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China says it can work with US to fight climate change as John Kerry visit ends with ‘frank conversations’
- As American envoy’s four-day trip concludes, Vice-President Han Zheng tells him the issue ‘bears on the sustainable development of humankind’
- No joint declaration issued, Kerry says, because two countries ‘not finished finding the pathway’ and additional meeting in the works
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US climate envoy John Kerry ended his four-day visit to China on Wednesday by meeting Chinese Vice-President Han Zheng, after a series of talks that produced commitments to continue working “intensively” on efforts to fight global warming but ended without any agreements.
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Kerry told a news conference after the meetings wrapped up that his engagements had “been long and detailed”, adding: “We had very frank conversations. But we came here to break new ground, which we think is important at this stage.”
“There are a lot of things that we very clearly agreed on after all this time. But there are also some issues that are going to have to be resolved that are going to take a little more time.”
The two countries did not issue a joint declaration at the end of the trip “because we’re not finished finding the pathway with clarity on both sides that will allow us to achieve what we need to achieve”, Kerry said.
“We both agreed that we want to work together to guarantee a positive outcome from COP28 [the UN climate summit to be held later this year in Dubai], where obviously the cooperation of China and the United States is critical to any outcome.”
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