China's Position on Negotiations

China has accused developed countries of backsliding on what is said are their obligations to fight climate change and has warned that the UN climate talks in Copenhagen have entered a critical stage. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday there had been "some regression" on the part of developed countries, who had "put forward a plethora" of demands on developing countries. Beijing's view is that the US and other rich nations have a heavy historical responsibility to cut emissions, and any climate deal should take into account a country's development level. There have been rumors that the EU and Japan are not going to sign an agreement on climate aid funding that combines short-term and long-term aid numbers if the US are not going to be clear on their contribution. The problem is the long-term funding: if a total amount of transfers is decided, but without assigning the relative shares between the developed countries, an agreement may fail.