国内英语新闻:UN chief lauds Chinese efforts to deal with climate change

UNITED NATIONS, July 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said here on Wednesday that he was pleased with what China is doing to contain climate change and what the Asian country will do in negotiations that will lead to an agreement at the Copenhagen summit on climate change in December.

    Ban told his monthly press conference that "I was pleased that (Chinese) President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao assured me that China wants to seal a deal in Copenhagen in December and that China will play an active and constructive role in the negotiations to achieve this end."

    During his meeting with the Chinese leaders, "we also agreed on the importance of global leaders showing the way and discussed in detail the Climate Change Summit in New York on Sept. 22," Ban said.

    "I wanted to highlight the special responsibility of countries like China to lead the global fight against climate change, as well as highlight all that China is doing," he said. "Come September, we will be entering a crucial stage on climate change."

    "Climate change was the major focus of my trip to Asia," he said.

    "In particular, I helped to launch an ambitious program to promote energy saving lighting which could reduce China's energy consumption by 8 percent," he said. "This is a major step into the21st century."

    The overall goal for the Copenhagen Summit, slated for Dec. 7-18, is to establish an ambitious global climate agreement for the period 2012.

    In order to have "a robust agreement on adaptation in Copenhagen," he said, "I continue to press for achieving a fair, effective and scientifically ambitious deal in Copenhagen that can benefit all nations."

    "That's why I am convening the September climate change summit," Ban said. "We expect more than 100 heads of state and governments -- the largest gathering of leaders on climate change ever."

    "Two years ago, only a few leaders could speak to these issues," he said. "Today, leaders are walking the road to Copenhagen together."

    "But, we have less than five months to seal a deal," he said. "To keep up the momentum, I will travel to arctic polar ice rim later next month to get a first-hand look at conditions there -- in particular the melting sea ice."

    "I will then go on to the World Climate Conference in Geneva organized by the World Meteorological Organization," he said.