China's climate envoy criticised the United States for its unwillingness to play the lead role in deadlocked climate talks amid growing concern that negotiations have regressed just weeks ahead of a United Nations climate summit in Mexico.
The remarks by Dr Huang Huikang , who recently replaced Yu Qingtai as the country's ambassador on climate change negotiations, come as the rifts and finger-pointing between China and the US, the world's top two carbon emitters, that have marred previous negotiations, continue to cloud ongoing climate talks in Tianjin with only two days to go.
Hopes of reaching a binding deal this year on tackling global warming have faded. Instead, negotiators from more than 170 countries, who are meeting in China for the first time in the 20-year history of international climate talks, have been urged to focus on seeking an 'achievable and balanced outcome' for the Cancun meeting, which opens on November 29, in a bid to restore trust and revive the foundering talks.
'The US claims itself as a world leader and it should have played a leadership role in climate talks given its enormous power and capabilities and its aggregate emissions, historically speaking. But it has failed,' Huang said in an interview on the sidelines of the talks.
'The US has come under fire from developing nations as well as some of its industrialised allies, which everyone can see clearly this week, for seriously holding back the global climate negotiation process.'
He said it was 'appalling' that the US attempted to divert world attention from its own inaction to raising unreasonable demands on China and other big developing countries.