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China says US could hold up climate deal
China has pressed for the US Congress to pass legislation to fight global warming, warning that inaction could hold up a new treaty slated for Copenhagen in December 2009.
China has pressed for the US Congress to pass legislation to fight global warming, warning that inaction could hold up a new treaty slated for Copenhagen in December 2009.
China's chief climate negotiator Xie Zhenhua held talks in Washington with the administration of President Barack Obama, who has vowed action to slow the planet's warming in a sharp reversal from his predecessor George W Bush.
A UN-led conference in the Danish capital in December later this year is meant to approve a new global warming treaty for the period after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol's obligations to cut carbon emissions expire.
But Xie said China -- by many measures now the world's biggest emitter -- was still waiting to see rich nations' commitments before putting its own ideas on the negotiating table.
"The difficulty in reaching an accord is how can we reach the mid-term goals," Xie said. "Canada has not yet issued emission figures to meet its commitments. The United States is in the same boat -- there is just talk but no action," he told the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, on Wednesday.
"The key point is whether Congress will pass a bill or not," Xie said.
Xie said that China was also waiting for rich nations to provide funding and technology to fight climate change.
