China is willing to support a mechanism to compensate poor countries for damages and losses caused by climate change, its climate ambassador Xie Zhenhua said on Wednesday at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt, but China later said the participation did not involve money, according to data. Reuters.

Xie said the Chinese state was under no obligation to participate, but emphasized solidarity with those calling for more involvement from rich countries on the issue and pointed to the damage China has suffered from climate-related extreme weather.

“We strongly support the demands of developing countries, especially the most vulnerable ones, for compensation for losses and damages, as China is also a developing country and we have also suffered a lot from extreme weather events,” Xie said through a translator.

“It is not China’s responsibility, but we are ready to contribute and make efforts.”

Later, a spokesman for the Chinese delegation said that the Chinese government would not contribute to the financing. A Reuters translation of Xie’s remarks shows that he did not specify that the Chinese state would contribute financially, but offered to “cooperate” with developing countries. China is considered by the World Trade Organization despite the fact that it has the second largest economy in the world.

In October, United States special envoy John Kerry told the deportees that the Chinese state should contribute financially to compensate for the damage and loss, “especially if they continue to increase their emissions in the next 30 years,” Politico reported.

Xie said John Kerry, his “friend of 25 years,” did not raise the issue with him during informal talks at a climate conference earlier this week. He added that the Chinese government is already providing billions of yuan to developing countries to help them in their efforts to mitigate the effects, as quoted by Rador.