The Chinese Communist Party confirmed on Wednesday that it would welcome leftist American President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, for a visit beginning on Sunday to reportedly revamp cooperation on the “climate crisis.”
Kerry will be the third Biden administration official in Beijing in the past month, following Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit in late June and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit last week. Blinken had originally planned to visit China in February, according to unconfirmed reports at the time, but abruptly canceled his trip following the discovery of what was later identified as a Chinese surveillance balloon traversing the continental United States and collecting intelligence from military sites unimpeded. The Biden administration finally shot the balloon out of the sky after it had traveled from Montana to the Carolinas, a move that outraged communist Chinese officials who claimed the balloon was a meteorological, civilian aircraft.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang, right, shakes hands with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, left, during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, Friday, July 7, 2023 (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool).
Beijing still occasionally condemns the spy balloon saga in its state media sites, but dictator Xi Jinping, nonetheless, met with Blinken during his stay in Beijing, and Chinese officials have expressed a willingness to expand communication with Washington. On Wednesday, the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment confirmed Kerry’s visit, scheduled to begin on Sunday and end on July 19, claiming Kerry would discuss “working together to address climate change” with his Chinese counterparts.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (L) shakes hands with China’s President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 19, 2023 (LEAH MILLIS/POOL/AFP via Getty Images).
Prior to the official confirmation, the Chinese Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday that it hoped to expand “cooperation” with America on the issue of climate change.
“Climate change is a global challenge and calls for a global response. China and the US had sound cooperation on climate change and jointly facilitated the conclusion and coming into effect of the Paris Agreement,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday. “It is hoped that the US will work with China to create enabling conditions and atmosphere for China-US climate cooperation.”
The Paris Agreement is a climate accord signed during President Barack Obama’s tenure, which imposes strict emissions limits on the United States but allows China to increase its carbon emissions through at least 2030. Beijing has already indicated it has no intention of keeping to even that modest commitment.
The State Department confirmed Kerry’s visit before the Chinese government did with a statement on Tuesday.
“During meetings with PRC [People’s Republic of China] officials, Secretary Kerry aims to engage with the PRC on addressing the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition and promoting a successful COP28,” the State Department noted. COP28 is the United Nations’ annual climate alarmism conference, hosted this year by the United Arab Emirates, one of the world’s top fossil fuel producers.
The trip is occurring as a result of an invitation issued to Kerry in May, according to reports at the time.
“This has to be cooperative, notwithstanding other differences that do exist. This is not a bilateral issue. This is a universal global threat to everybody in every nation,” Kerry insisted at the time, stating that Beijing had suggested he travel to China “in the near term.”
“China has invited me to visit in the near term to be able to meet with him [Chinese climate envoy Xie Zhenhua] to be able to work on work that we’ve been doing for several years,” he explained, “which is trying to find the pathway forward to be able to cooperate in ways that are beneficial to the world. And hopefully, we’ll be able to do that.”
Chinese government media claimed on Wednesday that regime-approved “experts” were “pessimistic” about Kerry’s ability to get anything productive done in Beijing, partially due to the lack of results from Blinken and Yellen’s visits.
“Washington’s lack of sincerity in improving bilateral relations has hobbled the two countries’ cooperation in many fields, including climate change, where the two have a good foundation,” the Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times accused on Wednesday. “Moreover, China-US cooperation on climate issues is riddled with obstacles created by the US, including its condescending approach on China; and its reckless punishing measures on China’s green industry.”
“Chinese observers said the US’ flip-flop attitude on global warming and its toxic domestic politics are also what concerns China on deepening cooperation,” the newspaper continued.
The “punishing measures” that the Global Times mentioned consist of attempts by Republicans to impose tariffs on Chinese products and regulations meant to keep slave-made products out of America. China’s “green” energy industry – much like nearly every sector of Chinese manufacturing – is riddled with slave labor. The manufacture of solar panels, in particular, is heavily linked to the growing phenomenon of Uyghur slavery, a byproduct of the larger genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic ethnic groups in occupied East Turkistan. Human rights experts and journalists have compiled extensive evidence showing that China has shipped thousands of victims of its Uyghur concentration camps to factories nationwide, selling them to companies online in “batches” of up to 100 slaves. Solar panel manufacturers have been implicated alongside household corporate brands, including Nike, BMW, Apple, and Nintendo, among dozens of others.
A protester from the Uyghur community living in Turkey, holds an anti-China placard during a protest in Istanbul, Thursday, March 25, against the visit of China’s FM Wang Yi to Turkey (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel).
The Global Times nonetheless suggested, citing its “experts,” that “huge potential” exists for China and the United States to “work together” on climate, echoing Kerry’s longstanding public statements that combatting the alleged “climate crisis” is the most important issue in U.S.-China relations, setting aside national security issues, intellectual property theft, genocide, slavery, and a myriad of other concerns.
“I’m not glossing over any issue whatsoever that we have with China. There are real issues, serious ones, and a whole bunch of them,” Kerry said in an interview in April, following the balloon incident. “But climate has — we don’t have a — we have a clock that’s ticking on climate more immediately. And we have an imperative to try to move.”
Kerry has openly supported importing Chinese-made solar panels despite slavery concerns.
“There are solar panels piled up at docks in Asia waiting for shipment, and they can’t be shipped, which is slowing down our ability to be able to deploy, even in our country, and elsewhere,” Kerry lamented in September. “We need to get our trade policy aligned in a way that can work better. But that has to be negotiated, and you’ve got to sit down and find a way to begin to communicate on that.”
Prior to his travels this weekend, Kerry is appearing before the House Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Thursday to face questions regarding his office’s prodigious budget and spending, as well as his documented travel around the world in private jets. Biden created Kerry’s climate office specifically for him, reportedly allocating $13.9 million to it for his work.
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