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President Xi Jinping will attend the Paris climate conference next week, it was announced today as a top diplomat here said the Chinese leader will bring no new concessions to the negotiating table.
Xi Jinping will attend the climate conference in Paris from November 29-30 at the invitation of French President Francois Hollande, Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Xi will be present at the conference which is expected to be attended by top world leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to work out a durable deal to reduce the greenhouse gases which are blamed for global warming.
Ahead of the Paris meet, China, which is the top emitter of greenhouse gases along with the US, has hoped that "a powerful, ambitious and legally binding deal" can be reached in Paris.
Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin told a briefing that world leaders will be in attendance in France "to lend political impetus" to the meeting but "are not there for negotiations".
"The Paris conference is not about tabling new proposals -- it's about narrowing differences and reaching agreement on the basis of the existing proposals," he added.
Xie Zhenhua, China's special representative on climate change, told the media here last week that 2015 deal should reflect the principles of "common but differentiated responsibilities (CDR)" and "respective capabilities".
The Paris climate change conference, due to begin on November 30, is the latest attempt by world leaders to reduce carbon emissions through a legally binding treaty after the talks in Copenhagen in 2009 failed to deliver a deal.
Now with frequent extreme weather and related natural disasters as well as the imminent sea-level rise, expectations are high that the Paris conference will reach a second legally-binding treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
Yet in the run-up to the conference, major differences remain, particularly on the principle of CDR.
Accords and conventions reached previously agreed that rich countries should mobilise $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries fight climate change.
Developed nations still have much to do in their pledges to provide money and transfer low-carbon and environmental friendly technologies to developing countries, Xie said.
"Each country should deliver what they have promised, which is the basic foundation of political trust," Xie said, adding that mutual trust is a prerequisite to a successful conference.
He reiterated China's goals in its own action plan, called "Intended Nationally Determined Contribution" (INDC): cutting its carbon emissions per unit of GDP by 60-65% from 2005 levels by 2030, increasing non-fossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20% and peaking its carbon emissions by the same date."
Yu Qingchan, leader of climate change research at Beijing's Global Environmental Institute, said preparation work for the Paris summit has been much more efficient than that for Copenhagen.
"In stark contrast from the 2009 Copenhagen conference, which asked countries to accept a 'top-down agreement', many countries have submitted their own INDC to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ahead of the Paris talks, a reason that we should be more optimistic about the outcome," Yu was quoted as saying by state-run Xinhua news agency.
Yu said public opinion also tilted towards coordinated action in the face of global warming.
Xie highlighted China's other initiatives to curb greenhouse gases such as a nationwide carbon emissions trading market to be launched in 2017.
China has seven pilot carbon emission trading schemes, with total transactions totalling about 1.2 billion yuan ($190 million), according to a report released last week by China's planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission.
China began piloting carbon trading in 2011. Under the schemes, enterprises which produce more than their share of emissions are allowed to buy unused quotas on the market from those that cause less pollution.
Xie also said that all CO2 reduction targets set in the 12th Five Year Plan, including non-fossil fuel consumption and forest growing stock, have been achieved.
When asked whether China will take further measures or make compromises to deliver fruitful achievements at the conference, Xie said China will ensure that the INDC targets will be accomplished in whatever circumstances.
"The Chinese government and the Chinese people will abide by our promises," Xie said.
