© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry speaks during an interview with Reuters after meeting with Pope Francis, near the Vatican in Rome, Italy, June 19, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
By Valerie Volcovici and Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. climate envoy John Kerry on Monday will become the Biden administration’s third senior official to visit China in recent weeks after trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
A U.S. official said on Tuesday that Kerry would visit from Monday to Thursday.
Washington has sought to repair ties with Beijing frayed over national security issues, including Taiwan; spying allegations; U.S. export bans on advanced technologies; China’s state-led industrial policies; human rights issues; the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic and trade tariffs.
Kerry said in May that China had invited him to visit “in the near term” for talks on averting a global climate crisis despite tensions between the world’s two biggest economies and greenhouse gas emitters.
The two countries have previously cooperated on climate change with breakthroughs that led to the 2015 Paris climate accord.
Kerry last met his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua in January.
Yellen said over the weekend that her meetings with senior Chinese officials were “direct” and “productive,” helping to stabilise the superpowers’ often rocky relationship.
Last month, Blinken met President Xi Jinping in China but soon after his trip ended, U.S. President Joe Biden referred to Xi as a ‘dictator,’ risking a further deterioration of relations.
The visits have covered a range of topics but produced no clear breakthroughs.
China last year briefly suspended talks with the United States on climate, security and other matters in response to a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House of Representatives by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
