China lambasts US for 'backpedalling' on climate policies after Biden chided Jinping

China has criticised the United for 'backpedalling' on its policies regarding climate change after US President Joe Biden chided Xi Jinping for missing the COP26 summit.

The country's chief climate negotiator in Glasgow, Xie Zhenhua slammed Biden's predecessor Donald Trump for pulling out the United States out of the Paris Agreement and said it was time to "work harder and catch up".

China's permanent ambassador to the United Nations, Zhang Jun condemned the ''empty slogans'' used by the US for tackling global warming.

''China has been earnestly supporting #ClimateAction. We are not the one who withdrew from the Paris Agreement. The US however has back-pedalled its climate policies many times. Instead of blame-shifting, what it should do now is to shoulder responsibility and take concrete actions,'' he added.

Speaking at his closing press conference at the COP26 Summit, Biden expressed disappointment over with Chinese actions on climate in Rome, and also the lack of willingness for Chinese President Xi Jinping to show up at either the G20 or COP26 summit. 

China had alleged that Xi sent a written statement for the summit instead of giving an address by video conference after the organisers did not provide a link.

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Beijing has vowed to reach an emissions peak by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2060, among other ambitions.

In his written address, Jinping said ''I hope all parties will take stronger actions to jointly tackle the climate challenge and protect the planet, the shared home for us all.''

Xi Jinping is in self-isolation and has not left China in the last 20 months. He has not attended any global event during this time period.

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The 68-year-old had last visited Myanmar in the middle of January, 2020.

Beijing has rejected Washington's efforts to separate climate from wider conflicts between the two sides, with senior diplomat Wang Yi telling U.S. climate envoy John Kerry in September that there was still a "desert" threatening the "oasis" of climate cooperation.

One particular point of contention for China has been the US imposition of sanctions on Chinese companies, including solar equipment suppliers, with links to the Xinjiang region.

China rejects Western allegations of human rights abuses in the region.