On the afternoon of December 15, 2009, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jiang Yu held a regular press conference and answered questions.

Jiang Yu: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have no announcement to start with. Now, the floor is open.

Q: Vice President Xi Jinping met with the Japanese Emperor today. The arrangement of this meeting has caused lots of controversy in Japan. What's your comment?

A: Vice President Xi Jinping just concluded his meeting with Japanese Emperor Akihito, and relevant information will be released by the delegation. Both China and Japan attach great importance to this visit, believing that it is of great significance to further promoting the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefits. The Japanese side has made thoughtful arrangements for this visit. At present the visit is running smoothly.

Q: Today, the Chinese media reported that the Financial Times misinterpreted Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei's remarks in its interview. FT said that China would not be a recipient of the funding support from developed countries to developing countries. Please clarify China's stand on this. Secondly, French Prime Minister Fillon is expected to visit China this Saturday. What's China's expectation of his visit?

A: What Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said about funding issue in FT's interview is that China understands and attaches importance to the special concerns of the least-developed countries, small-island countries and African countries and support their priority in using the funding to address climate change. So, the FT interpretation you mentioned is clearly a misinterpretation.

It is known to all that according to the UNFCCC, the developed countries bear the obligations to provide financial and technological support to the developing countries in tackling climate change. We still insist that the developed countries should provide such support to the developing countries to improve their capacity of dealing with climate change. But the fact is, for more than a decade since the UNFCCC took effect, the pledges made by the developed countries have remained paper talk. It Can only draw doubts from the developing countries on the sincerity of the developed countries'.

Under such circumstances, depending on China's own resources, China has taken plenty of vigorous and effective policies and measures to cope with climate change, and has made remarkable achievements. If we can get adequate international support, I believe we can do an even better job in tackling climate change as well as protecting the global environment.

Currently, the funding committed by the developed countries still falls short of the expectation of developing countries. We hope the developed countries fulfill their obligations under the UNFCCC, and provide fresh extra, adequate and predictable financial support to their developing friends. This is key to the success of the Copenhagen Conference.

French Prime Minister Fillon is going to visit China from December 20th to 22nd. He will meet and have talks with President Hu Jintao, Chairman Wu Bangguo and Primer Wen Jiabao respectively. They will have an in-depth exchange of views on ways to enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership and bilateral, international and regional issues of common interest.

At present, the China-French relationship enjoys a sound momentum of development featuring increasing high-level exchanges and active cooperation in various fields. Last year, the bilateral trade has reached $38.94 billion, a year-on-year growth of 15.7%. French is the 4th largest trading partner of China within the European Union. Last April and September, President Hu Jintao and President Sarkozy met twice and reached important consensus on promoting China-French relations. We hope to make joint efforts with the French side to fulfill the consensus reached by the two leaders to further bilateral relations in a sound and steady way.

Q: The gap between developed and developing countries are increasingly widening. How does China view the prospect of reaching an agreement at the Copenhagen Conference? Will China consider not sending Premier Wen Jiabao to Copenhagen?

A: The Chinese Government always adopts a positive and constructive attitude towards the Copenhagen Conference. Premier Wen Jiabao will leave for it tomorrow afternoon and then deliver an important speech there, expounding on China's position and propositions on actively tackling climate change and promoting international cooperation. Besides, Premier Wen will meet with leaders of some countries and international organizations on the sidelines of the Conference.

At present, the Conference has entered into a crucial stage with some progress achieved. However, many conflicts and divergences still exist. Now, all sides should enhance coordination and cooperation. In particular, the developed countries must face up to their responsibility and obligation for climate change, fully demonstrate their political sincerity, make and fulfill concrete commitments so as to push for positive and enforceable results out of the Conference.

The curernt talks have run into some difficulties and made slow progress. The main reason is that the developed countries have moved backward on the key issues of mitigation, funding and technology. On the one hand, they try to deny the principles of the UNFCCC, abandon the Kyoto Protocol and deviate from the authorization of the Bali Roadmap. On the other hand, they have put forth a plethora of unreasonable requests to the developing nations. This has a negative impact on the negotiations as well as the positive results the talks could achieve. We believe that the key to the success of the Conference is that the developed countries should show political will, continue to pledge mid-term quantified targets of emissions cut, and fulfill their obligations of providing capital and technological support to developing countries. These are the responsibilities they should bear.

Q: Recently, Thailand seized a weapons-laden aircraft departing from North Korea. How do you comment? Does China approve Thailand's move which seems consistent with UN resolutions?

A: China has noted such reports. It is up to the UN Security Council to decide on the basis of relevant provisions whether this is in line with the resolutions.

Q: Developing countries including China, India, Brazil and South Africa are staying in communication so that they won't be separated by the developed countries. What impact do you believe this will have on the Copenhagen talks? Are the developing countries willing to make some compromise so that the talks can reach an agreement?

A: The developing countries including the BASIC (China, India, Brazil and South Africa) countries are coordinating their positions to work for positive results from the Copenhagen talks. The developing countries hold an earnest and positive attitude towards the Conference and share a clear-cut common position on some major issues of principle. The developing countries including China and India will continue to follow the UNFCC, its Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Roadmap, strengthen coordination, communication and cooperation with other parties including the developed countries in a positive and constructive manner, in a bid to make our due contribution to the positive results from the Conference.

Q: Still on Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei's interview with the Financial Times. Do you mean that those reports are wrong and China is still going to be a recipient of the funding assistance from the developed countries?

A: I just read to you the exact words of Vice Minister He Yafei during the interview, and I believe you could have a clear understanding of the position expressed.

Q: Yesterday, Canada released a list of 2,313 people to be expatriated and Lai Changxing is not on it. Could you confirm? Besides, what standard is China following while making the request of extradition to the Canadian side?

A: We have taken note of the report. China and Canada have maintained sound cooperation in law-enforcement. Earlier this month during Canadian Prime Minister's visit to China, the two sides reached consensus on enhancing cooperation in countering cross-border crimes and expatriating fugitives, and agreed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation on Combating Crime at an early date. We hope Canada honor its commitments and expatriate relevant criminals back to China.

About the Lai Changxing case, we have expressed our position on many occasions. Lai, a suspect of economic cases wanted by China's public security authorities, should be handed over to China to be dealt with law. We hope Canada honor its commitment, close this case as soon as possible and expatriate Lai to China.

If there are no more questions, thanks for coming! See you!