Biden: Russia and China know they are invited

March 26, 2021 KT1 US 0

PHILADELPHIA, PA - MARCH 10: Democratic Presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden addresses the media and a small group of supporters during a primary night event on March 10, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Six states - Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Washington, and North Dakota held nominating contests today. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

PHILADELPHIA, PA – MARCH 10: Joe Biden addressed the media on March 10, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mark Makela/Getty Images)

OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 7:10 PM PT – Friday, March 26, 2021

Joe Biden is looking to push his climate agenda on a global scale, but hasn’t directly reached out to two key players.

On Tuesday, the White House published a list of 40 countries invited to attend Biden’s global leaders climate summit in April.

40 World Leaders invited for Global Climate Summit by @POTUS includes PMs of Bangladesh, Bhutan, & India, but not @ImranKhanPTI https://t.co/o3u1qFE3Vd

— Husain Haqqani (@husainhaqqani) March 26, 2021

That list included Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, but it is unclear whether they were actually invited.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gestures during a meeting with France's President Emmanuel Macron (out of frame) in the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Buenos Aires, on November 30, 2018. - Global leaders gather in the Argentine capital for a two-day G20 summit beginning on Friday likely to be dominated by simmering international tensions over trade. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo credit should read LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin gestured during a meeting with France’s President Emmanuel Macron (out of frame) in the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Buenos Aires, on November 30, 2018. (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House delivered more mixed messaging on the issue when Biden skirted the question, telling reporters he has not directly invited Putin or Xi.

“I haven’t yet, but they know they’re invited, but I haven’t I haven’t spoken to either one of them yet individually,” Biden said. “I just got off the phone speaking with the British prime minister. And yesterday I spoke with all the members of the E.U., but I haven’t spoken to those two.”

This came as critics pointed to the fact that China is the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter and Russia the fourth largest, so any talks without these countries would not be very effective.

Biden is planning to unveil his new 2030 goal to cut America’s carbon footprint by more than 50 percent.

The virtual summit is expected to be held April 22 and April 23.