BEIJING - China's state press renewed calls Monday for developed nations to provide adequate funding to help poorer countries fight climate change, as crunch United Nations (UN) talks were set kick off in Copenhagen.

"It is obvious that the planet is everyone's, and although poor countries must bear responsibility, poor people must not pay a price... that exceeds their own abilities," the state-run Beijing News said in an editorial.

Calling for "fairness and justice", it repeated the developing world demands that rich nations help poor ones pay for the transition to cleaner economies.

"Whether developed nations, as repeatedly promised, can provide short-term financial aid to poor countries, and gradually establish a long-term support mechanism... is the key to realizing this fairness and justice."

A commentary in the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, echoed the call.

"Developed countries should promise... to provide more funding and technical assistance to developing nations, to help them realize emissions reductions," it said.

Negotiators from 192 countries gather from Monday in Copenhagen in the hope of crafting a new deal for tackling global warming and its impacts beyond 2012.

China, like other emerging economies, stands by the Kyoto Protocol, the world's only legally-binding emissions-curbing treaty, under which rich nations' emissions were to be cut by around five percent from 1990 levels.

It also wants developed countries to assume responsibility for emissions reduction targets from 2013, and provide funding and technology transfer to poorer nations to help fight climate change.

The Asian giant ï?? the world's largest source of greenhouse gases ï?? has proposed slowing the growth in its fast-rising emissions but argues that as a developing nation it should be exempt from cutting them outright.

The People's Daily reiterated China's stance that the emissions of developed nations were far greater than emerging countries after centuries of industrialization, putting the onus on the developed world.

"And of course, this industrialization process has led to developed nations taking the lead on other nations on the technology front," the newspaper said.

It said a low-carbon lifestyle was an "unprecedented" issue for mankind.

"Our only choice is innovation, to innovate our lifestyles to protect our planet, with the aim of benefiting the future of mankind."