At present, there are many discussions of China's climate change policies both at home and abroad. One model sees China switching to low carbon before developing further, while the other, currently favored by the Chinese government, is to attempt to lower emissions while furthering development.

It's unreasonable to expect China to meet low-carbon targets before pushing development forward. Setting frameworks in advance, designing binding targets, and forcing China to passively accept a conditional development model simply will not work, and does not take into account China's national conditions.

The goal of low carbon includes many aspects, like urbanization, culture, economy, politics, and diplomacy. China's attempts to lower emissions cannot be confined purely to the economy.

Development is the top priority, which not only refers to economic growth, but also the achievement of material wealth, cultural satisfaction and a harmonious relationship between human and nature.

Development is the most important task at present, so we cannot talk about low-carbon goals without considering development. China has started an economic and social development process of ecological improvement and sustainable resources.

Unlike Western developed countries that are currently in a post-industrial phase, China is currently in the middle stage of industrialization and urbanization. Its energy structure is dominated by fossil energy, with coal, oil, natural gas and other high-carbon sources accounting for up to 90 percent of energy. Coal by itself still produces 68 percent of supply, and industrialization means an increasing demand for energy.

Due to the increasing demand and the constraints of its energy supply structure, China's greenhouse gas emissions probably will not peak until 2035. Over the next 30 years or so, China will be under enormous pressure to reduce carbon emissions. Its national conditions have made it fundamentally impossible for China to take action in accordance with the low-carbon standards of the Western countries. China can only try its best to take independent action from its own national situation.

It is China's national interests to protect its right to develop. It is unnecessary to talk about low carbon if there is no development or if its development is slowed down.

The response to climate change must be arranged within the framework of sustainable development, which can never be achieved at the price of the continuation of poverty and backwardness of developing countries.

China has 1.3 billion people and the per capita GDP is just over US$3,000. According to UN standards, there are 1.5 billion people living below the poverty line worldwide, so it is a difficult task to develop economy and improve people's livelihood. China's low-carbon methods mainly include energy conservation, efficiency, clean fossil energy and developing new energy sources.

Attempting to keep emissions low while still developing is in line with China's national conditions.

It is the right choice for China to arrange low- carbon action within the framework of its development.

(Global Times December 2, 2010)