The semi-desert region of Xinjiang in northwest China is typically the Asian country’s hottest region in summer. This Sunday, a weather station in the Xinjian city of Turfan “recorded a high temperature of 52.2 degrees at 7:00 p.m. on July 16, breaking the historical heat record for the same period of the year,” the Meteorological Administration of Asia reported on Monday Giants. The previous record for Turfan, an oasis town just outside the Taklamakan Desert, was set in July 2017 when the temperature reached 50.6 degrees. In addition, the temperature on the ground reached 80 degrees this Sunday.
Heat waves in midsummer are not uncommon in China, but the Asian giant has faced extreme weather conditions in recent months, exacerbated by climate change, scientists say. Amid extreme temperatures across the northern hemisphere these days, US Climate Ambassador John Kerry and his Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua met in Beijing this Monday, Chinese public television CCTV reported, which did not disclose details of the meeting. After the meeting, which reinvigorated dialogue between the two countries that produce most of the emissions that warm the planet, the Chinese government declared that “climate change is a common challenge for all of humanity”.
China will “engage with the United States on issues related to climate change and work together to meet the challenges and improve the well-being of current and future generations,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. Dialogue on the issue was cut short almost a year ago when the Asian country interrupted it in protest at the visit to Taiwan of Nancy Pelosi, then Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
On the eve of resuming dialogue, the United States sent a clear message. John Kerry will urge China “not to hide behind claims that it is a developing country” and reduce its commitment to climate change, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on CNN television.
“Responsibility”
“All countries, including China, have a responsibility to reduce emissions,” Sullivan said. “And I believe the world should encourage – even pressure – China to take more drastic measures to reduce emissions,” he added. The world’s second-largest economy “still has work to do on that front” and “will insist when it’s in Beijing,” he continued.
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Kerry’s trip to Beijing – scheduled by Wednesday – comes shortly after two other high-level visits by US officials aimed at stabilizing US-China relations: Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. This Kerry visit, the third since his appointment in 2021, comes at a time of severe climate change impacts on the planet, with significant heat waves in various regions of the world including Europe and Spain. In the case of China, Beijing has been registering temperatures close to 40 degrees for weeks.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has identified climate protection as an area of possible cooperation with China, despite existing tensions elsewhere. He chose a key person to do this because former Secretary of State John Kerry has had a fairly cordial and uninterrupted relationship with China.
“Shared Resolve”
“Kerry’s visit and the resumption of climate talks underscore the critical importance of coordinating efforts to address the climate crisis,” said Chunping Xie, senior fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. “It also demonstrates their shared determination to navigate a complex geopolitical relationship to advance the common good,” he added in a written response to AFP inquiries.
China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases and responsible for climate change, pledged to peak in carbon emissions in 2030 and then achieve carbon neutrality in 2060. In addition, President Xi Jinping pledged that his country will reduce reliance on coal from 2026. “In terms of concrete results, I hope we can at least make progress on the methane action plan,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, chief analyst at the Center for Clean Air Research and Research Center, to AFP. Energy. Methane was the main theme of the agreement in the joint statement by both countries after the Glasgow climate talks in 2021.
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