US wants India, China to assist war on global warming
George Iype in Buenos Aires
The United States wants India and China to shoulder greater
responsibility in tackling the threat of global warming.
That developing countries like India and China should join the US and
make binding commitments to set limits on greenhouse gas emissions was
one of the major themes of discussions between US President Bill
Clinton and Argentinian President Carlos Menem.
Clinton, who wrapped up his South American trip in the Argentine
capital last month, used the
occasion to force Argentina to embrace the US position that
international efforts to set targets for limiting greenhouse gases
should apply to all nations, not just the major industrial powers.
Menem is the first leader of a developing
country to publicly endorse the US view. US officials accompanying
Clinton said Menem's support will force countries like India to embrace
the US position on global warming.
"We are not asking developing countries to do it necessarily at the same
pace or at the same time," says James Steinberg, deputy
national security advisor, adding that "the rules
are not open-ended" for developing countries.
According to the US official, so-called "rich" developing countries
like Israel, Mexico, Singapore and South Korea should also accept
greater responsibility to tackle the threat of global warming.
In their joint declaration on environment, Clinton and Menem said
developing countries must participate meaningfully in this global
regime, including setting emission limits for developing countries.
Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are believed to heat the
earth's atmosphere, causing such potentially dire consequences such as
rising sea levels and severe weather changes.
The US releases the greatest amount of emissions into the
atmosphere. China and India rank second and fifth respectively in terms of their
carbon dioxide emissions.
Clinton has argued that the US and other industrial nations should not be
the sole focus of the United Nations meeting on global warming in Japan in
December.
More than 150 nations that signed a 1992 UN climatic changes
convention will gather in the Japanese city of Kyoto to set
targets for developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In preparing the US position, Clinton has been
trying to strike a balance between strict targets for limiting
emissions -- as advocated by environmentalists -- and US big
business concerns that if the limits go too far, it could lead to an economic
meltdown.
The European Union has been pushing its own agenda on global warming.
The EU calls upon
developed countries to cut their emissions by 15 per cent of their 1990 levels, by 2010.
Japan, which has indicated that developing countries need not make
binding commitments in Kyoto, has proposed that developed nations set a
5 per cent cut in emissions from 1990 levels as a goal for the years
2008 to 2012.
India and China have not yet made public its position on global
warming. But analysts believe India, which of late has improved its
relations with the Clinton administration, will publicly endorse the US
position on greenhouse emissions during the UN convention in December.
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