China now ranks alongside the United States as the world's biggest emitter 12 March 2008BEIJING (AFP) — The developed world should go on a climate change diet rather than lecture China over its rising greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Wednesday.
Yang told reporters that China's per capita emission of the gases linked to global warming remained less than one third the average in developed countries.
"It's like there is one person who eats three slices of bread for breakfast, and there are three people, each of whom eats only one slice. Who should be on a diet?" he said at a press conference on the sidelines of parliament.
"If per capita energy consumption is viewed in the context of the fundamental principle that people are all born equal, then I don't think some people are justified in talking about the large emissions of China, as if they have the moral high ground."
China's greenhouse gas output has soared in recent years as its largely coal-powered economy has expanded at double-digit pace, and it now ranks alongside the United States as the world's biggest emitter. More>>>
[All countries need to go on a ‘climate change diet‘ if the truth be known. The developed countries however have an obligation to help the less developed and developing countries implement carbon sequestration / mitigation strategies as well as to implement alternative energy projects. Editor]
