Befitting its inherently capricious nature, the Chinese Communist Party always leverages its cooperation on any one issue as a means of extracting concessions on other issues. China's approach in this regard, also evinced by its strategy on Ukraine, contrasts it with that of many other nations.
This bears note as John Kerry prepares for three days of climate talks in China next week. As is always the case with Beijing, those talks will only really entail about one day of actual talking. Chinese officials will spend the other two days lecturing Kerry from prepared talking points about how the U.S. is wholly responsible for the poor state of Sino-American relations.
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Still, Xi Jinping's regime wants the Biden administration to know that it's dreaming if it thinks any mutual interest in reducing carbon emissions will lead Beijing to cooperate on this one issue. As the Communist Party's Global Times propaganda newspaper explained on Wednesday, "experts are pessimistic about whether Kerry's visit will yield substantial results." In this case, the Central Foreign Affairs Committee wants Washington to know that Kerry must bring with him a plan to reduce U.S. tariffs on Chinese solar panel exports and other concessions.
The Global Times continued, "... if the U.S. shows no sincerity in improving ties, then asking China to cooperate on addressing climate issues is like talking the impossible." Translation: We can work together on carbon emissions, but only if the U.S. is willing to concede to China in other areas. Alongside the removal of tariffs, China wants a reduction in U.S. technology export restrictions.
The familiar and fundamental problem is that Xi and his inner circle are simply unable to wrap their heads around the idea that they may also have to make concessions. On the solar tariffs issue, for example, Beijing has an inherent inability to view U.S. tariffs as anything other than wholly protectionist in motivation. Beijing cannot accept the reality that those tariffs are significantly motivated by U.S. concerns over the use of its Uyghur population as slave labor to build the panels. The Global Times derides this as the "so-called forced labor issue."
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Kerry's record of appeasement toward Beijing means that he'll likely lend a friendly ear to China's demands. But that's the only way Beijing will be willing to do more to reduce its carbon footprint.
Otherwise, considering the hundreds of coal plants Beijing has constructed in recent years, Kerry very much has his work cut out for him.