Kathmandu, Nov 26: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will attend global talks in Copenhagen that aim to forge the basis of a new climate change treaty, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, calling the trip a show of cooperativeness.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang did not give details of Wen’s itinerary for the talks in the Danish capital, which begin on Dec. 7, when he announced the trip at a regular news conference.
Wen is his nation’s top government official and also heads a leadership group that steers policy on climate change for China, now widely measured to be the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases from human activities.
“Wen Jiabao’s attendance at the meeting shows the importance that the Chinese government places on this issue, and shows that the Chinese government is willing to cooperate with the international community,” said.
The negotiations are due to end on Dec. 18.
Wen’s attendance adds to the roster of leaders from key countries headed for the U.N. climate talks, flagging hopes for sealing a political agreement that will form the basis of a legally binding pact to be negotiated next year.
The Chinese announcement comes after the White House said on Wednesday that U.S. President Barack Obama will attend the talks in Copenhagen, before going on to nearby Oslo, capital of Norway, to collect the Nobel Peace Prize.
The White House said the United States will pledge in Copenhagen to cut its greenhouse gas emissions roughly 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, a drop of about 3 percent below the 1990 benchmark year used in U.N. treaties.
China, however, has not yet specified what commitments or goals it may offer in Copenhagen. With it and the United States responsible for around 40 percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions from human activity, their stances will be crucial.
As a developing country, China is not obliged by current treaties to accept binding caps on its emissions, and it and other poor countries have said that principle should not change in any new deal that emerges from Copenhagen.
President Hu Jintao promised in September that China would unveil a goal for a “notable” cut in carbon intensity by 2020, compared with 2005, a landmark because it was the first time China had accepted it must put measurable controls on emissions.
But Beijing has not said just how big that cut will be, driving speculation that officials may give a specific number before the talks in Denmark open, possibly as early as this week.
–Agencies