China's President Xi Jinping will join Joe Biden for virtual climate summit this week

Amid US-China political tensions, Beijing said on April 21 that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be joining his American counterpart Joe Biden for a virtual climate summit scheduled for this week. US President has invited at least 40 leaders including Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet at the start of Earth Day on April 22. As per a Bloomberg report, China’s Foreign Ministry has said that Xi will be joining the summit via video link on Thursday. The confirmation of Xi’s presence at the summit comes in the backdrop of both nations being at odds over a range of issues. 

From America’s stance on China’s Xinjiang to Washington’s support for Hong Kong’s freedom and Taiwan’s independence, both US and Chinese officials have often exchanged words of fury. Just days after US climate envoy John Kerry visited Shanghai in Biden administration’s first official visit to China, as per reports, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said that Xi will give an "important speech at the meeting". 

Even at the heights of disagreements, Kerry and Chinese counterpart Xie Zhenhua had said that both nations were “committed to cooperating” on the climate crisis. While Biden made climate crisis one of the priorities of his administration, Xi said in September that “China will scale up its intended nationally determined contributions [to the Paris agreement] by adopting more vigorous policies and measures” and urged nations to pursue a “green recovery of the world economy in the post-COVID-19 era.”

Biden to host Climate Summit on April 22, 23

White House had announced in late March that US President Biden has invited 40 world leaders for a virtual summit on climate that he will host on April 22 and April 23. The official statement said, “The Leaders Summit on Climate will underscore the urgency – and the economic benefits – of stronger climate action.  It will be a key milestone on the road to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) this November in Glasgow.”

Biden invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian PM Scott Morrison, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron among many others.

Image credits: AP