As I see it | Climate crisis: China’s all-or-nothing stand on talks leaves John Kerry cornered

Tackling the climate crisis is a “core national security priority” for US President Joe Biden. But saving a dangerously warming world may not always be compatible with his other highest priorities, such as confronting China. Look no further than his climate envoy John Kerry’s China visit last week.

On the surface, Kerry was accorded the rare honour of a series of virtual meetings with Chinese leaders, including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Vice-Premier Han Zheng, aside from talks with climate counterpart Xie Zhenhua. But the former US secretary of state in fact hit a stone wall when the Chinese hosts basically rolled their eyes at his suggestion that both sides rise above politics and treat climate cooperation as a “stand-alone issue”.

Foreign Minister Wang firmly rejected that proposal, telling Kerry that climate cooperation could not be divorced from overall bilateral ties and the US first must “cease containing and suppressing China all over the world”.

“The US side wants the climate change cooperation to be an ‘oasis’ of China-US relations. However, if the oasis is all surrounded by deserts, then sooner or later, the ‘oasis’ will be desertified,” Wang said.

To help Biden avert a global climate catastrophe, America’s first-ever climate envoy needs to get China, which leads the world with nearly 30 per cent of global emissions, fully on board.