Greenpeace: China Should Attend UN Climate Talks

A security guard looks on as countdown clock is projected onto Yongdingmen Gate in Beijing, China,...

A security guard looks on as countdown clock is projected onto Yongdingmen Gate in Beijing, China, Monday, March 23, 2009. Greenpeace China launched a countdown clock, which was projected onto the gate, to draw attention to China's role in the United Nations Climate Change Conference to be held in Copenhagen in December. The clock marks 257 days until the opening of the conference. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)

(AP)

Greenpeace China is calling on Chinese President Hu Jintao to attend December's climate change conference in Copenhagen.

As the world's most populous developing nation and, by some estimates, its biggest producer of greenhouse gasses, China is obliged to take a major role in the talks, said climate change specialist Li Yan of Greenpeace's Chinese branch.

"Copenhagen is the best, maybe the last, chance to avoid catastrophe," Li said Monday at the launch of a clock counting down to the start of the Dec. 7-18 U.N. Climate Change Conference.

China says developed countries bear most of the responsibility for stemming climate change.

Li said surveys taken in Chinese cities show a willingness to absorb higher electricity prices to promote sustainable power generation.

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