Chinese and U.S. climate envoys held talks in Beijing on Monday, Chinese state-run media said, resuming dialogue to promote bilateral cooperation on climate change in the latest of a series of interactions that demonstrate ties are improving.
The meeting between Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry, representing the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters, came as Beijing and Washington accelerate talks with an eye to holding a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden later this year.
The U.S. State Department has said Kerry aims to engage with China on addressing the climate crisis and promoting a successful U.N. climate meeting slated for November and December in the United Arab Emirates.
Kerry reportedly urged China to reduce its dependence on coal power and cut emissions of heat-trapping gasses like methane and carbon dioxide.
The U.S. climate envoy, who is on a four-day visit to Beijing through Wednesday, is the third senior U.S. official to visit China in recent weeks following Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
Bilateral exchanges on climate change were suspended when then U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last August, triggering strong protests from Beijing.
China's top diplomat Wang Yi met with Blinken in Indonesia last week, with the two sides agreeing to maintain open channels of communication. Beijing and Washington have also been arranging a visit to China by Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, according to the Chinese state-run media.
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