Fresh divisions have opened up on the second day of the UN climate talks in Durban as China accused the European Union of “shifting the goalposts” to make unfair demands on developing countries over a new global climate pact.

In the most comprehensive Chinese statement yet on the biggest sticking point of the Durban conference, Su Wei, Beijing’s lead negotiator, said in an interview the whole international climate talks system would be “placed in peril” if the conference did not agree on a second phase of the Kyoto protocol climate treaty. But he said countries should stick to a road map forged in Bali four years ago that meant developing countries did not have to agree to binding commitments to curb their carbon emissions.

The EU’s 27 countries are now among the few left willing to agree to a second phase of the 1997 Kyoto protocol, the world’s only legally binding climate pact. The EU says it will not sign up for a new round of Kyoto pledges – which developing countries are insisting on – unless all countries agree to similar commitments.