China will put climate change at the heart of its economic and energy policies but without committing itself to “quantified emissions-reduction targets”, according to Beijing’s first comprehensive policy document on the issue.

Ma Kai, chairman of China’s chief economic planning agency, also offered Beijing’s first response to George W. Bush’s new climate-change policy, saying the US president’s proposal contained many “positive features”. But he said any new accords should build on the Kyoto protocol, the main United Nations treaty, not replace it.