As the recriminations continued to fly yesterday about the Copenhagen climate change talks, Wen Jiabao, China's premier, said the agreement should be “treasured”, in the latest indication that Beijing is quietly pleased with the negotiations' outcome.
China has been seen in many quarters as one of the few winners from the Copenhagen accord after it both avoided any new commitments which might put a brake on its future development and reinforced its position as a powerful diplomatic force.
Yet as the Chinese delegation returned to Beijing yesterday, officials were already fighting a rearguard action to avoid some potentially dangerous fall-out from the talks which could call into question some of China's perceived gains.