BEIJING — Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Minister, asserted that the United States should stop regarding China as an adversary. He also said that the prolonged tensions between the two major powers make working together in the climate field difficult.
Yi’s remarks came during a meeting with John Kerry, US climate envoy, who has been in China’s Tianjin since Aug. 31. Both the representatives had held talks via video link.
China-US cooperation on climate change serves the interests of both sides and the world and enjoys broad development prospects. Still, such cooperation cannot be sustained without an improvement in bilateral relations, Yi said.
This comes as two countries have been at odds over a range of issues, including Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.
“In recent years, China-US relations have taken a sharp turn for the worse and are facing serious difficulties,” said Yi in a statement issued by the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
According to the Chinese ministry, Kerry said that US-China cooperation is of vital importance for responding to the pressing challenge of climate change.
The United States is willing to work with China to respect each other, enhance communication and dialogue, jointly improve ambitions, demonstrate both sides’ leadership, set an example for meeting the Paris Agreement goals, and create opportunities for addressing difficulties facing US-China relations, said Kerry.
The world’s biggest coal user, China obtains roughly 60 percent of its power from coal and is the world’s most significant source of greenhouse gases.
According to the U.S. State Department, Kerry used the meeting with Wang to call on China to do more to reduce emissions.
“Secretary Kerry affirmed that the United States remains committed to cooperating with the world to tackle the climate crisis, which must be addressed with the seriousness and urgency that it demands, and encouraged China to take additional steps to reduce emissions,” a spokesperson said.
On Aug. 29, 2021, Yi had a phone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the latter’s request. The two sides exchanged views on the situation in Afghanistan and China-U.S. relations.
Blinken said that at a critical moment when the withdrawal and evacuation of the U.S. military from Afghanistan is nearing the end, the U.S. believes that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should speak in a clear and unified voice to show that the international community expects the Taliban to ensure the safe evacuation of foreign citizens and the Afghan people’s access to humanitarian assistance, and guarantee that Afghan territory cannot become a hotbed of terrorist attacks or a safe haven for terrorism.
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Saptak Datta and Ritaban Misra
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