Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend virtual climate summit called by Biden

China's President Xi Jinping will attend a virtual climate summit this week hosted by US President Joe Biden, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, as political tensions between the two countries remain high. 

Xi will give an "important speech" at the meeting, the statement said, which comes days after climate envoys from the two countries met in Shanghai and pledged to cooperate on the pressing issue of climate change.

Biden has invited 40 world leaders to the climate summit, part of his effort to make the fight against global warming a top priority.

Beijing and Washington have persistently clashed over a range of issues from alleged human rights abuses to China's economic clout over other nations.

In Alaska last month, US and Chinese officials held the first high-level in-person talks that bristled with rancor and yielded no diplomatic breakthroughs.

But the two countries, the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, have rediscovered a common interest in battling climate change.

Last week, US climate envoy John Kerry travelled to Shanghai to meet with his Chinese counterpart in the first high-level visit to China by a Biden administration official. Both agreed on concrete actions "in the 2020s" to reduce emissions.

The talks also marked a resumption of climate dialogue halted during the Donald Trump administration, who withdrew from the Paris agreement.

(With input from agencies)