Climate change tabled for discussion on Xi's US visit

"The win-win cooperation on climate change between China and the United States could be a model for future South-North cooperation," said Xie Zhenhua, former vice-chairman of China's National Development and Reform Commission and China's special representative for climate change affairs.

Xie made the remarks during a dialogue regarding energy, climate and sustainable development held ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will make his first state visit to the United States late this month. "Climate change will be a very important subject" of Xi's visit, Xie said, adding that "both countries are confident of achieving positive results."

Xie pointed out that China and the U.S. have "developed very good cooperation" on climate change. "Both countries have identified 13 areas for cooperation, such as technology, management and [green] trade," he said.

"It would be ‘a pleasant thing' for the world if China and the U.S., the largest developing country and the largest developed country in the world respectively, could work together in the field of climate change to coordinate positions, promote the multilateral process, enhance cooperation and boost domestic sustainable as well as low-carbon development," he said.

China and the U.S. released a joint announcement on climate change in November last year. "It was highly appreciated by countries around the world," Xie said. "The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, other UN agencies and leaders of some countries said the joint announcement saved the Lima Climate Change Conference last year and made a special contribution."

Xie stressed that China and the U.S. will continue to enhance their cooperation on climate change in a bid to promote domestic development, bilateral relations and the multilateral process.

"We are stepping up efforts to make China-U.S. climate change cooperation a highlight of the new type of major-power relations," Xie noted.