China and the United States could use climate cooperation to redefine their troubled relationship and lead the way in tackling global warming, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry told senior Chinese officials on Tuesday, APA reports citing Reuters.

Kerry's three-day visit to China aimed at reviving climate cooperation between the world's top greenhouse gas emitters has coincided with waves of extreme weather across the planet, including a heat dome in the western United States that brought temperatures in California's Death Valley to 53 Celsius (128 Fahrenheit) on Sunday.

"Our hope is that this can be the beginning of a new definition of cooperation and capacity to resolve differences between us," Kerry told top diplomat Wang Yi in a meeting in the Great Hall of the People, China's cavernous legislative building.

Addressing Premier Li Qiang, Kerry warned that the situation could get worse this summer, and cited reports that a weather station in China's northwestern Xinjiang region had recorded an all-time high temperature of 52.2C on Sunday.

Source: Azeri-Press News Agency