The United States’ relationship with China remains fraught largely due to the latter’s treatment of Hong Kong, its human rights abuses in the Xinjiang province, intellectual property theft and more. Nevertheless, President Joe Biden’s climate envoy, John Kerry, visited China to eke out an agreement to reduce carbon emissions, setting aside the countries’ differences on a critical issue at a critical moment.
The agreement does not include many specific commitments. However, it could set the tenor for mobilizing against one of humankind’s most pervasive challenges. Combating climate change will require buy-in from the world’s leading countries, and even a vague agreement is a step toward the kind of unity needed to reach solutions. It also hints at the possibility of productive cooperation in other matters between the two world superpowers.
The U.S. is no stranger to incremental change and compromise, both domestically and abroad. Taking too firm a line against China is nonsensical. The complexities of international politics make lines in the sand nearly impossible and certainly inadvisable.
What remains, then, is the measured approach Kerry appears to be pursuing. These countries can acknowledge their disagreements in other spheres while coming together to face a common threat, and Kerry’s experience as former secretary of state positions him well to act as the face of America with the measured and seasoned voice of diplomatic sensitivity. Accounts of Kerry’s conversations with Xie Zhenhua, his Chinese counterpart, report that the pair avoided straying into other heated areas. This level of focus must remain key in any future negotiations.
For China’s part, the country’s leader, Xi Jinping, has said China remains committed to the goals announced last fall and that the world’s most advanced nations had a responsibility to lead by example in cutting their emissions. China and the U.S. lead the world in CO2 emissions, in that order, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists. (India is next on the list.)
While the agreement is an important step in forging a partnership, its lack of specificity stokes some skepticism. In 2020, Xi promised China would be carbon neutral by 2060. And yet China’s new five-year economic plan calls for new coal plants and doesn’t include many concrete strategies for reducing emissions as promised. As Biden continues to roll out plans to reduce U.S. emissions, China must do the same if there is to be serious forward momentum.
Still, Mr. Kerry’s meeting and the resultant agreement are reasons for optimism, especially given promises that such conversations will continue. He remarked that the talks underscore China’s willingness to take more aggressive action. Time will tell whether Kerry’s hopes are borne out. If they are, this could be the beginning of a productive alliance between two world superpowers in a high-stakes battle against a common enemy, climate change.