James Connaughton, Chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, is in China this week to discuss with officials the new climate change framework proposed by Bush this year.

"America stands ready to assist on technology, innovation financing, standards and practices, so together, we can grow our economies... in a more sustainable way," Connaughton told a press briefing here.

"The moment has arrived for intensified cooperation."

Bush announced in May he would urge major industrialised nations to join a new global framework for fighting climate change after the Kyoto Protocol lapses in 2012.

He said he wanted to set a long-term global goal for reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming, in consultation with major greenhouse gas-producing nations including China.

However the US and China, the world's two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases, are often accused by environmental groups of not doing nearly enough to prevent global warming.

China has said it is wants to do more to tackle climate change, but maintains that developing nations should not do so at the cost of trying to lift their people out of poverty.

China has also consistently pressed rich nations such as the United States to pass over or help develop cutting-edge technologies, such as wind power, that will allow them to cut back on greenhouse gas emissions.

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