A US source said Friday that US ambassador John Kerry will visit China soon to discuss climate change cooperation, as the opposing countries gradually resume diplomacy after a period of high tension.
A State Department spokesman confirmed the former secretary of state’s forthcoming travel to China, his third since taking the climate role under President Joe Biden, without providing further specifics.
In an interview with The New York Times, Kerry stated that the trip will take place next week and would seek “genuine cooperation.”
“China and the United States are the two largest economies in the world and we’re also the two largest emitters. It’s clear that we have a special responsibility to find common ground,” he told the newspaper.
Kerry would be joining Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who visited Beijing last month as the highest-ranking US official in nearly five years, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who is in China this week.
Kerry has had very friendly and steady relations with China, with the Biden administration citing climate as a potential area of cooperation despite other problems.
However, China momentarily suspended climate negotiations last year in protest after Nancy Pelosi, then-Speaker of the House of Representatives, publicly visited Taiwan.
