BEIJING, Mar 17: UK energy minister Ed Miliband met officials in Beijing on Monday after vowing to press them on China's emissions as well as touchy topics such as Hong Kong and forced labour.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has sought to boost engagement with China since coming to power in July, despite concerns over security and human rights crackdowns.
Although it is the largest emitter of the greenhouse gases that drive climate change, China, the world's second-largest economy, is also a renewable energy powerhouse and aims to reach net zero by 2060.
The UK has pledged to decarbonise completely by 2050 and has ramped up the transition to clean energy sources, which it claims will help boost its flagging economy.
On Monday, Miliband met with Wang Hongzhi, head of Beijing's National Energy Administration, for the China-UK Energy Dialogue that London has said will be the first of regular "climate change talks between both countries moving forward".
He also held talks with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang at Beijing's ornate Great Hall of the People.
Miliband is the third minister in Starmer's cabinet to visit China, writing in The Guardian newspaper last week that he will use the trip to "urge continued action from China... to tackle the climate emergency". �"AFP
