It is not yet known whether Wen and Obama will meet on the fringes of the conference but he has worked the phones relentlessly in the past 10 days, calling as many as 10 world leaders and UN chief Ban Ki-moon in an attempt to secure a workable agreement.

Chinese officials have also had important meetings in recent days with negotiators from many countries, including representatives from the United Kingdom and Germany.

But during the past 10 days, China and the US have not held any official meetings at any level in respect to climate change.