New role for Chinese negotiator sparks speculation over Copenhagen fallout

The fallout from the Copenhagen summit has continued to reverberate around the world after it emerged one of the leading players in China's negotiating team had been shifted to another department, prompting speculation he has been demoted over his role in the chaotic final phases of last month's talks.

According to a story from the state-backed Xinhua news agency, He Yafei has been moved from his position as vice foreign minister to a post at the United Nations.

He played a crucial role in China's negotiating team during the final two days of the summit, during which China was accused of consistently blocking efforts to deliver a more ambitious agreement featuring emission reduction targets for industrialised countries.

He also infuriated other world leaders and diplomats, accusing the senior US negotiator of "lacking common sense" and prompting frustration from US president Barack Obama and German chancellor Angela Merkel as a result of his reluctance to take decisions and his refusal to allow rich nations to set long-term emission targets as part of any deal.

The Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao speculated that the new appointment represented a punishment for He, after China was roundly criticised by other nations for blocking a more ambitious deal.

China has publicly insisted that it helped to deliver a "significant and positive" result at Copenhagen while protecting the country's interests. However, senior officials are reportedly furious at the fallout from the talks, which has seen a number of industrialised and developing countries accuse China of wrecking the negotiations.

He now appears to have emerged as the scapegoat for the debacle after a series of tense last-minute negotiations with world leaders that reportedly led president Obama to complain that "it would be nice to negotiate with somebody who can make political decisions."

He had been acting on behalf of premier Wen Jiabao, the most senior member of China's negotiating team, who refused to attend many of the last-ditch meetings with world leaders over fears that he would be press-ganged into signing up to commitments that would later be opposed by the Chinese government.

The removal of He may fuel optimism that the angry exchanges that dominated the final days of the summit can be overcome as negotiators now move towards delivering a legally binding deal at the UN's next major climate change summit in Mexico in December.

Meanwhile, Bolivian president Evo Morales, one of the most vocal opponents of the Copenhagen Accord, said yesterday that he would organise an alternative climate change conference following the failure of last month's meeting to deliver an ambitious deal.

The socialist president said the alternative summit, to be held on 20-22 April in Cochabamba, would include environmental groups, social movements, scientists and governments.

Bolivia was among a group of five countries to oppose the final version of the Copenhagen Accord, insisting that it was only noted by the summit, rather than formally adopted.

Some critics have claimed that the group, which also included Venezuela and Sudan, acted on behalf of China to weaken the agreement. However, Morales has maintained that rich nations were attempting to impose a deal that would do little to protect billions of the world's poor from climate change, while refusing to accept their historic responsibility to tackle global warming.

Morales said the alternative summit would address the "climate debt" rich nations owe the developing world, and discuss proposals to improve clean technology transfer and set up an international court for environmental crimes.