Beijing welcomed U.S. promises of more action to slow global warming on Monday and said China would also do its share while ensuring that its people were not "left in the dark" without electricity.
BONN, Germany (Reuters) - Beijing welcomed U.S. promises of more action to slow global warming on Monday and said China would also do its share while ensuring that its people were not "left in the dark" without electricity.
"We welcome this positive change in attitude and approach by President (Barack) Obama and his team," China's climate ambassador Yu Qingtai said on the sidelines of 175-nation U.N. climate talks from March 29-April 8 in Bonn.
The Obama administration made its U.N. climate debut at the Bonn meeting on Sunday, promising to cut U.S. emissions by 16 to 17 percent back to 1990 levels by 2020 -- far more ambitious than under former President George W. Bush.
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Yu told reporters that developed nations had to lead the way with deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to pave the way for a new U.N. climate at a meeting in Copenhagen in December. China and the United States are the top greenhouse gas emitters.
Yu said that Bush policies had "left a lot wanting." Bush rejected the Kyoto Protocol, the U.N. treaty that sets caps on emissions for all other industrialized nations until 2012.
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