China vows unswerving efforts to promote climate talks

BEIJING, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- China will make unswerving efforts and work jointly with the international community for the completion of the Bali Roadmap negotiations at the Mexico climate talks next year, a senior official said Saturday.

Xie Zhenhua, vice minister of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), told Xinhua that China, as it has always done, would continue to play an active and constructive role on that front.

Also head of the Chinese delegation to the Copenhagen climate conference, Xie said developed countries bound by the Kyoto Protocol should confirm their second-phase emission reduction targets as soon as possible.

He said almost no progress was made on some key issues during the international climate change meeting in Copenhagen because developed countries were seeking to shift off obligations demanded by international climate agreements.

"Developing countries have raised requests concerning slowing and adapting to climate change, as well as funding and technology assistance, but developed countries have given no clear response, resulting in almost stagnation on key issues in these talks," he said.

It is also necessary to define the comparability of efforts in emission reduction between non-contracting developed countries and those who have endorsed the Protocol, said Xie.

He said parties bound by the Protocol should fulfill their commitment to short-term financing and stick to their promises on long-term funding.

Xie also urged developed nations to speed up technology transfer to developing countries.

Prior to the climate meeting, the Chinese government announced to cut emissions intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level.

During the talks in Copenhagen, China played an active role in seeking a viable solution to tackle global warming when diversity existed among countries, and it made great efforts to seek common ground while putting aside differences for further discussions, Xie said.