Beijing --




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For years, the United States and China have been at odds over how much each country should contribute to reducing climate change. China insists that as a developing country it shouldn't be held to the same stringent emissions caps as the rich world. The U.S. says that means failing to sufficiently address the problem, given that China has significantly surpassed the U.S. as the world's biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, the heat-trapping gas that is a byproduct of burning coal, oil and gas.

Climate change activists complain that both countries have failed to take adequate steps to curb emissions. President Obama recently announced a plan to cut by 30 percent greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants, but set a deadline of 2030, by which time researchers say the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will already have caused drastic changes to the planet.

Xie and Stern made their remarks as Chinese and American officials - led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew - are meeting in Beijing for annual strategic and economic talks that aim to forge a more cooperative relationship between the world's two largest economies.
