WORLD / Asia-Pacific
US, China to get climate change chance at summit
(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-07-16 09:02
SYDNEY - The world's two biggest polluters, the US and China, will have
an unprecedented chance to thrash out action on climate change at an
upcoming summit in Australia, Prime Minister John Howard said Sunday.
US President George W. Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao will be among
21 leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in
Sydney in September, where global warming is expected to be high on the
agenda.
"This will be the first and best opportunity for the two largest
polluters in the world -- the United States and China -- to come
together," Howard told reporters.
"At a lot of these other meetings, the Americans and the Chinese aren't
sitting down together, except as part of the enormous concourse of
everybody in the United Nations' ambit."
Howard said he expected there would be "a very significant discussion
about climate change" at the meeting.
"I'm not suggesting we are going to solve the problem of climate change
at APEC, but I do think it will be a principal point of discussion," he
said.
"Having both China and the United States around the same table is a huge
advantage."
Howard's conservative government has adopted a cautious approach to
climate change, joining the United States in refusing to sign the Kyoto
Protocol on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
But as scientific evidence linking global warming to human activity
mounts and public pressure for action grows, the prime minister has
declared himself a "climate change realist" and embraced action including
emissions trading.
Fellow convert Bush said last month the US was ready to take a leading
role in a global bid to fight climate change but said China and India
must get on board.
"The US will be actively involved, if not taking the lead, in a
post-Kyoto framework, a post-Kyoto deal," Bush said on the sidelines of a
Group of Eight summit in Germany.
"By 2008 the world's emitters of greenhouse gases should come together.
Nothing is going to happen in terms of substantial reduction unless China
and India participate."
At the G8 meeting, however, the leaders of the world's wealthiest nations
were content to simply declare their intention to pursue "substantial"
cuts to dangerous greenhouse gas pollution, with no actual concrete goals
laid down.
Top World News
� Truce over, Pakistan militants kill 70
� Aide: Iraqi PM's comments misconstrued
� North Korea shuts down nuclear reactor
� Bin Laden appears in new video
� US still top British ally: new UK foreign minister
Today's Top News
� Official: Transparency key to public faith
� It's going to get wetter: Rain forecast
� Foreign media rapped over food reports
� N. Korea seeks U.S. concessions
� North Korea shuts down reactor
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
Learn Chinese, Chinese Mandarin, Learning Materials, Mandarin audio lessons, Chinese writing lessons, Chinese vocabulary lists, About chinese characters, News in Chinese, Go to China, Travel to China, Study in China, Teach in China, Dictionaries, Learn Chinese Painting, Your name in Chinese, Chinese calligraphy, Chinese songs, Chinese proverbs, Chinese poetry, Chinese tattoo, Beijing 2008 Olympics, Mandarin Phrasebook, Chinese editor, Pinyin editor, China Travel, Travel to Beijing, Travel to Tibet
No comments:
Post a Comment