US Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern on Friday spoke highly of what the Chinese government has done to curb green house gases emission, saying those measures "very favorably impressed" him.

"I was very favorably impressed by actions that China has already taken and is taking -- and by China's commitment to develop a low-carbon path forward and to take potentially far-reaching steps to contain their greenhouse gas emissions and at the same time as they pursue what is an undeniable need to develop and grow," Stern said while briefing reporters following a trip to China on June 7-10.

Stern pointed out that although modern cities like Shanghai and Beijing would rank with cities in the developed worlds, whole swathes of rural China put the country in the developing category.

China clearly have huge challenges just in terms of managing their economy and it needs to grow at a very fast level, probably over 8 percent a year, just to create enough jobs to accommodate the new entrants into the workforce, Stern said.

However, the Chinese government has realized that the business-as-usual path is not sustainable for them and there is a low-carbon path that they've got to follow, he said.

Stern said US and Chinese officials had a very constructive set of meetings in Beijing during his visit. Though the two sides did not agree with each other on everything, they each came away with a better and a clearer understanding of each other's views and perspectives.

The US government has already issued a statement describing the meetings between Stern and Chinese officials as "a step in the right direction on the road to Copenhagen and to charting a global path to a clean energy future."

Stern also said there's no question that a Copenhagen agreement has to include mechanisms to provide financial flows and technological assistance to developing countries.

(Xinhua News Agency June 13, 2009)