From Wall Street Journal:
China signaled a slightly softer position on accepting a cap on the emissions that cause global warming, despite expressing frustration at the lack of a breakthrough on climate-change talks.
Disagreement over whether China and other developing countries should accept such emissions caps is a key impediment to negotiating a successor pact to the 1997 Kyoto Protocol on climate change in time for a planned December meeting in Copenhagen. China and the U.S. in recent months have made reaching a deal in time for Copenhagen a central element of their bilateral relationship.
Yu Qingtai, China’s special envoy for the climate-change negotiations, emphasized the importance of reaching a deal. “The talks on climate change have been going on quite slowly. We only have a few months left before Copenhagen,” said Mr. Yu, who welcomed efforts by the U.S. to pass a domestic climate bill. “The nature of the problem is such that we can’t afford a failure.”
