US officials reinforce cooperation

Visiting energy secretary, California governor say climate work will go on

China and the United States vowed on Thursday to enhance cooperation on clean energy, as US Energy Secretary Rick Perry visits China after Donald Trump pulled out of the Paris agreement.

Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli and Perry emphasized cooperation on clean energy during their meeting at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound.

"It is expected that the two sides will consolidate tangible cooperation in fields including fossil and renewable energy, jointly push forward the shift to clean energy and contribute to the sustainable development of global energy," an official Chinese statement quoted Zhang as saying.

Perry said the US wants to deepen its energy technology cooperation with China and face challenges together.

In his opening remarks during the meeting, Perry cited liquefied natural gas, nuclear energy and carbon capture as promising fields.

"Those are three areas that I think we have extraordinary opportunities to be partners to work on clean energy issues," Perry said.

An official readout of the meeting from the US side said Perry also mentioned renewables, saying that's another area of "mutual interest", according to the Associated Press.

Perry was in China to attend a clean-energy conference, the first international meeting of its kind after US President Trump pulled the country out of the Paris agreement on climate change last week.

In a news conference after the meeting, Jim Carr, Canada's minister of natural resources, was asked about China-US cooperation on clean energy. He said Canada "applauds any agreement ... to reduce carbon emissions and pursue a low-carbon economy".

Ibrahim Baylan, Sweden's energy minister, said China-US cooperation in reducing carbon emissions "will be influential in coming decades".

He said that before coming to Beijing for the meeting, he was "a bit worried, because the US recently pulled out of the Paris agreement.

"However, after coming here and speaking with Chinese officials, as well as the US representatives, I appreciate that they have taken a pragmatic approach toward the global issue. It is safe to say that I have more confidence now than before."

In Japan on Monday, Perry rejected criticism that the US is backing down on climate issues.

California Governor Jerry Brown, who was also in China for the meeting, said on Tuesday that the threat of climate change could be more dangerous than fascism during World War II.

California's state government and China's Ministry of Science and Technology inked an agreement for greater collaboration in countering climate change. California made similar agreements with Jiangsu and Sichuan provinces.