On February 9, 2009, Mr. Xie Feng, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Chinese Embassy in the United States delivered remarks in Washington D. C. at the Press Conference organized by Asia Society etc. for The Release of the Report: Common Challenge, Collaborative Response: Roadmap for US-China Cooperation on Energy and Climate Change.

Mr. Xie expressed his congratulations to the release of the report. He pointed out that the Chinese Government takes seriously the issue of energy and climate change. A series of laws were promulgated, and a host of measures were adopted in recent years to tackle climate change. Last October, China released the White Paper on "China's Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change". The document gives a comprehensive account of the progress China have made in implementing the National Climate Change Program.

Mr. Xie said, China is a developing country with per-capita GDP of just over US$ 2,000. The country is faced with multiple challenges – alleviating poverty, improving people's livelihood as well as tackling climate change. We will continue to transform the mode of development, and develop low-carbon economy. Our goal is to embark on the path of sustainable development and circular economy – featuring higher technology input and greater economic returns, but lower resource consumption and less pollution.

"Addressing climate change is the 'common but differentiated responsibility' of all countries. Developed countries have the obligation to promote international cooperation and technology transfer, in particular, honor their commitment to provide fund and transfer technology to developing countries. With strong complementarity between China and the United States, our two countries are fully capable of taking the lead in conducting technological cooperation", emphasized by Mr. Xie.

Mr. Xie highlighted that China and the United States have many common interests and extensive areas for cooperation on energy and climate change. The two countries are already having productive cooperation in the Strategic Economic Dialogue, the Joint Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation, and other climate change-related dialogues. Last year, the two countries signed the Ten-Year Energy and Environment Cooperation Framework, taking the cooperation another step forward. As long as the two sides work in the same direction, China and US will be able to turn energy and climate change into another highlight in China-US relations.

Mr. Xie also answered questions from audience and journalists regarding the key points of the cooperation, relations between the economy recovery plan and environment policy, as well as the development of nuclear power. Ms. Vishakha N. Desai, President and CEO of Asia Society, Ms. Eileen Claussen, President of Pew Center on Global Climate Change and Prof. John Thornton, Chairman of Brookings Institution and more than 100 audience joined in the event.