"We are ready to discuss the establishment of a long-term global goal to cope with climate change including sustainable development, emissions reductions and efforts to tackle climate change," said Chinese official Su Wei.

But Su, head of climate change issues at China's economic planning agency, repeated Beijing's position that China and other developing nations were the "victims" of climate change caused by the emissions of developed countries.

"Actually, developing countries are innocent and they are the biggest victims of climate change," Su said in a briefing ahead of the summit.

China and the United States are the world's top sources of industrial and other emissions blamed for global warming, which is expected to be one of the top issues at the G8 meeting next week in Japan.

Six emerging giants -- Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa -- plus Australia and South Korea will join the Group of Eight rich nations in expanded sessions on key issues on the summit's sidelines.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said last week he would press G8 leaders to tackle climate change, the world food crisis and global poverty.

Japanese media this week quoted Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva as urging fellow developing countries to join rich nations in setting targets for emissions cuts.

China has long resisted such calls, saying its relatively low per capita emissions and recent emergence as a major source of greenhouse gases should exempt it from talking drastic action.

Su deflected repeated questions about whether China would commit to targets in emissions cuts.

China's greenhouse gas output has soared in recent years as its largely coal-powered economy has expanded at double-digit pace.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who will head to Japan for the summit, last month urged renewed efforts to curb global warming, stressing "time is limited" in finding solutions to the problem, according to state media.

However, little concrete action on the environment is expected to emerge from the Japan meetings amid stark differences of opinion between the developing world and rich nations, primarily the US, which wants binding commitments from China and India before it moves to cut emissions.

Spiralling global food prices, which the World Bank says have nearly doubled in three years due to factors such as rising oil prices and the growing use of biofuels, also will feature in the meetings.

Chinese officials defended recent moves, including curbs on some food exports, to address skyrocketing domestic food prices, saying the measures had no global effect.

"Ensuring enough food for 1.3 billion Chinese people is always a big issue for China's government," senior agriculture ministry official Li Zhengdong told reporters.

"We see no big implications on global food supplies from our measures."

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