The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, which has been in the focus of international attention, has drawn its curtains. In order to provide the Hong Kong media with full information about the conference and the contribution China has made for the success of the meeting, the Commissioner's Office held a press briefing on 23 December, where Spokesman Song Rongrua and Director-General Zhang Honghong of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Commissioner's Office spoke about the matter.

Mr. Song began the briefing by raising the attention and debate the Copenhagen Conference had attracted in almost every community in the world before and after it was held. The parties concerned are now divided over the result of the meeting, he pointed out, with some disregarding facts and totally denying the important and positive achievement the conference had made for the process of tackling climate change. Certain politicians in the West had even gone so far as to accuse China of blocking the conference from making substantive progress. He made it clear that the purpose of the briefing was to let the Hong Kong media learn what had really happened in Copenhagen.

Mme. Zhang Honghong gave a detailed presentation about the basic information about the Copenhagen Conference, China's assessment of the conference and China's contribution to the success of the conference.

The director-general underscored the fact that heads of states and governments of 119 countries attended the conference, the unprecedented scale of which drew the attention of the whole world and showed fully the commitment the international community had to tackling climate change and the strong political will to strengthen cooperation and meet the challenge together.

The Chinese Government believes that the Copenhagen Conference presents a major opportunity for international cooperation to cope with climate change. Important and positive results have been attained thanks to arduous efforts on all sides. This is mainly shown in three aspects. First, the framework and the principles, especially the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities" enshrined in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol have been firmly upheld. Second, both developed and developing nations have proposed some targets and taken new actions to respond to climate change thanks to this conference. Developed countries have set binding targets for emission reduction according to the requirement of the Kyoto Protocol, while developing countries have proposed measures of voluntary mitigation. These commitments might not have come into being had this conference not been held. Third, countries concerned have reached preliminary consensus on some major issues in climate change talks, issues like global long-term target, finance, technology transfer and transparency that have been highly dividing in negotiations in previous years. But after tense negotiations before the conference and meeting and mediation by leaders during the conference, preliminary consensus has been reached on these issues, which is already a significant progress.

Speaking about China's contribution to the conference, Mme. Zhang pointed to the fact that Premier Wen Jiabao personally attended the conference on behalf of the Chinese Government, which showed fully the great attention China attached to the conference. During the two-day conference, Premier Wen gave a speech at the conference, and, with sincerity, confidence and determination, engaged in close contact with parties concerned for dialogue and coordination despite difficulties. He took a natural approach, which was both principled and flexible, and played a key role by making every effort at every possibility to promote the conference to go on the right track. We can be proud of the crucial contribution China has made to international cooperation to respond to climate change and to the success of the conference, through which we present the image of China as a responsible major country dedicated to development and cooperation. Accusations in Western media against China are neither true nor fair.

Mme. Zhang also spoke about the intensive program the premier had had since his arrival in Copenhagen and what the Chinese side had done at the critical moment to show the way ahead for the conference, which was a strong boost to the negotiation process and won extensive understanding and support from participants.

Relevant achievement of the Copenhagen Conference is a result of difficult compromise, Mme. Zhang concluded. Tackling climate change is a long and arduous journey, for which the Copenhagen Conference is not an ending, but a new start.