China says it will stick to the Paris climate deal as the world waits for an announcement by President Donald Trump on whether to keep the US in the global pact to fight climate change.
Trump is set to announce his decision after a source close to the matter said the president was preparing to pull out of the Paris accord.
Trump says he will make the announcement at 3pm EDT (5am AEST Friday) in the White House Rose Garden, ending his tweet with "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump denounced the accord, and called global warming a hoax aimed at weakening US industry.
A US withdrawal could deepen a rift with its allies. The United States would join Syria and Nicaragua as the world's only non-participants in the landmark 195-nation accord agreed upon in Paris in 2015.
Commenting on the agreement, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said fighting climate change was a "global consensus" and an "international responsibility."
Without mentioning the US specifically, he said China has been "actively promoting the Paris agreement and we were one of the first countries to ratify the Paris agreement."
"Fighting climate change is a global consensus," he said.
"It's not invented by China... and we realise that this is a global consensus agreement and that as a big developing nation we should shoulder our international responsibility."
The Kremlin said the climate deal will be less effective without its key participants.
"President (Vladimir) Putin signed this convention in Paris. Russia attaches great significance to it," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a conference call with reporters.
"At the same time, it goes without saying that the effectiveness of this convention is likely to be reduced without its key participants."
China says it will work with the European Union to uphold the international agreement on climate change even if the US pulls out.
Reuters
