COPENHAGEN, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- China has all along actively pushed forward international negotiations on climate change, and made its own contribution in energy saving and emissions cut, said a senior Chinese official on Sunday.
China, with its continuous development and increasing influence, is playing an ever bigger role in climate change negotiations, Xie Zhenhua, vice minister in charge of China's National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua.
Xie is in Copenhagen to attend the UN Climate Change Conference, which is slated for Dec. 7 to 18.
"As a responsible country, China takes a serious attitude toward combating climate change. It has always wielded positive and constructive influence on climate change negotiations, and wishes this latest conference a success," said Xie.
He said China's most important measure to boost this conference was its recent announcement of the target to reduce its carbon intensity for per unit of GDP by 40 percent to 45 percent by 2020 against the 2005 level.
He said China has set up a series of energy conservation and emissions reduction targets, and has taken many measures to ensure their implementation.
China would continue to raise energy efficiency, develop nuclear power and renewable energy, plant trees, adopt energy-saving measures in construction and transportation, and develop low-carbon economy, he said.
Developed countries, which shoulder historical responsibilities for climate change due to their emissions, have accomplished their industrialization, while China is still in the process of industrialization, noted Xie.
China, as a developing country, voluntarily put on table its emissions cut target by 2020, although the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change does not demand any numerical limitations from developing countries.
China, on its road to industrialization, will not send off greenhouse gases without restriction, Xie said, adding that China will never repeat developed countries' old paths of high energy consumption and unlimited emissions.
He said China holds the view that its efforts in saving energy, cutting emissions and boosting international climate change negotiations represent a responsible attitude to mankind and the country itself.
