Last month, in one of his first actions as president, Joe Biden signed an executive order recommitting the United States to the Paris Agreement on climate change. The week after that, Biden signed another order taking further steps toward domestic action and international engagement on the issue. Among other things, that order formally established a White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy and set a date for a global climate summit to be held on Earth Day in April. These moves follow on the heels of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060 and position the world’s leading global powers for a new era of diplomacy, one where climate change can play an increasingly important role.
“Obviously we have some very serious differences with China on some very, very important issues,” said John Kerry, Biden’s special envoy for climate change, last Wednesday. “But climate is a critical standalone issue that we have to deal on,” he added. But the next day in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian argued that climate issues can’t be separated from the overall state of the two countries’ relationship, saying “unlike flowers that can bloom in a greenhouse despite winter chill, (any such cooperation) is closely linked with bilateral relations as a whole.” Public opinion in the United States, however, suggests otherwise. And thankfully many outside of the Chinese foreign ministry believe so too.
