No time to play with

China's promise to do its best with utmost sincerity to advance international negotiations on climate change highlighted the very urgency of tackling global warming on the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities".

With the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol set to expire in 2012, negotiations on a replacement accord that is scheduled to conclude at Copenhagen in December have become more crucial than ever in the current global fight against climate change.

Though little progress has been made so far on a new pact to combat global warming, Xie Zhenhua, China's top official for world climate change negotiation, yesterday assured the country's top legislature, the National People's Congress Standing Committee, that China will act in the sprit of "being highly responsible for the survival and long-term development of mankind".