China, Japan to fight climate change jointly

China and Japan will help build a new framework to fight climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, says a press communiqu issued yesterday by the first China-Japan high-level economic dialogue in Beijing.

The two countries have agreed to strengthen partnerships in energy conservation, environmental protection, food safety and protection of intellectual property rights.

They have pledged to work jointly to tackle global warming under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and want the post-Kyoto framework to be an effective mechanism of which all major economies should be a part exhibiting "responsible" attitudes, the communiqu says.