Chinese premier's attendance at Copenhagen summit sends hope, confidence to world

BEIJING, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao brought hope and confidence to the world in its fight against climate change by attending the summit of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Saturday.

Yang, who had accompanied Wen during his visit on Thursday and Friday, said climate change profoundly affected mankind's existence and development, imposed a critical challenge to the world, and should be tackled by all countries jointly.

The Copenhagen conference was an important opportunity to boost international cooperation in combating climate change, Yang said.

Under the joint efforts of all parties, the conference yielded significant and positive fruits in three aspects, he said.

First, it firmly upheld the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" set by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol.

Second, it made a solid step forward in promoting developed countries' binding emissions cuts and developing countries' voluntary mitigation actions.

Third, it produced important consensus on the key issues of long-term global emissions cut targets, funding and technology support to developing countries, and transparency.

Yang said Premier Wen's attendance at the summit showed the Chinese government took a highly responsible attitude toward the Chinese people, all peoples in the world and mankind's future.

Over the last two days, Wen delivered an important speech to the summit, kept close contact with many parties, communicated and coordinated with them, overcame various difficulties, and guided action according to situation. He adopted a principled but flexible attitude, broke his back to move the climate talks forward on the right track, and played a pivotal role in the climate talks.

Wen's attendance contributed to the global fight against climate change mainly in three fields, Yang said.

FIRST, ABIDING BY PRINCIPLES, MAINTAINING A FOUNDATION FOR COOPERATION

Yang said developing and developed countries were very different in their historical emissions responsibilities and current emissions levels, and in their basic national characteristics and development stages, therefore they should shoulder different responsibilities and obligations in fighting climate change.

According to Yang, Wen told the conference the international community must adhere to the following four principles to combat climate change.

First, maintaining the consistency of outcomes:

The outcome of this conference must stick to rather than obscure the basic principles enshrined in the Convention and the Protocol. It must follow rather than deviate from the mandate of the "Bali Roadmap." It should lock up rather than deny the consensus and progress already achieved in the negotiations.