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Green Business  |  China  |  COP15

Wen's defensive comments on climate change focused on last year's contentious summit, but his prickly tone suggested China will remain a demanding negotiator in resumed negotiations aiming to reach a global climate change pact in Mexico at the end of this year.

Last December's summit ended with only the bare-minimum "Copenhagen accord," far looser than the legally binding treaty it was originally meant to produce and even more watered-down than the "political" deal many had foreseen.

In the blame game that followed, China was singled out for criticism in many Western government and environmental circles.

Wen's failure to attend a key meeting -- he sent only a deputy foreign minister to sit at a table with leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama -- was a particular sore point.

Britain's Guardian newspaper said the country's Environment Minister Ed Miliband had accused China, among other nations, of hijacking efforts to reach deeper agreement on how to fight global warming.

China had already slammed Britain for sowing discord in the

climate talks, but Wen said he welcomed the chance to "clear up what happened" at his one news conference of the year.

"As the Chinese proverb goes, my conscience is untainted despite rumors and slanders from outside," Wen said at the end of China's annual parliamentary meeting, with an assertiveness also reflected in answers on the economy and foreign policy.

Wen provided a long account of how he had heard about the meeting only unofficially, at a dinner of world leaders before the formal start of the high-level segment of the talks.

He said that after checking with his delegation, who had also not been notified, he started asking why not and sent the relatively junior deputy minister to register China's protest.

"Why was China not notified of this meeting? So far no one has given us any explanation about this, and it is still a mystery to me," he said.

But Wen also said he and his team had worked hard at Copenhagen, and supported the outcome.

"In the 60 hours I was in Copenhagen I basically didn't sleep at all ... this result has not come easily and it was the best effort that could be hoped for on an issue that concerns the major interests of all countries."

Beijing's stance was in doubt for weeks as it did not ask to join a formal list of supporters of the Copenhagen Accord. Along with India it finally signed up on March 9, joining almost all other major greenhouse gas emitters.

Another round of climate talks is scheduled for late this year in Mexico. Negotiators are hoping to nail down then what they failed to achieve in Copenhagen -- a new treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

But the divisions that hobbled last year's talks, particularly between rich and developing nations, show little sign of narrowing, China's climate change ambassador Yu Qingtai, warned last month.

(Reporting by Benjamin Kang Lim; Writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Jerry Norton)

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