Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday that China is willing to join hands with all parties to promote green, low-carbon, and sustainable development.
"China has unswerving determination in cooperating with international community to tackle climate change ... Leaving our children with a beautiful world of azure sky, limpid water, and green land," Wang told an informal high-level leaders dialogue on climate change on the sidelines of the high-level week of the United Nations General Assembly.
The top Chinese diplomat said China has adhered to implementing the new development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and shared benefit, pushed forward effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, and made concrete achievements.
In the past five years, China has striven to transform development mode, optimize energy structure, and push forward energy saving and emission reduction in key industries, said Wang.
As a result, China's energy consumption and water consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) declined by more than 20 percent and its ecological environment has largely improved, he said.
At the same time, Wang said China has strengthened South-South cooperation, worked together with other countries to build green, environment-friendly, and sustainable "Belt and Road (a China-proposed initiative to seek common growth)", and helped other developing countries in their efforts to enhance sustainable development capability. All the efforts have yielded positive results.
He stressed that implementing the Paris deal on climate change is both political commitment and unshirkable legal obligation of countries.
Wang also urged countries to honestly implement the commitments made in Paris, abide by the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities, fairness and respective capabilities, and unswervingly stick to the general direction of tackling climate change.
