VOA News Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi says the accord was a positive step forward in recognizing different responsibilities between emerging and rich nations.
The Copenhagen accord was approved Saturday after marathon negotiations by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.
The accord says greenhouse gases and other emissions by all nations must be reduced enough to prevent average global temperatures - the key index of global warming - from rising more than two degrees Celsius. However, it does not set specific emissions guidelines for achieving that goal.
China and the United States are the world's biggest contributors to global warming. U.S. President Barack Obama called the accord a "breakthrough" in attempts to control global warming, but he said it still "not enough."
Environmentalists and less-developed nations criticized parts of the Copenhagen accord and gave it only weak support.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that a lot of work is yet to be done. But he hailed the compromise effort, saying it was a significant step forward in negotiations for the first truly global agreement on dealing with climate change.
The Copenhagen accord also commits rich nations to contribute $30 billion to a fund to help developing nations curb their emissions over the next three years. They also set a goal of increasing funding up to $100 billion by 2020.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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