Foreign Ministry sets up climate change int’l working group

BEIJING—The Chinese Foreign Ministry has set up a leading group in charge of the international work on climate change, the Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu announced on Tuesday.
Jiang said the group was headed by Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and has two deputy heads, Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei and Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, adding a mechanism on the international work on climate change has also been set up.
“The Ministry’s move is not only an important step to implement China’s national action plan to respond to climate change, but also shows the Chinese government’s active participation in the international cooperation on responding to climate change,” said Jiang at a regular press conference.
The Chinese government had announced its first national action plan to respond to climate change and set the goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product by 20 percent and major pollutant discharges by 10 percent by the end of2010, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said on Aug. 27 in a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The State Council had also set up a leading group for the work of responding to climate change, headed by Premier Wen.
Jiang noted that all the acts showed China’s positive position and determination of responding to climate change, and China will continue to make unremitting efforts to respond to climate change and promote the international cooperation in this regard.
Jiang added that the Foreign Ministry has appointed Yu Qingtai, former Chinese ambassador to Tanzania as the special representative for climate change negotiations. Chinese President Hu Jintao talked with Australian Prime Minister John Howard on the phone on Wednesday over strengthening bilateral ties and fighting climate change.
Hu said Chinese-Australian relations are seeing a good momentum for development. Both sides have shown political respect for each other, carried out mutually beneficial economic cooperation, increased exchanges in a variety of areas and maintained contact and coordination on major international and regional issues, he said.
The Chinese president expressed China’s readiness to work with Australia in promoting cooperation within the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Hu will pay a state visit to Australia and attend the 15th APEC economic leaders’ informal meeting in Sydney from Sept. 3-9. On tackling climate change, Hu said the issue has a bearing on global sustainable growth and the well-being of mankind and that the Chinese government attaches great importance to combating climate change.
China supports the discussion on fighting climate change at this year’s APEC meeting and hopes all sides, guided by the principles in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol, can reach an agreement that is balanced and reflects their common ground.
Howard, for his part, said he looked forward to discussing with Hu ways to boost cooperation with China in a bid to further strengthen Australian-Chinese ties. Australia, meanwhile, stands ready to work closely with China toward a positive outcome at the APEC meeting on tackling climate change, Howard said.—Xinhua