What is the origin of the US climate envoy visiting China? He was one step away from the presidency in the forest | China | President

Kerry has finally arrived.

On July 12th, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that, as agreed by both China and the United States, the US President's special envoy on climate issues, John Kerry, will visit China from July 16th to 19th. The two sides will exchange in-depth views on cooperation in addressing climate change.

This is Kerry's third visit to China since serving as the climate envoy. Previously, he visited Shanghai in April 2021 and Tianjin in September 2021.

This morning, Kerry arrived at the Beijing Hotel and held talks with China's special envoy on climate change, Xie Zhenhua. Both China and the United States will exchange in-depth views on cooperation in addressing climate change.

Who exactly is Kerry?

Previously, Kerry had repeatedly expressed his willingness to visit China and urged for climate cooperation between China and the United States, which has attracted attention from the outside world.

So, what exactly does this person have?

Firstly, from the family history of Kerry, its connection with China is not shallow. His family emerged in the 19th century in Sino US trade, and many family members have come to China. His maternal grandfather James Grant Forbes was born in Shanghai, China.

For Kerry himself, in 1982, he became the Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts and began to enter politics. In 2004, as a senator representing Massachusetts, Kerry was nominated by the Democratic Party as the presidential candidate, but lost to then President George W. Bush in the election.

According to media reports, Kerry and Obama have a good personal relationship. During Obama's political career, Kerry played a key role multiple times. During the 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry chose Obama to speak at the Democratic National Convention. After Obama won his first term in 2008, Kerry was once a popular candidate for Secretary of State.

In 2013, Kerry was appointed as Secretary of State, becoming the first white male Secretary of State in the United States in 16 years. Since Christopher stepped down as Secretary of State in 1997, Albright, Powell, Rice, and Hillary have successively served as Secretary of State, all of whom are either female or black.

On November 4, 2020, the day after the US presidential election, the United States officially withdrew from the Paris Agreement. One month later, Biden, who had not yet officially taken office, nominated Kerry as the President's climate envoy in advance.

The Origins of Kerry and Climate

As early as the 2004 presidential showdown, Kerry proposed imposing high taxes on the oil and gas industry to encourage the development of cleaner energy.

In 2013, Kerry became the Secretary of State of the United States, leading the climate change negotiation agenda.

On April 13th of that year, on the day of Kerry's visit to China, both China and the United States issued the Joint Statement on Climate Change, announcing that in order to elevate the challenge of climate change to a higher priority, the two countries would establish a climate change working group before the 2013 China US Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

On April 22, 2016, then Secretary of State Kerry signed the Paris Agreement on behalf of the United States to address global climate change.

On January 11th of this year, China's special envoy for climate change affairs, Xie Zhenhua, held a video meeting with Kerry. The two sides exchanged views on implementing the consensus of the first Bali meeting between China and the United States, and cooperating to promote global climate multilateral processes. Both sides agreed to further maintain communication and jointly address the challenges of climate change in the future.

Kerry's visit to China this time will also discuss issues such as reducing carbon emissions with the Chinese side. Previously, he stated in a media interview that the three most important topics during his visit to China included: China's plan to control and reduce methane emissions, how China will gradually get rid of coal, and US China cooperation on deforestation.

As the two largest clean energy investors in the world, China and the United States play an extremely important role and position in addressing global climate change. However, in August last year, the then Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Pelosi, disregarded China's strong opposition and insisted on "visiting Taiwan". China immediately announced eight countermeasures, including a suspension of China US gas talks, as a response. Climate change talks between China and the United States have been forced to pause.

"We need sincere cooperation," Kerry said in an interview earlier. Over the past year, Kerry has repeatedly expressed his willingness to resume climate negotiations with China, but it was not until January this year that China agreed to hold online talks with the United States.

Since the beginning of summer, many parts of the world have been experiencing extreme high temperatures. For example, in many parts of the southern United States, the heat index has reached a "dangerous high", and the likelihood of residents suffering from heat related diseases has significantly increased.

The sustained heatwave has made the world look forward to certain cooperation results between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, in addressing climate change. In such circumstances, many people hope that the achievements brought by Kerry's visit to China may bring a glimmer of good news to the world.