US hopes of blocking the progress of the Kyoto treaty on climate change appeared to be fading on Friday night, amid signs that China and other developing countries were throwing their weight behind the agreement.

China said it saw the Kyoto process, under the aegis of the United Nations, as the main forum for progress on tackling greenhouse gas emissions. This was a blow to the US, which has been positioning its Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development as an alternative to the Kyoto treaty.