China denounced Canada's decision this week to withdraw from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, accusing it of reneging on its commitment to help reduce global carbon emissions.

In a news briefing on Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed strong disappointment wiith Canada's move, which was made four years before the international community is set to ratify a new treaty seen by many experts as crucial in reversing the effects of climate change.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin, Canada's departure from the worldwide pact is "against the efforts of the international community and is regrettable."

"We hope Canada will face up to its responsibilities and obligations, honour its commitments and actively participate in relevant international cooperation against climate change," Liu was reported by ABC News as saying.

With Canada becoming the first country to extricate itself from the treaty that would require nations, specifically the highly industrialised and developed ones, to cut down their carbon emissions, the initiative is likely to suffer a major setback, experts said.

The United States, the biggest economy in the world, never joined Kyoto.

Canada argued on its official statement Monday that the Kyoto Protocol actually hinders dealing effectively with the impacts of climate change, which most scientists believe is being pushed by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

As a previous signatory to the deal, Canada was supposed to cut its carbon emissions by 6 percent by 2012 but its emissions have in fact risen since the protocol was drafted in the mid-1990s.

Even while currently exempt from the curbs contained in the pact, China has been calling on developed countries to take more responsibility to address climate change since they have been emitting pollution much longer than the developing nations.

China along with India and other emerging economies is regarded as developing and thus exempt from the agreement.

Despite its departure from the pact, Canada has assured that it will remain a party to efforts to combat the ill effects of climate change.

This was proclaimed by Climate Change Minister Greg Combet who aired his belief that Canada is still committed to the purpose of the Kyoto Protocol.

"The Canadian decision to withdraw from the protocol should not be used to suggest Canada does not intend to play its part in global efforts to tackle climate change ... (the country) made clear it supports a new international climate change agreement that includes commitments from all major emitters," Combet's office was reported as saying by ABC on Tuesday.