BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- China on Wednesday repeated its stance against proposed carbon tariffs, which would contain the development of global trade, according to Ministry of Commerce spokesman Yao Jian.

    China firmly opposed the carbon tariffs proposed by some individuals and international organizations as they ignored the fact that developing and developed countries were in different stages of development and should shoulder different responsibilities and obligations, Yao said.

    However, Yao did not specify the names of the individuals and organizations.

    He made the comments in response to questions during a press conference while releasing China's November foreign direct investment, which rose 31.97 percent year on year to 7.02 billion U.S. dollars.

    The concept of "carbon tariffs," initially proposed by former French President Jacques Chirac, has been echoed by the United States, Canada and the European Union. They proposed imposing carbon tariffs on countries that do not make efforts to reduce emissions.

    In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on climate issues that contained carbon tariffs, which would allow the president to impose duties from 2020 on imports of carbon-intensive goods such as steel, cement, glass and paper from countries that have not taken measures to cut their own emissions.

China undertaking low-carbon development: official

    COPENHAGEN, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- China is reconciling its traditional development and consumption patterns with low-carbon development so as to achieve ultimate harmony between humans and nature, a senior Chinese official said Tuesday.

    In his speech to be delivered at a United Nations (UN) climate change seminar, Xie Zhenhua promised that China would strive to achieve this harmony by closely integrating the Chinese stage of development with its unique national situation. Full story

China says rich countries responsible for slow Copenhagen talks progress

    BEIJING, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- China said Tuesday that the rich countries should be responsible for the sluggish progress of the Copenhagen climate talks as they "move backward" on such issues like technological and financial support for the developing countries.

   "The Copenhagen conference has now entered a crucial stage and made some progress, but some problems and differences still exist," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu at a regular news briefing. Full story

China strives to contribute more to global fight against climate change

    COPENHAGEN, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- As challenging as it is serious, climate change is not only clamoring for global attention, but also for global action.

    Despite its tremendous need for development, China, the world's largest developing country, has taken unprecedented efforts in recent years to address the global issue. Full story

Special report: Global Climate Change