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York said in a statement to The Washington Times. “While the [Chinese Communist Party] is conducting cyber espionage attacks on U.S. executive agencies, operating an intelligence collection facility in our backyard, and buying up U.S. agricultural land next to sensitive military installations, [President] Joe Biden continues to pander to the CCP by sending John Kerry to Beijing, ignoring their aggressions, to engage in futile discussions about climate change with the world’s biggest polluter.”
Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso, the Senate’s No. 3 Republican and ranking member of the Energy Committee, accused Mr. Kerry of going to China to “wave the white flag.”
“This Democrat’s obsession with the climate is undermining this nation’s safety, our strength, our security, and Joe Biden is playing right into China‘s hands,” Mr. Barrasso told reporters.
Mr. Kerry’s visit followed recent trips to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
During his visit, Mr. Kerry advocated to his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua, Vice President Han Zheng and other top officials that China should decouple tackling the climate from other political tensions it has with the U.S.
The Chinese said that will not be possible.
A foreign affairs adviser to Mr. Xi, Wang Yi, told Mr. Kerry during talks that climate “cannot be separated from the overall environment” of China’s fraught relationship with the U.S., according to a Chinese readout of the meeting.
Mr. Kerry pleaded for China to change its tune.
“Taiwan, again, is a different track. It’s not my role to be commenting on that part, and I don’t want to add to what is already a very complicated challenge,” he said. “We all hope nothing will get in the way of our ability to deal with the climate crisis because it doesn’t wait for these things.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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