BEIJING, June 22 (TMTPost)— John Kerry, U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, is set to be the next American official who meets face-to-face with Chinese counterpart following the current Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

The climate envoy John Kerry could travel to China soon, U.S. President Joe Biden revealed at a campaign event on Tuesday.  “I think John Kerry’s going to be going back there pretty soon,” Biden said, a day after Kerry, the former Secretary of State succeeded by Mike Pompeo under President Donald Trump, told Reuters that he was anxious to meet with Blinken to help determine when he will land in China for talks on addressing a global climate change crisis. Kerry said China and the United States must forge a partnership to handle climate change despite their differences.  

A day prior to Biden’s remark, Antony Blinken just met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his two-day trip. Xi stressed that major-country competition does not represent the trend of the times, still less can it solve America’s own problems or the challenges facing the world. He called on the U.S. side to remain committed to the common understandings he and President Biden had reached in Bali, and translate the positive statements into actions. Following Blinken’s separate talks with China’s Director Wang Yi and State Councilor Qin Gang, the two sides have also made progress and reached agreement on some specific issues, Xi pointed out, adding that “this is very good”, reported China’s state media. Blinken said he had candid and constructive conversations with Wang Yi and Qin Gang, covering a broad range of both bilateral and global issues, according to the U.S. Department of State. Blinken invited Qin to visit U.S. and they agreed to schedule a reciprocal visit at a mutually suitable time, according to the department.

Blinken is the highest ranking U.S. official as well as the top U.S. diplomat to visit China since October 2018 by his predecessor Mike Pompeo. He is also the highest ranking official from the Biden administration to set foot in China since Biden took office in January 2021.