US-China showdown looms over climate talks

[December 15, 2009]  COPENHAGEN (AP) -- A showdown between the world's two largest polluters loomed over the U.N. climate talks Tuesday as China accused the United States and other rich nations of backsliding on their commitments to fight global warming.

Trying to ease the tension, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said rich and poor countries must "stop pointing fingers" and should increase their pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions to salvage the faltering talks on a climate pact.

Ban's warning in an interview with The Associated Press came as world leaders started arriving in Copenhagen, kicking the two-week conference into high gear in its quest to deliver a deal to curb emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Key issues remain, however, and the conference so far has been marked by sharp disagreements between China and the United States and deep divisions between rich and poor nations.

China and other developing countries are resisting U.S.-led attempts to make their cuts in emissions growth binding and open to international scrutiny rather than voluntary.

China, the world's largest polluter, is grouped with developing nations at the talks. But the U.S. doesn't consider China a nation in need of climate change aid.

In Beijing, China accused developed countries Tuesday of trying to escape their obligations to help poor nations fight climate change.

"We still maintain that developed countries have the obligation to provide financial support," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, adding that was "the key condition for the success of the Copenhagen conference."

President Barack Obama and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao are among more than 110 world leaders expected in Copenhagen this week.

Ban said he remains cautiously optimistic about a successful outcome at Copenhagen, but warned that negotiators must work out their differences and not leave major problems for world leaders to resolve.

"This is a time where they should exercise the leadership," Ban said. "And this is a time to stop pointing fingers, and this is a time to start looking in the mirror and offering what they can do more, both the developed and the developing countries."

He said all nations "must do more" to keep carbon emissions below dangerous levels and rich countries should step up commitments to provide a steady flow of money for poor countries to combat climate-linked economic disruptions such as rising seas, drought and floods.

Speaking to The AP at a hotel in Copenhagen, Ban said if negotiators cannot resolve those problems before the world leaders arrive "the outcome will be either a weak one, or there will be no agreement."

"This will be a serious mistake on the part of the negotiators and the leaders if they go back empty-handed," he said.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe was among the first heads of state to touch down in the Danish capital, avoiding a travel ban imposed by Western nations because he was attending to a U.N. conference. Mugabe was to address the conference on Wednesday.

"The meeting may be taking place on Danish soil but we're playing by U.N. rules and these rules mean that all the world leaders can meet," Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen told reporters.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was also expected later Tuesday -- a day earlier than planned to help push the talks forward.

The U.N. conference's working groups were finishing up two years of work Tuesday and drawing up their final recommendations on such issues as deforestation, technology transfers and the registration of plans by developing countries to control their emissions.

Drafts on those issues showed some narrowing of gaps but left many disputes to be decided by environment ministers, which ultimately may go up to the heads of state and leaders.

Conference President Connie Hedegaard said environment ministers already in Copenhagen had been working late into the night Monday to resolve outstanding issues.

"Ministers have to be very clear and focused over the next 48 hours if we are to make it," she said.

Talks on a global climate deal hit a snag Monday when developing countries walked away temporarily from the negotiations, fearing industrial countries were backpedaling in their promises to cut greenhouse gases.

The issues concern the details of a final treaty to be negotiated over the next six to 12 months and may not even be included in the political deal reached in Copenhagen.

"The options take us closer to the final agreement, not just the political declaration," said Gustavo Silva-Chavez of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, who was having lunch Tuesday with the U.N. chief, told the conference on Monday that new data suggests a 75 percent chance the entire Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summer as soon as five to seven years from now.

Scientists say global warming will create rising sea levels, increasing drought, more extreme weather and the extinction of some species.

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AP EDITOR'S NOTE -- Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at http://www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/AP-ClimatePool

[Associated Press; By JOHN HEILPRIN]

Associated Press writer Cara Anna contributed from Beijing.

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