Copenhagen: US, China square up for the finale

Copenhagen: Before leaders of major industrialised nations and those from giant emerging economies, converge at this north European city to settle a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, all sides have begun digging in their heels along expected lines, which is not surprising. What is emerging as a surprise though is the tough stance adopted by China, which has overtaken the United States as the world's worst polluter.

After an initial phase of hogging headlines, for what the developing nations claimed was a perversely drafted approach paper, host nation Denmark has now slunk into the background and the time has come for the real dramatis personae to make their appearance. This can only be the world's two worst polluters – China and the United States, with India and the rest of the industrialised economies in the chorus box.

The sparring has already begun with Chinese and US representatives exchanging barbs over respective negotiating positions. These range over a host of issues such as slashing greenhouse gases, independent verification of domestic initiatives to cut greenhouse gases and to what extent do industrialised nations owe developing nations a ''climate debt.''

Previous month, Beijing created a huge splash promising to slash the carbon intensity of its economy over the next decade by half, in line with other major emerging economies, such as India, which also made similar big-ticket announcements.

In Copenhagen, however, Beijing has dropped all superpower pretensions and is now playing up its underdog status as a 'developing' country. "The priority for the developing countries is still the reduction of poverty, is still economic development," argued Chinese vice minister of foreign affairs, He Yafei.

On the issue of 'climate debt' Yafei said he was "shocked" that US representative Todd Stern had two days earlier rejected the notion that developing countries were owed a "debt" or "reparations."