A Republican and a Democrat talk clean tech in China – China’s latest political and current affairs news

Following the dramatic announcement of a U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement by Donald Trump, and the ensuing near consensus in the media that China will benefit, several American officials have been visiting China to map out future cooperation in clean energy.

• U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry proposed to work with China on liquefied natural gas, nuclear energy, and carbon capture — but per his Republican Party custom, avoided any message of urgency on addressing climate change. Perry even expressed ambivalence about America’s role in climate issues relative to China, saying, “I hope China will step in and attempt to take the mantle [of climate leadership] away.” [ABC]
• California governor Jerry Brown is in China this week and on June 8 announced a new institute for U.S.-China climate and clean technology cooperation based at Tsinghua University. Brown, after blasting Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement as “insane,” has taken a number of steps to further scientific and policy research collaboration between the state he represents and bodies in China, ranging from innovation hubs in Sichuan and Jiangsu provinces to the Ministry of Science and Technology in Beijing. [Reuters]

ABC notes that the red carpet rolled out for Brown’s visit was of a much deeper hue than for Perry: President Xi Jinping himself sat down with the California governor earlier in the week, whereas Zhang Gaoli, the number seven politician in China’s Politburo, was assigned to meet with Perry.

• To rule China, Xi Jinping relies on a shadowy web of committees / The Economist (paywall)
  The roles of shadowy committees called “leading small groups” (领导小组 lǐngdǎo xiǎozǔ) often eclipse the power of more public political structures, part of a system that the Economist says Xi “exploits deftly.”
• A Chinese magazine fights a battle royal / The Economist (paywall)
  Caixin magazine and its public disputes with the Anbang Group and with the Tony Blair jet-providing, tweeting exiled billionaire Guo Wengui 郭文贵. 
• Pro-Beijing Hong Kong legislator breaks ranks to back June 4 memorial motion / SCMP Junius Ho Kwan-yiu broke ranks with his pro-establishment colleagues by backing a motion remembering the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, which was defeated in the Legislative Council on Thursday.
• Indonesians jailed for harboring Uyghurs, cleared of rocket plot on Singapore / SCMP
  Six Indonesian militants were jailed on Wednesday for harboring two Uyghurs who entered the country to fight with extremists linked to the Islamic State (IS), but were cleared of plotting to fire a rocket at Singapore.
• China takes aim at poverty brought on by medical costs / China Daily
  “China has 5.33 million households — 7.34 million people — stuck in poverty as a result of medical costs.”
• Ivanka Trump’s brand distances itself from China shoemaker / ABC