EU foreign ministers urged Asian countries today to join the fight against climate change after hearing China argue that protecting the environment had to be balanced by the right to develop.
Germany is leading a push to try to persuade a reluctant United States to follow the European lead ahead of a June 6th-8th summit of the Group of Eight industrialised countries.
"We need the Asians as well," said a spokewoman for EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.
"Global warming is something that is global and we need all continents participating in the post-Kyoto plan."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants the G8 to agree concrete steps to halt global warming that would prepare the ground for an extension of the Kyoto Protocol beyond 2012.
The EU has agreed to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 1990 levels, challenging industrialised and developing countries to go further with a 30 per cent cut which the EU would then match.
After talks with EU ministers in Hamburg yesterday, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said climate change had not been created by developing countries and a balance had to be struck between the right to develop and the environment.
He said China had set targets for reducing emissions and introduced laws to encourage energy-saving and efficiency and would welcome more transfer of clean technology from the developed world.