China says climate talks with U.S. envoy Kerry were ‘candid, in depth, pragmatic’

SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s environment ministry said on Friday talks with visiting U.S. climate envoy John Kerry this week were “candid, in-depth and pragmatic” and the two sides would continue “dialogue and consultation”.

The world’s two biggest sources of carbon emissions would work together to help achieve success at this year’s climate talks in Glasgow in November, where nearly 200 countries will review global efforts to tackle rising temperatures, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment said.

Kerry, the U.S. president’s special envoy on climate change, held talks with his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, in the northern city of Tianjin on Wednesday and Thursday. He also spoke to senior diplomats Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi by video link. Wang rejected U.S. efforts to separate climate issues from the broader diplomatic conflicts between the two countries, while Kerry insisted that the crisis facing the world should not be a matter of ideology or political partisanship.

The Global Times, a tabloid run by the Communist Party-controlled People’s Daily stable of newspapers, said in an editorial on Friday that the United States was trying to show “a friendly face” on climate after pursuing a series of “wicked” policies that threatened China’s national security.

“The U.S. lowers the drawbridge when it needs it, and raises it up when it doesn’t need it any more,” the newspaper said. Kerry, speaking to journalists on Thursday, said he would pass on China’s concerns to Washington but his remit was limited to climate. But Kerry acknowledged the difficulties of reconciling global climate concerns with U.S.-China disputes on issues like the far western region of Xinjiang, where the United States says authorities are committing rights abuses.

“On the one hand, we’re saying to them – you have to do more to help deal with the climate,” he said. “And on the other hand, their solar panels are being sanctioned which makes it harder for them to sell them.”

The United States has imposed sanctions https://www.reuters.com/business/us-restricts-exports-5-chinese-firms-over-rights-violations-2021-06-23 on Chinese companies it alleges are involved with forced labour in Xinjiang. China dismisses the accusations as a lie.