Hu Jintao, President of the People's Republic of China 

(Heiligendamm, Germany, June 8, 2007)

I am very happy to have come to Heiligendamm, a coastal city as beautiful as a painting, to exchange views on major global issues with all my colleagues here. First, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German Government for making such considerate arrangements for the meeting.

At present, economic globalization is developing at a deeper level, which has brought more opportunities for growth in the world economy as well as various challenges. Imbalances in the world economy have intensified, pressure on energy resources has increased, the issue of ecology has been conspicuous, and trade protectionism has tended to rise. All this has created new tasks and challenges for various countries in their efforts to formulate domestic policies and foster international cooperation.

We should persistently carry out mutually beneficial cooperation, strengthen coordination and cooperation, guide economic globalization towards developing healthily, and enable the growth of the world economy to benefit the people of various countries. In light of this, I would like to put forward the following proposals on strengthening cooperation in international development.

Making joint efforts to promote the balanced and steady development of the world economy. Imbalanced world economy and instable factors in international financial markets have increased risks to the world economy. The international community should share responsibility and actively promote orderly readjustment of imbalances in the world economy by expanding domestic demands, reducing financial deficits, speeding up restructuring, deepening structural reform and other measures; strengthen supervision and management of international financial markets, especially short-term capital activities, and maintain stability of the exchange rates of major reserve currencies; support the multilateral trade structures, oppose trade protectionism, and promote achieving comprehensive and balanced results in the Doha round of talks at an early date and reaching the goal of this round of talks on development.

Strengthening cooperation to realize mutual benefits and win-win results. Sharing the fruits of economic development is an inevitable requirement in realizing the sustained development of the world economy. The international community should deepen economic and technological cooperation, bring into full play the relative advantages of various countries, strive to widen space for development and promote common development; strengthen the sense of urgency, seize the time to implement the UN Millennium Development Goals, narrow the gap between the north and the south, and in particular, meet the special needs of the development of Africa. Developing countries should formulate strategies and policies for development according to their respective national conditions and strive to develop their economies. Developed countries should further increase their aid to developing countries, reduce and write off their debts, let them have market access and transfer technology to them.

Making overall planning and taking all factors into consideration to promote sustainable development. Sustainable development requires coordinated economic growth, social development and environmental protection. The international community should implement the consensus reached at the World Summit on Sustainable Development, promote green growth, develop recycling, and build a resources-saving and environment-friendly society.
 Properly resolving differences and contradictions through democratic consultation.

Development has no unified model. The international community should respect the right of various countries to independently choose their social system and the road for development, and should focus its efforts on helping developing countries to strengthen their capability to develop by themselves. Reform of the international economic system should fully reflect changes in the world economic pattern, and increase the right to speak and the representation of developing countries.

In short, economic globalization has caused various countries to become interdependent and has dovetailed their interests. To establish a new type of equal, mutually beneficial and win-win partnership for global development should be our common goal.

How to prevent climate change from endangering the environment for the existence and development of mankind while maintaining economic growth and meeting the reasonable needs of people is of great significance to realizing sustainable global development and has a bearing on our common future.

Climate change is an environmental issue, but, in the final analysis, it is a development issue. This issue has cropped up in the process of development and should be resolved within the framework of sustainable development. Only if various parties constantly raise their technological level in the process of promoting their respective development and actively establish a mode of production and consumption that is in keeping with sustainable development will it be possible to fundamentally respond to the challenge of climate change.

While promoting the reduction of the emission of greenhouse gases, the international community should give full consideration to responding to climate change that has already taken place, and strengthen its ability to resist disastrous climatic incidents in developing countries, especially small island countries and the most underdeveloped countries.

We must uphold the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" established in the "United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change." This principle reflects the level of economic development, the historical responsibility, and the different levels of per-capita emission at present in different countries and it is also the basis for maintaining and making progress in future international cooperation.

According to this principle, developed countries should fulfill the targets for reducing emissions set by the "Kyoto Protocol," provide help to developing countries, and continue to take the lead in reducing emissions after 2012. Not long ago, the EU committed itself to reducing the emission of greenhouse gases by 20 percent by 2020. We welcome this and hope other developed countries will also make similar commitments.

The process of industrialization, urbanization and modernization of developing countries is far from complete and the tasks of developing their economies and improving people's living standards are formidable. In order to attain the goals of development, the energy demand of developing countries will increase and this is the basic condition for developing countries.

Therefore, it is inappropriate to put forward mandatory emission reduction targets for developing countries at present. However, developing countries should also take measures to make positive contributions to promoting sustainable global development within their power and according to their own conditions. The international community should strengthen cooperation and help more countries to embark on the road of clean development that will enable them to protect the ecological environment while achieving their goal of development.

