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China has warned Donald Trump that he will be defying the wishes of the entire planet if he acts on his vow to back away from the Paris climate agreement after he becomes US president next January.

The election of climate change skeptic Donald Trump as president is likely to end the U.S. leadership role in the international fight against global warming and may lead to the emergence of a new and unlikely champion: China.

“It is global society’s will that all want to co-operate to combat climate change,” a senior Beijing negotiator said in Morocco on Friday, at the first round of UN talks since the Paris deal was sealed last December. The Chinese negotiators added that “any movement by the new US government” would not affect their transition towards becoming a greener economy.

China worked closely with the administration of outgoing President Barack Obama to build momentum ahead of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. The partnership of the two biggest greenhouse gas emitters helped get nearly 200 countries to support the pact at the historic meet in France's capital.

By contrast, Trump has called global warming a hoax created by China to give it an economic advantage and said he plans to remove the United States from the historic climate agreement, as well as reverse many of Obama's measures to combat climate change.

Zou Ji, deputy director of the National Centre for Climate Change Strategy and a senior Chinese climate talks negotiator, told Reuters that if Trump abandons efforts to implement the Paris agreement, "China's influence and voice are likely to increase in global climate governance, which will then spill over into other areas of global governance and increase China's global standing, power and leadership."

China is expected to play a pivotal role in consolidating and enhancing South-South partnership, particularly when it comes to issues related to climate change.

China is steadily ramping up efforts to assist other developing countries in addressing climate change, a gesture that has received wide welcome.

Speaking to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, Moroccan Foreign Minister and Climate Change Conference (COP22) President Salaheddine Mezouar said that China has an “extremely important role to play in accompanying, reinforcing and boosting South-South partnership and support sustainable development policies in the African continent”.

Xie Ji, deputy chief of the Chinese delegation to the ongoing 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22), said on Nov. 7 that China has ironed out a concrete program to help other developing countries to become more climate-resilient. "We will help build up ten low-carbon pilot zones, launch 100 climate change mitigation and adaptation projects, and offer training programs for 1,000 climate-related professionals," he said.

What Xie called the "10-100-1000" project is part of the effort that China has made in recent years to help other developing countries fight against climate change. The country has earmarked a total of 580 million yuan (about US$85 million) since 2011 to help developing countries, according to Zhang Yucheng, deputy director of the International Cooperation Division of the Department of Climate Change of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).

The most recent offer is the South-South Climate Cooperation Fund, a US$3.1 billion fund pledged by Chinese President Xi Jinping last September to help developing countries address climate issues.