SECOND, ENHANCE COMMUNICATION AND URGE POSITIVE OUTCOMES
As 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.
Special report: Premier Wen Attends Copenhagen Climate Summit
