Copenhagen:
China's Vice Foreign Minister on Friday said the chief US climate negotiator either lacks common sense or is "extremely irresponsible" for saying that no US climate financing should be going to China.
Employing unusually blunt language at a press conference at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, He Yafei said he was "shocked" by US climate envoy Todd Stern's comments earlier this week that China shouldn't expect any American climate aid.
Stern had also said that the US was not in any debt to the world for its historical carbon emissions. "I don't want to say the gentleman is ignorant," He told reporters. "I think he lacks common sense, where he made such a comment vis-a-vis funds for China.... either lack of common sense or extremely irresponsible."
In reply, Stern told reporters at a separate press conference that he had "enormous respect" for He.
However, the American reiterated that he felt climate financing should go to those developing countries that were "most in need".
The world's two biggest greenhouse polluters have been exchanging barbs all week about the sincerity of their pledges to fight climate change.
In China's view, the US and other rich countries have a heavy historical responsibility to cut emissions and any climate deal in Copenhagen should take into account a country's level of development.
China is grouped with the developing nations in the climate talks.
But Stern said that when it comes to financing to help poor countries deal with climate change - a key element in the Copenhagen talks - the US doesn't consider China one of the neediest countries.
The exchange between the US and China came amid new warnings from British scientists that global temperatures could rise even higher than previously thought by the end of the 21st century, if left unchecked.
The Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research presented fresh data on the dangers of climate change. "If we continue to emit greenhouse gases under a business-as-usual scenario, we may hit four degrees warming by about 2070 and possibly six degrees by the end of the century," said Richard Betts, the head of Climate Impacts at the UK Met Office.
Scientists warn of potentially catastrophe if average global temperatures rise more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) from pre-industrial levels.
To prevent that, greenhouse gas emissions must peak within the next few years and then rapidly decline by mid-century, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.