Interview: Negotiations over Paris Agreement's rule book to be "very tough": China's chief climate negotiator

China expects to see a "very tough" negotiation process over a "rule book" for the Paris Agreement as divergences will emerge on details in implementing the historic climate pact, said China's chief climate negotiator Su Wei on Wednesday.

Nearly 200 countries agreed in 2015 to jointly take actions to limit global warming. Starting 2020, each country needs to submit a climate actions plan, known as nationally determined contribution (NDC), every five years. A regular stocktaking will also be launched from 2023 to "ratchet up" global actions addressing climate change.

Su said while the Paris Agreement was a milestone in global climate governance, a series of technical work were needed to flesh it out.

"The outcome in Paris reflected consensus reached by parties on principle issues, but some contents of the agreement need clarification," he told Xinhua on the sidelines of a two-week session of United Nations climate talks on implementation rules of the Paris Agreement in Bonn, Germany.

He said countries must figure out in coming years what should be included in NDCs, how could a transparency system reflect flexibility to developing countries, how would developed countries increase their support to developing countries and how should this support be accounted.

"These are knotty issues," Su said, adding that he expected the future negotiations to remain "very tough" as disagreements and confrontations would emerge when these detailed issues were to be touched.

Su said a country's NDC should include not only emissions reduction, but also its plans to adapt to the climate change. Developed countries should also make clear how they plan to provide finance, technology and capacity building support to developing countries.

"The support issue is a priority issue," he said, as it could affect developing countries' effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and their confidence in the UN climate negotiations.

He also pointed out that the UN climate negotiations are not all about the Paris Agreement. In the UN Climate Change Conference in Marrakech, Morocco late this year, countries must thrash out a concrete road map for developed nations to fulfill their 2009 commitment of providing 100 billion U.S. dollars per year by 2020 to developing countries.

The developed countries should also be urged to ratify the second commitment period of Kyoto Protocol, a pact obliging developed countries to cut carbon emissions, and to raise their emissions cutting targets during the 2013-2020 commitment period, according to the Chinese chief climate negotiator.

Su said China will continue to participate the UN climate negotiations in a constructive manner and play an active role in pushing forward the negotiations. Endit