U.S. climate envoy John Kerry hints at potential Xi-Biden meeting

BEIJING — John Kerry, special presidential envoy for climate, said Wednesday that U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping could meet later this year.

“We pledge to work with you very closely in order to help our presidents to be able, hopefully, to be able to produce real results should they be involved at the APEC meeting in San Francisco,” Kerry said in opening remarks for his meeting with Han Zheng, vice president of China.

“We don’t know what will take place yet.”

Kerry was referring to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit — set to be held in San Francisco in November.

There’s a potential for Xi to visit the U.S. for the summit, and meet with Biden during that time.

Han did not specifically mention such a Xi-Biden meeting in his opening remarks.

Kerry’s visit marks the third time a high-level U.S. official has traveled to Beijing in about a month.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen were previously in Beijing for high level meetings.

Climate is a rare area of potential cooperation between the U.S. and China.

Kerry called on China to work together with the U.S. leading up to COP28 so they could make a “profound difference” on climate. Temperatures globally, including in parts of China and the U.S., have soared to record highs this summer.