China and the US still far apart on climate responsibilities

China and the United States laid bare their core differences in drafting a new global treaty on combating climate change yesterday as they renewed pledges to fight global warming by signing partnership pacts on cutting emissions.

China's chief climate official, Xie Zhenhua and his US counterpart Todd Stern spelled out the disagreements between the world's top two carbon emitters on how to contribute to emissions reductions after 2020.

The pair were briefing journalists separately in Beijing on the sidelines of the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue.

Xie, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said responsibilities should differ from rich to poor countries, while Stern, the US special climate envoy, said Washington favoured each country deciding what it was capable of doing.

"We have different historical responsibilities. We are in different development stages, and we have different capacities," Xie said.

Stern said the US was not against the idea of responsibilities being based on each country's capabilities, but that the "bifurcated two categories" of developing and developed nations set in 1992 was unacceptable.