China tells Donald Trump there is an 'international responsibility' to act over climate change

There is an "international responsibility" to fight climate change, China's Premier Li Keqiang has said in a clear message to Donald Trump ahead of his expected announcement that the US will withdraw from the historic Paris Agreement.

Despite widespread reports of the US's imminent departure, Mr Li insisted there was a "global consensus" on the issue.

In contrast, Theresa May was decidedly low-key about the prospect of the US quitting the accord, saying it was "up to the President of the United States" and refusing to agree it would be a "blow" to the supposed special relationship between the US and UK.

Mr Li did not mention the US or Donald Trump, but his comments were obviously addressed to Washington.

He said China had "in recent years has stayed true to its commitment" to address the issue – a hint that the US would pay a diplomatic price for signing up to an international agreement, then abandoning it.

Beijing had also been "actively promoting the Paris Agreement and we were one of the first countries to ratify the Paris agreement", Mr Li added.

He appeared to reference a past claim by Mr Trump that climate change was a "hoax" perpetrated by China.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation

11 show all The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation

1/11 Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Getty Images

2/11 Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images

3/11 Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters

4/11 Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images

5/11 Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images

6/11 Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters

7/11 Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons

8/11 Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images

9/11 James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images

10/11 Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images

11/11 Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

"Fighting climate change is a global consensus, 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," he said.

The Chinese Premier was meeting with senior European Union officials at a summit in Brussels.

The European Union and China plan to issue a joint statement – the first time this has happened – pledging to fully implementation of the Paris Agreement.

It commits them to cutting back on fossil fuels, developing more green technology and helping raise billions of pounds to help poorer countries cut emissions.

"The EU and China consider climate action and the clean energy transition an imperative more important than ever," the statement, by European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and China's Li, will say.

"The increasing impacts of climate change require a decisive response."

Miguel Arias Canete, the European commissioner who has led climate talks with Beijing, said of the Paris accord: "No one should be left behind, but the EU and China have decided to move forward."

Donald Trump doesn't believe in climate change

Like Mr Li, he contrasted China's constancy on climate change with the apparent change of heart by the US.

"I have lots of trust in the Chinese. They are very tough negotiators but they are very consistent with what they negotiate," Mr Canete said.

"At a moment in which the United States have doubts about the benefits of remaining in the Paris agreement ... two major players [the EU and China] in the climate arena declare that they are committed to the Paris agreement."

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report