China names new climate envoy

ISTANBUL

China on Friday replaced its climate envoy, appointing its former Deputy Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin as the country’s chief negotiator on the environment.

Liu succeeded Xie Zhenhua, who earlier on Friday co-launched a working group on" Enhancing Climate Action in the 2020s between China and the US" with his US counterpart John Kerry.

A statement by China's Ministry of Environment and Ecology said Xie had stepped down due to "health reasons" with the central government's approval.

Xie and Kerry had met several times over the past year for climate talks in China and in US.

In an earlier interview, Liu had emphasized that responding to climate change "should be a good balance between ambition and pragmatism, and ambition should not be watered down to empty talk."

Beijing had sent Liu, 68, as China's special adviser to the 2023 UN Climate Change Conference held in the United Arab Emirates in November-December.