China’s top diplomat Wang Yi urged Washington not to let overbroad definitions of national security stand in the way of climate change cooperation as he met visiting US climate envoy John Podesta, who was in China for bi-lateral talks with his counterpart Liu Zhenmin, China’s special envoy for climate change.
“Climate change dialogue and cooperation are not only an integral part of China-US relations, but also an important measure to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state at their meeting in San Francisco,” Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Wang added that since the beginning of the year, climate change teams from both countries had been in close communication and achieved “practical cooperation results”.
“[We] hope that the US will maintain policy stability, earnestly respect China’s legitimate concerns, and avoid protectionism and overstretching the concept of security.”
The three-day climate talks in Beijing were part of efforts by the two major powers to stabilise ties by tackling issues of common interest, a consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Biden when they last met in San Francisco in November 2023. There is speculation that Xi and Biden may hold a phone discussion in the coming weeks.
A Trump re-election could derail cooperation between the two nations, as the former president has denied the reality of climate change.
The US withdrew from the Paris climate accord under Trump, who also scrapped all climate talks with China when he was in office. He has called electric vehicles (EVs) “green new scams” and vowed to impose punishing tariffs of up to 200 per cent on Chinese EVs imported from Mexico.
Under the trilateral North American Free Trade Agreement between Canada, Mexico, and the United States, Chinese EVs manufactured in Mexico are not subject to US tariffs when imported.
Source: South China Morning Post, Sep 7, 2024.
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