Rich nations must lead on greenhouse gas cuts - China

BEIJING, June 8 (Reuters) Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for developing countries to play a role in tackling climate change, but said the onus was on industrialised countries to take the lead, Xinhua news agency reported today.

Hu made the comments in Germany, where he attended G8 meetings at which world leaders agreed to pursue substantial, but unspecified, cuts in greenhouse gases and work with the United Nations on a new deal to fight global warming by 2009.

''Considering both historical responsibility and current capability, developed countries should take the lead in reducing carbon emission and help developing countries ease and adapt to climate change,'' Hu told a meeting of five developing powers -- China, Brazil, India, Mexico and South Africa.

''For developing countries, achieving economic growth and improving the lives of our people are top priorities,'' Xinhua quoted Hu as saying.

''At the same time, we also need to make every effort to pursue sustainable development in accordance with our national conditions.'' China, the world's number two emitter after the United States, is facing growing calls to sign up to quotas for taming greenhouse gas emissions, but it has resisted specific targets.

It says sacrificing economic ambitions to international demands for cuts will dent growth in poor nations and do more damage than climate change.

But at the same time, China, which itself is feeling the effects of rising temperatures with melting glaciers and persistent droughts, has been giving more attention to the issue, unveiling its first national plan on climate change earlier this week.

The plan vows to combat global warming through energy saving, agricultural adaptation and forest planting.

It adds that since rich countries produced most of the gases currently heating the planet, they should fund clean development rather than forcing poor countries to accept emissions limits.

REUTERS JK PM0801