China blames the west for global warming

Rich industrialised nations must take the lead in cutting greenhouse gases since they bear the “unshirkable responsibility” for causing global warming, a Chinese official said on Tuesday.

The comments by a foreign ministry spokeswoman underscore China’s determination not to allow international action on climate change to undermine its economic development.
Rapid economic growth, a huge population and inefficient industry have made China the world’s second largest carbon emitter after the US – new data show that power generating capacity in the country in 2006 expanded by an amount equal to the entire capacity of the UK and Thailand combined. But the country’s per capita emissions have remained far below the global average.

“It must be pointed out that climate change has been caused by the long-term historic emissions of developed countries and their high per-capita emissions,” Reuters news agency quoted Jiang Yu, a foreign ministry spokeswoman, at a briefing on Tuesday.

Financial Times