After the opening ceremony Su Wei, acting as China’s chief negotiator and deputy head of the Chinese Delegation, reiterated China’s wish that the Cancun Conference achieve substantial agreement on funds and technology issues. The hope is that talks can yield comprehensive and balanced results that will enable full, effective and sustained implementation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol.

Su says that climate change is a grim challenge of the 21st century. Our response has a bearing on the long-range development of every country, and an effective one requires the entire international community to strengthen mechanisms of cooperation and to seek impartial solutions.

From United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 to Kyoto Protocol in 2005, from Bali Roadmap in 2007 to Copenhagen Accord in 2009, this lays out the entire course and it is a map showing gradual progress in the reach and depth of our understanding.

People may not hold high expectations for Cancun, but Su firmly believes that the conference is an indispensable step on the long journey to a full coordinated international response. As long as the direction and results were positive, interest remains.

According to Su, the Copenhagen Conference reconfirmed the political consensus among world leaders to tackle climate change. But real change won’t come by until countries translating their political will into actions.

Su thinks our very existence, never mind the future of mankind, depends on all sides dropping the petty haggling, embracing their responsibility and working to the limits of their ability.

The Role of China

The Western media share a pessimistic view of the Cancun Conference, but generally place the blame on China.

On November 23 the New York Times ran an article titled China Sets Tough Line in Climate Talks, which quotes Xie Zhenhua’s remarks that climate talks in Cancún would succeed only if the West agreed to transfer technology to developing countries and to take the lead in cutting emissions. The author wrote: “The positions reflect a long-standing view by developing countries, led by China, that they are largely not responsible for climate change - which they say was caused by decades of western pollution - and thus should not play a leading role in reversing it.”

What a role China is going to play at the conference and is China wrong in taking the current stance?

According to Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation in the talks and deputy director of China's National Development and Reform Commission, China will play a constructive role in Cancun Conference, together with all sides, to make unremitting efforts to seek positive results. China supports the conference to make fair, reasonable and effective arrangements to achieve balanced results and realize full, effective and sustained implementation of the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol. But Xie stressed the meeting should adhere to the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and Bali Roadmap, stick to the principle of common but differentiated responsibility, fulfill the political consensus of the Copenhagen Accord (especially the funds and technology transfer needed by developing countries), and generally lay the foundation for a legally binding agreement at the South Africa Conference next year.

According to Xie, China has never changed its base line as a developing country, the GDP per capita is only US$ 3,700, ranked only about 100th in the world. China has 150 million people below the poverty line by the UN poverty standard. On one hand, China needs to develop its economy and improve living standards; on the other hand, China needs to cope with climate change and control the emission of greenhouse gases. It faces the dual task of driving its economy and preserving the environment.

China has taken its responsibility as a developing country. Before the Copenhagen Conference last year, China announced its goals of by 2020 cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40%-45% from the 2005 level, increasing the share of non-fossil fuel resources in primary energy consumption to 15 percent, planting 40 million hectares more of forest areas and adding 1.3 cubic meters of wood storage. A national action plan was issued accordingly.

From 2006 to 2010, China has spent RMB 200 billion on energy saving and emission reduction, actions expected to achieve the goal of reducing 20% of energy consumption per unit of GDP. Two weeks before the Cancun Conference, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of UNFCCC affirmed China that has exceeded its goal on emission reduction.

As for criticism of China, Xie says that the UNFCCC requires the developed countries to provide due financial and technical support to developing countries, so that the latter can achieve sustained social and economic growth while taking reduction and adaptation measures. What China is doing now is voluntarily cutting its emission without assistance from the developed world. This confirms that China is paying great attention to climate change, and also manifests China’s contribution to the world.

Xie emphasizes that in the light of the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility”, developed countries should assume their corresponding responsibility. In the past, developed countries contributed most of the carbon emissions to the atmosphere and their current emission per person is still high, so to be fair who should take the lead on emission reduction? China will continue to take active policies and methods in the aspect. Meanwhile it calls for all countries on earth to do the best in their capability and collaborate with each other, for we are all in the same boat.