China urges relevant parties to fulfill commitment to Kyoto Protocol

BEIJING, April 13 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday urged all parties bound by the Kyoto Protocol to earnestly fulfill their commitment to the treaty, and criticized some developed countries' attempts to sideline or even abandon the existing protocol.

"It was obvious that some developed countries have tried to shirk from their responsibilities to cut emissions as they pushed to replace the Kyoto Protocol with a new agreement," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular news briefing.

Jiang was responding to a question concerning the divergence between the developed and developing world during a UN climate change meeting held in Bonn, Germany from April 9-11.

It was the first round of the UN climate change talks since the Copenhagen conference last year, aiming at preparing for an annual ministerial-level meeting in Cancun, Mexico, scheduled from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10, which was another chance for reaching a legally binding framework.

"China supports the promulgation of a legally-binding agreement through negotiations," said Jiang.

"The Kyoto Protocol sets emission cut targets for developed countries from 2008 to 2012," she said. "However, most developed countries have failed to fulfill their obligations as the end of the Protocol's first commitment period draws near, instead their emissions have increased by big margins."

Jiang also stressed importance to fix on emission cut obligations of developed countries in the second commitment period and corresponding arrangement for fund and technology to push the international climate change talks to achieve results.

Developing countries should mitigate greenhouse gas emissions under the framework of sustainable development, she added.

"To equate emission cut obligations of developed countries and developing countries runs counter to the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities' of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was the basis for international negotiations," she said.

"It can never be accepted by any developing country including China," Jiang said.