CHINA HAS reacted angrily to accusations by British climate change minister Ed Miliband that the rising superpower had hijacked the Copenhagen talks on climate change. China said the claims were a failed attempt by a rich country to sow discord among developing nations.
“China has made arduous efforts. In terms of attitude and effectiveness of our actions, our measures are on par with any other country,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference.
The Copenhagen Accord that emerged from the talks was largely down to a series of last-minute talks between President Barack Obama and China’s Premier Wen Jiabao, with input from the leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa.
However, the agreement fell well short of the deeper cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide by the developed world that those in the poorer countries had been seeking.
Mr Miliband wrote in an editorial in the Guardiannewspaper that Beijing was the reason behind the near collapse of the talks. He said there was a broad base of support from most countries, both rich and developing, for binding cuts in emissions, but some big countries refused to accept this.
“We did not get an agreement on 50 per cent reductions in global emissions by 2050, or on 80 per cent reductions by developed countries. Both were vetoed by China, despite the support of a coalition of developed and the vast majority of developing countries. The last two weeks at times have presented a farcical picture to the public. We cannot again allow negotiations on real points of substance to be hijacked in this way,” he said.
The reaction by Ms Jiang was polite but pointed. Developed countries are “absolutely unqualified to censure developing countries” on climate change, since many of them have not met their existing commitments to curb global warming.
Without mentioning Mr Miliband by name, she said the remarks were an attempt to “shirk the obligations of developed countries to their developing counterparts and foment discord among developing countries, but the attempt was doomed to fail”.
In reacting to accusations that it tried to stymie the talks, China points to unilateral moves on its part. Beijing has said it will cut carbon dioxide emissions per unit of production by 40 to 45 per cent by 2020, compared with levels in 2005.
The summit has resulted in a commitment to limit global warming to two degrees Celsius, but did not spell out any legally binding global emissions targets for 2020 or 2050 that scientists say are the key to holding down temperatures.
In briefing Western diplomats and in press reaction at home, China has also been fulsome in praising the outcome of the talks and China’s key role in achieving it.
Premier Wen Jiabao told the official Xinhua News Agency that China “played an important and constructive role in pushing the Copenhagen climate talks to earn the current results, and demonstrated its utmost sincerity and made its best effort”.
The summit promised $100 billion for poor nations that are likely to bear the brunt of the global warming fallout, but the forum has not given a fixed payout plan.