US President Joe Biden on Friday revealed that the United States has invited China and Russia to be among 40 nations to participate in a global summit on climate change scheduled to hold in April.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin were among the world leaders who have been invited to the April 22-23 summit, Biden said.
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Biden told reporters he had not yet spoken to the two leaders about it, ‘but they know they’re invited.’ Climate change is one area that Biden administration officials believe it is possible to do business with China and Russia, despite deep differences on other issues.
Biden’s comments came in remarks to reporters on Friday as he departed the White House for a weekend at his Delaware home.
At his first White House news conference since taking office, Biden called Xi and Putin supporters of autocracy and framed the US relationship with China as one of competition.
A White House statement said a key goal of the Earth Day summit would be to galvanize efforts to keep a goal of limiting planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) within reach.
Biden also said he suggested to Prime Minister Johnson that democratic countries should have an infrastructure plan to rival China’s Belt and Road initiative.
The Biden administration is expected to announce what the White House called ‘an ambitious 2030 target‘ for reducing carbon emissions by the time of the Earth Day summit.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
