Singapore's media on Saturday hailed China's recent plan to boost energy efficiency and cut carbon dioxide emissions.

Titled "China fuels hopes for climate change," an article in Singapore's leading English newspaper, the Straits Times, said China's pledge to cut emissions had put pressure on other countries to follow suit.

"It's a pretty smart thing to do and it looks fairly ambitious." Trevor Sikorski, an analyst at the London-based Barclays Capital was quoted as saying in the report.

India's Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh was also quoted by the article as saying that China had given a wake-up call to India.

"We've to think hard about our climate strategy now and look for flexibility," Ramesh said.

An editorial in Lianhe Zaobao, the leading Chinese language newspaper in the Southeast Asian country, said China, the biggest developing country in the world, has adopted a positive attitude on cutting carbon dioxide emissions, which would to some degree serve as a model for other developing economies.

China announced on Thursday that it is going to reduce carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP in 2020 by 40 to 45 percent from the level of 2005.

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