ChinAfrica: The fourth round of this year's international climate talks and the BASIC [China, India, Brazil and South Africa] Ministerial Meeting concluded in Tianjin, China, in early October. What progress was made at the conferences?

Su Wei: Both conferences have borne bountiful fruits. It was the first time that China hosted international climate talks. It shows China's willingness and effort in contributing to the Bali Road Map negotiation. The country made extensive preparations. Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), hailed the Tianjin conference as one of the most successful climate meetings in the past two decades, and the contribution of the Chinese Government is highly appreciated.

Negotiators upgraded the negotiation text that will be forwarded to the Cancun conference. Though the text was not significantly slimmed down, as expected, it still shows the negotiation is on the right track. The parties exchanged views on a series of key issues and made progress in defining what could be achieved in Cancun. The Tianjin conference provided a platform for countries to bridge differences and seek common ground. This will help lay a solid foundation for success in Cancun.

Following the weeklong talks, ministers of the BASIC countries held a meeting in Tianjin. In a joint statement, the four nations urged developed countries to fulfill their obligations to help developing countries combat global warming.

In Tianjin, negotiators came much closer to working out a new long-term financing plan to cope with climate change. What is China's take on climate financing?

China firmly supports the proposal of climate funding for developing countries. During their industrializations in the past, rich nations largely created the climate crisis due to their mode of production and way of life, but the consequences have to be borne by all nations. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the negative effect of climate change. That is why developed countries are now obliged to help their developing counterparts with mitigation of and adaptation to the effects of climate change. This is also in line with the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

Developing countries face the daunting challenges of economic development and poverty reduction while tackling global warming. Learning lessons of the industrialized world, they also hope to get on a greener and more sustainable path of growth. They are in dire need of help from developed countries in areas such as financing, capacity building and technology support. The core of the discussion is how to materialize the financing plan and set a longer term effective mechanism in this regard.