China Won't Meet Same Greenhouse Targets as U.S.

China won't agree to meet the same greenhouse gas reduction goals that developed countries like the United States might under a new United Nations global warming treaty, according to a top official quoted by state-run media.

The issue over the responsibility for and consequences of global warming will likely be hot when nations meet next week in Bali for discussions about how to counteract global warming with an international treaty that follows the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012.

The United States, which hasn't indicated it will join a new international treaty created by the U.N., has always said that the emissions from developing countries like China and India must be curtailed if it is to participate. Developing countries, meanwhile, say that industrialized countries in Europe and North America, along with Russia, have the greatest responsibility because they have been polluting the atmosphere for 100 years or more.

Meanwhile, most projections agree that developing nations will pay the highest price if the effort to curb greenhouse gases isn't successful. The cycle of poverty and political turmoil will only spiral downward as drought, floods, intense storms and other natural disasters become more frequent or persistent.

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