China said Thursday that it is "seriously considering" participating in a two-day virtual climate summit starting on April 22, scheduled to be hosted by US President Joe Biden.

"We are willing to continue to strengthen communication and collaboration with the international community to resolve the problem of climate change and China will continue to make our contribution," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.

The White House said in late March that Biden has invited Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to join the upcoming online gathering.

For years, Beijing and Washington have been at odds over several matters including trade and state-of-the-art technology as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and alleged human right abuses in some regions in the mainland.

China, however, have expressed eagerness to work together with the United States to grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic and global climate change.