Special climate envoy John Kerry failed to convince Chinese government officials to set aside the tensions between the United States and China in favor of uniting to fight climate change.

Chinese President Xi Jinping did not meet with Kerry during his visit, according to the New York Times, and he told environmental officials in Beijing that China's timeline for addressing carbon emissions would not be influenced by pressure. "The pathway and means for reaching this goal, and the tempo and intensity, should be and must be determined by ourselves, and never under the sway of others," he said, per the Chinese publication People's Daily.

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In pleading with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng regarding the matter, Kerry said, “Climate should be free-standing because it is a universal threat to everybody on the planet.”

However, Kerry's appeals fell on deaf ears, as the top foreign affairs adviser to Xi, Wang Yi, told him climate action “cannot be separated from the broader environment of Chinese-U.S. relations," according to a Chinese summary of their conversation.

Recently, President Joe Biden was heard calling the Chinese president a "dictator" during a fundraiser in California. Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning swiftly addressed Biden's comment, saying, “It is a blatant political provocation. China expresses strong dissatisfaction and opposition. … The U.S. remarks are extremely absurd and irresponsible."

During his trip, Kerry and his Chinese counterpart, Xie Zhenhua, reportedly spent two days in negotiations that lasted until 8 p.m. The two didn't seem to make much headway, though, as Kerry said China and the U.S. still have "difficult issues” to address when it comes to climate. He added that an agreement on climate action “has got to be real.”

This comes as lawmakers have begun to question Kerry's commitment to climate due to his private jet usage.

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Last week, speaking before the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Accountability, he claimed, “We don't own a private jet. I don't own a private jet. I, personally, have never owned a private jet.”

Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), who had questioned him on the subject, said, "If your family and or yourself are flying around on private jets, that smacks of hypocrisy.”