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China rejects emissions curbs on developing nations

BALI, Indonesia - China insisted Friday the United States and other wealthy nations should bear the burden of curbing global warming, saying the problem was created by their lavish way of life. It rejected mandatory emission cuts for its own developing industries.

Su Wei, a top climate expert for China's government attending the U.N. Climate Change Conference, said it was unfair to ask developing nations to accept binding emissions cuts and other restrictions being pushed for already industrialized states.

He said the United States and its fellow industrial nations have long spewed greenhouse gases into the atmosphere while newly emerging economies have done so for only a few decades.

"China is in the process of industrialization and there is a need for economic growth to meet the basic needs of the people and fight against poverty," Su said.

While many experts believe China has surpassed the United States as the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, Su said the Chinese population is far bigger and said America's emissions per person are six times higher than China's.

China is one of nearly 190 nations participating in the Dec. 3-14 conference, which is intended to launch negotiations on a new climate treaty to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol when it expires in 2012.

The Kyoto pact, which was rejected by the United States, commits three dozen industrial countries that signed on to cut emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels over the next five years. One of the factors that led President Bush to reject Kyoto was that it didn't require any cuts by fast-developing countries like China, India and Brazil.

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List of best and worst

Environmental watchdog Germanwatch said Friday that Saudi Arabia and the United States rank last on the group's annual ranking of 56 industrialized and emerging countries on climate protection. Sweden was ranked as doing the best job, followed by Germany, Iceland and Mexico. China was No. 40.

[Last modified December 8, 2007, 01:24:39]