To realize this goal the international community should, with respect for history, while acting in the present and with an eye on the future, establish a new concept of interests and a new mode of cooperation, and actively carry out pragmatic cooperation. It should strengthen research and development, and spread technologies for effectively using fossil fuels, saving energy, protecting the environment and renewing energy, and enable developing countries to afford to buy and use such technologies. It should avoid shortsightedness and narrow commercial interests, provide necessary fund support, improve the system for protecting intellectual property rights, and fully arouse the enthusiasm of governments and enterprises. The clean-development mechanisms stated in the "Kyoto Protocol" can help developed countries fulfill their obligation of emission reduction at a relatively low cost to develop in a sustained manner. They are win-win choices and should play a greater role in future international cooperation to respond to climate change. I suggest our relevant officials carry out an in-depth study on these issues and put forward measures and proposals.

In recent years, China has maintained the momentum of steady and rapid growth of its economy. However, because China is the largest developing country in the world, development between urban and rural areas, between different regions, and between the economy and society has been quite uneven and its development is faced with numerous difficulties and challenges. China's per-capita GDP has just reached $2,000. China has over 20 million poverty-stricken people in rural areas and over 22 million urban residents who live below the minimum standard of living. It also has over 80 million handicapped people and has 24 million urban residents looking for a job each year. China is faced with the problems of an irrational industrial structure, an extensive mode of growth, and uncoordinated investment and consumption. China still has a very long way to go before it can realize modernization.

China has persistently implemented a scientific concept of development, putting people first and maintaining comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development. It has actively promoted fast and sound economic and social development, and taken the road of civilized development featuring the development of production, an affluent life and a good environment. Although the per-capita emission of carbon dioxide in China at present is less than one-third of the average level of developed countries, the Chinese Government has paid great attention to climate change and implemented a series of policies and measures to reduce and slow down the emission of greenhouse gases. They include:

Promoting technological progress to improve efficient use of energy. Through the implementation of a series of industrial policies, China's industrial structure has changed and this has produced great benefits in saving energy. From 1991 to 2005, China supported an average annual economic growth of 10.2 percent with an average annual energy consumption growth of 5.6 percent. In the same period, China saved an accumulated total of about 800 million tons of standard coal. This is equivalent to having cut the emission of carbon dioxide by 1.8 billion tons.

Developing low-carbon energy and renewable energy and improving the energy structure. China is one of a small number of countries in the world that uses coal as its major energy. Thanks to our efforts over many years, in the consumption of primary energy in China, the percentage of coal decreased from 76.2 percent in 1990 to 69.1 percent in 2005. In 2005, the volume of renewable energy used in China accounted for 7.5 percent of total energy consumption, which was equivalent to having cut the emission of carbon dioxide by 380 million tons.

Carrying out tree planting and forestation to strengthen protection of the environment. According to an initial estimate, from 1980 to 2005, the accumulated total net absorption of carbon dioxide by trees planted was about 3.06 billion tons; the accumulated total net absorption of carbon dioxide by managed forests was 1.62 billion tons; and the emission of carbon dioxide through the destruction of forests was cut by 430 million tons.

Carrying out family planning to slow down growth of the population. Since the 1970s, over 300 million births in total have been averted in China. This means emissions of carbon dioxide have been cut by 1.2 billion tons each year, as calculated according to the world's per-capita emission level.

Strengthening the building of a legal system and improving education. China has strengthened the formulation and implementation of laws, regulations, policies and measures relating to its response to climate change, improved the building of relevant systems and institutions, attached importance to research on climate change as well as increased its capability to carry out such research, and made greater efforts to educate its people about climate change.

China's determination to take the road of sustainable development is firm and unshakable. In order to better respond to climate change, the Chinese Government has promulgated the "National Program in Response to Climate Change" and will seriously implement it. The Chinese Government has explicitly put forward that by 2010, it will have lowered the percentage of energy consumption per unit of GDP by about 20 percent, and will have increased the coverage of forests from 18.2 percent to 20 percent. We are taking various kinds of effective measures to ensure the realization of these goals. Not long ago, China set up a National Leading Group for Responding to Climate Change.

China will continue to actively take part in international cooperation in the area of climate change and make efforts to strengthen cooperation with developing countries within the framework of South-South cooperation. In particular, it will continue to provide help within its power for the development of Africa and small islands and increase their capability to respond to climate change.

China's development is closely linked with global development. China will unswervingly take the road of peaceful development, adhere to a mutually beneficial win-win opening up strategy, work together with various other countries of the world to promote the healthy development of economic globalization and push forward the building of a harmonious world with lasting peace and shared prosperity.