The two veteran diplomats spoke virtually last week as the US hosted<\/a> the Major Economies Forum on climate. During this talk, Xie issued an invitation to Kerry, the former US secretary of state told Foreign Policy magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy hope is that out of these discussions we get back to where we were two years ago because we must be able too cooperate together on this issue\u201d, Kerry said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While US president Joe Biden\u2019s government has tried to keep climate talks separate to the broader US-China relationship, issues such as the independence of Taiwan and the recent Chinese spy balloon scandal have prevented the two sides from engaging meaningfully on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Health issues have also hindered progress, with Kerry telling Foreign Policy magazine that Xie suffered \u201csomething of a stroke\u201d in January which prevented him from working for \u201ca month and a half or so\u201d. Xie has not made any foreign trips since and his participation in November\u2019s Cop28 climate talks is in doubt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden appointed Kerry<\/a> as his climate envoy shortly after he was elected in November 2020. Three months later, China\u2019s president Xi Jinping brought Zhenhua<\/a> out of retirement to be his climate envoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The appointments were seen as a boost to the chances that the two sides could work together on climate change, as they did under the Obama administration to bring about the Paris agreement in 2015, due to the two men\u2019s long and friendly relationship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After dozens of virtual and several in-person meetings, these hopes were further boosted at the end of 2021 when the two sides announced a joint agreement<\/a> on climate at the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow. Both sides committed to discuss measures to reduce methane emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Powerful officials and experts from both countries were supposed to begin discussions on issues such as clean electricity, the circular economy and city climate action, as well as methane, in September 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in August 2022, the head of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi went on an official visit to Taiwan, an island nation off China\u2019s east coast that the Chinese government considers part of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n China reacted<\/a> by cancelling the climate talks, a move Kerry called \u201cboth disappointing and misguided\u201d. Instead of cooperating, official from both sides engaged in public Twitter spats<\/a> over their climate records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nancy Pelosi walks with Taiwan\u2019s President Tsai Ing-wen (Photo: Makoto Lin\/Taiwan President\u2019s office<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n A few months later in November, tensions cooled after Biden and Xi had a productive meeting<\/a> on the sidelines of the G20 in Indonesia. They agreed to work together on climate change and their climate teams, both of which were at Cop27 in Egypt at the time, were allowed to talk formally again.<\/p>\n\n\n\nEarly promise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Pelosi triggers breakdown<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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