China would never accept checks at Copenhagen: official

China was never going to accept outside reviews in Copenhagen of its efforts to slow greenhouse gas emissions, a top official said on Saturday, after critics accused Beijing of blocking the talks.

Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, told a forum that Beijing achieved its goal at the climate talks by ensuring aid for developing nations was not linked to external checks.

“Developing countries, especially China, would surely never accept this request,” Xie said, according to a transcript of his speech.

Britain’s climate change minister Ed Miliband has said China vetoed attempts to give legal force to the accord at last month’s UN Climate Change Conference and also blocked an agreement on reductions in global emissions.

Finger-pointing and sharp recriminations followed the United Nations summit’s final agreement, which has been widely panned for failing to oblige countries to carry out concrete greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

Sydney Morning Herald