Next month in Bali, countries will start what are sure to be tough negotiations over how to mitigate and adapt to climate change after commitments under the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012.

With China’s greenhouse gas output soaring, many Western politicians want Beijing to spell out its goals for limiting emissions growth — something developing countries (or “non-Annex 1″ countries, including China) are not obliged to do under Kyoto.

Visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expounded on China’s climate change policy in Singapore on November 21, 2007, stating that China is ready to join world efforts in tackling climate change within the framework of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in accordance with the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility.”

Wen said, “[c]limate change is in essence a development issue. The efforts to respond to climate change shall not impede but to improve the economic development of all the countries especially the developing countries and eradicate poverty.”

Song Dong, an official in the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s section preparing for the Bali talks, said negotiations should focus on developed countries’ responsibilities, not China.

He said rich countries also needed to “do better in transferring [emissions reducing] technology so developing countries can afford it. That’s one of our fundamental claims in the climate change sphere.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao repeated China’s position that developing countries should not be required to adhere to specific targets on emissions. “The critical principle is that developed countries and developing countries should have common but differentiated responsibilities,” Liu told a news conference.

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