Developing countries' right to development should be guaranteed in an any deal on climate change, China said today, insisting that developed nations should take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
"All countries should consolidate and enlarge the common ground (on climate change issues) so as to actively push forward the talks and reach a legally binding agreement at an early date," Chinese State Councillor Dai Bingguo said addressing a new round of UN climate talks being held at the Chinese city of Tianjin today.
Dai insisted for enlarging common ground to reach an agreement at Cancun climate summit to be held this year.
As a developing country which is experiencing rapid growth, China will continue to fulfil its due responsibilities in reducing greenhouse gases emissions, he told the meeting UNFCCC under the Kyoto Protocol attended by 3,000 delegates from all over the world.
"Economic development, poverty alleviation and climate protection should be considered in a coordinated way in order to achieve a win-win result between achieving development and dealing with climate change," Dai said.
He suggested the negotiations should stick to the basic framework of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Kyoto Protocol and the mandate of the Bali Roadmap and follow the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," Xinhua news agency reported.
The developed countries should set the targets to take the lead in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and arrangements should be made to provide adequate financial and technological support to developing countries, he said.
China will continue to play an active and constructive role in the climate talks, Dai said.
As a country of 1.3 billion people with per capita GDP ranking about 100th in the world, China faces the serious task of growing the economy and improving people's livelihood, he said.
"At a stage of accelerated industrialisation and urbanisation, China's energy demand will see further reasonable growth. Therefore, we face significant constraints in controlling greenhouse gas emissions," he said.
The Chinese government made set goals for itself before the Copenhagen climate talks in late 2009, including cutting the intensity of carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 per cent, compared with 2005 levels.
China also said it would increase the share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 15 per cent and have 40 million more hectares of forest by 2020.
