The US special envoy for climate change has met with top Chinese officials here, both sides said on Tuesday, as he tries to convince Beijing to commit to greenhouse gas emissions cuts.

Todd Stern arrived here on Sunday on a mission that he said would include pressing China to agree to hard numbers on emission reductions under the next treaty on global warming to be discussed in Copenhagen this year.

In a meeting on Monday, Vice Premier Li Keqiang reiterated to Stern that developing countries like China should be held to a different standard, according to a statement posted on the Chinese foreign ministry's website.

However, the statement gave no indication whether some compromise on cuts might be reached.

"China would like to maintain the principle of 'common but differentiated responsibilities', actively participate in negotiations and play a constructive role to promote positive results from the Copenhagen conference," Li was quoted as saying.

A US embassy spokesperson said that Stern also met with China's lead climate change official, National Development and Reform Commission deputy chief Xie Zhenhua, but had no details of the meeting.

"China is making strides in clean energy technology,' the spokesperson told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"However, it will need to commit to more robust and quantifiable actions to put the world on a pathway to a clean-energy, low-carbon future."

Stern has said any actions by other nations would be futile without commitments by China, which is now widely believed to be the world's number two emitter of greenhouse gases behind the United States.

Stern said before his trip that while China and other developing countries did not need to make the same cuts as developed nations, they must commit to significant reductions.

He however insisted that he would "listen, not lecture" in China.

More than 180 nations are working to approve a new climate treaty at a December meeting in Copenhagen to cover the period after 2012, when the existing Kyoto Protocol expires.

US President Barack Obama has vowed to tackle climate change in a sharp departure from his predecessor George W. Bush, who rejected the Kyoto Protocol because it made no demands of developing nations.

The US Congress is looking at legislation to cut emissions causing global warming by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.