Chinese premier sends hope, confidence to world in summit
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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.
Second, upholding the fairness of rules:
The principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" represents the core and bedrock of international cooperation on climate change and it must never be compromised. Developed countries must take the lead in making deep quantified emission cuts and provide financial and technological support to developing countries. Developing countries should, with the financial and technological support of developed countries, do what they can to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change in the light of their national conditions.
Third, paying attention to the practicality of the targets:
In tackling climate change, the world needed to take a long-term perspective, but more importantly, focus on the present. It was important to focus on achieving near-term and mid-term reduction targets, honoring the commitments already made and taking real action. One action was more useful than a dozen programs. The conference should give people hope by taking credible actions.
Fourth, ensure the effectiveness of institutions and mechanisms:
The international community should make concrete and effective institutional arrangements under the Convention to have developed countries honor their commitments, provide sustained and sufficient financial support to developing countries, speed up the transfer of climate-friendly technologies and effectively help developing countries strengthen their capacity in combating climate change.
Yang said Wen's propositions reflected developing countries' common stance. The propositions were reasonable and lawful, based on the present, faced the future, addressed all parties' interests, pointed out the direction for the climate conference when it was at the crossroads, effectively kept and boosted the talks, and won wide support and praise.
SECOND, ENHANCE COMMUNICATION AND URGE POSITIVE OUTCOMESAs countering climate change concerns the interests of every country, intricate and sensitive differences and contradictions had been existing and the game playing among the parties involved had been extraordinarily fierce, Yang said.
The conference made slow progress from its opening on Dec. 7. When only one day was left before the meeting concluded, the situation became so severe that the public almost lost confidence in whether any consensus could be reached.
Before departing for Copenhagen, Premier Wen held telephone conversations with the leaders of a number of countries, including India, Brazil, South Africa, Ethiopia, Denmark, Germany and Britain as well as the secretary-general of the United Nations.
During the conversations, Wen had a sincere and in-depth exchange of views on key areas of the climate change talks with them and enhanced mutual understanding, which had paved the way for the summit.
After arriving in Copenhagen, Wen started his intense agenda of shuttle diplomacy and persuaded all parties to reach consensus with sincerity, pragmatism, meticulousness and patience.
As the climate change conference entered its final stage, Wen said all countries must show a broad perspective, act on the basis of reality, respect each other's concerns, stick to the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," reach consensus quickly, effectively promote negotiations and transmit hope and confidence to the world.
When meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South African President Jacob Zuma, Wen stressed these BASIC countries, including China, were developing countries and shared common interests, stances and goals, adding that the four nations should further promote solidarity, enhance coordination and steadily speak for developing countries and in their best interests.
Small island states, least developed developing countries and African countries were most severely affected by climate change and had their particular concerns over issues such as funding and global warming, Wen said.
Wen expressed to some leaders of these countries his complete understanding and sympathy as well as firm support for their reasonable demands, adding that China was willing to continue to offer them its support and aid as much as possible under the framework of South-South Cooperation and bilateral relations.
When meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Wen urged developed countries to practically fulfill their promises and obligations and enhance mutual trust.
Wen also called on Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to listen to the opinions of all parties, hold the scales even, attach importance to developing countries' concerns and effectively promote the draft and negotiations of outcome documents, particularly under the principle of fairness, openness and transparency.
Wen made unremitting efforts to let all parties realize that only through seeking common ground while accepting the existing differences with mutual respect, equal consultation and pragmatic cooperation, could differences be bridged and consensus be reached.
A lot of leaders said they hoped other parties could adopt such a positive, constructive and responsible attitude as China did to make their biggest endeavors to achieve best outcomes at the talks.
THIRD, DEEPEN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY'S UNDERSTANDING OF CHINA
Yang said that China had made great efforts in tackling climate change and gained remarkable achievements which won praise from the whole international community. However, some countries still had misunderstanding and doubts about China and thus demanded unreasonable requirements.
Facing pressures, the premier has forth facts to the world in a bid to reason things out. He said China was the first developing country to adopt and implement a National Climate Change Program, and had made the most intensive efforts in energy conservation and pollution reduction in recent years. He said China had enjoyed the fastest growth of new energy and renewable energy, and had the largest area of man-made forests in the world. China had made no less efforts than any developed country in tackling climate change.
He said that, as a developing country, China was now at an important stage of accelerated industrialization and urbanization, and, given the predominant role of coal in its energy mix, China was confronted with special difficulties in emissions reduction. China had set the new target of cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level. To reduce carbon dioxide emissions on such a large scale and over such a period of time would require tremendous efforts. The target would be incorporated into China's mid- and long-term plans for national economic and social development as a mandatory one to ensure that its implementation was subject to the supervision by the domestic law and public opinion. China would more actively engage in international exchange, dialogue and cooperation on the release of emission reduction information.
The Chinese government had made it clear that China's commitment on mitigation actions was based on ongoing scientific research and assessment, Wen said. It was not conditioned on or linked with commitments by any other countries, developed or developing alike. "It's non-negotiable and unconditional."
At the conference, the Chinese delegation set up a Chinese news and communication center through which officials, experts and delegates from enterprises communicated with foreign media and others, making an all-round brief of Chinese policies and measures on reducing emissions.
Many developing countries hailed China's example to the international society in tackling climate change. Some developed countries also said China had set up ambitious and impressive targets on controlling the emissions of carbon dioxide. Some foreign experts even pointed out that no matter how it was evaluated, China's promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was strong and vigorous and the rebuke to China was "dishonest."
Yang said ahead lay heavy responsibilities and a long way to go in tackling climate change. The Copenhagen conference was not a destination but a new beginning. Each country should comply with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities," honor their word and fulfill their obligations. Just as Premier Wen stated in his speech, China would consistently stick to the policy of sustainable development and be fully committed to achieving and even exceeding its emission cut target, and China was also willing to join hands with international society to promote the historic process for the human beings to tackle climate change.
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