Su Wei, the chief Chinese negotiator reaffirmed his confidence of making progress on Thursday at the ongoing UN climate change conference, held in Cancun, a resort city of Mexico.

Head of the climate change department of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC),Su recalled the climate talks over the past two decades, since the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Brazil in 1992 established the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change to tackle the challenge.

"We have been making progress for the past 20 years. We should not expect to solve all the issues by one meeting or by one day. We would try to formulate common ground to find a common solution to the global challenge," he said.

"Cancun is not the final end of the game. It is only an part and an important step in the long process," Su added.

The negotiators at the Cancun conference will try to establish a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges rich nations except the United States to cut greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2008-2012, although chances are slim.

Su is confident of making progress in Cancun. According to him, four issues are concerned and stand a chance to achieve progress including mitigation, adaptation, finance and technology.

"We think although we can not finish the 'Bali Road Map' negotiations, we would make a big step forward and try to pave the way for the final success in South Africa next year," he said.

Su also mentioned the parties' attitude towards Kyoto Progress at present. "I think in general all the parties say that they are open to the issues of continuation of Kyoto Protocol, except that Japan says clearly that it will never accept the continuation of the Protocol," he said.

"Kyoto is an important step and basis of international framework to face climate change. The protocol is key to climate regime and one of crucial the factors for success in Cancun. Japan' s stubborn attitude towards the continuation of the protocol has caused big influence on the conference which tries to reach substantial achievements. The other delegations react intensely to the issue," he said.

The nearly 70-strong delegation of the Chinese government is headed by Xie Zhenhua, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission.

The Cancun talks, from Nov. 29 to Dec. 10, are aimed at finding solutions to global climate change. It has attracted about 25,000 participants from governments, businesses, nongovernmental organizations and research institutions in almost 200 countries.