The world's top two air polluters -- the US and China -- joined Australia, India, Japan and South Korea yesterday to unveil a new Asia-Pacific partnership to develop cleaner energy technologies in the hope of curtailing climate-changing pollution.
They described the initiative as a complement to the Kyoto protocol that commits countries to cutting emissions of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming. But environmentalists said the new pact lacked firm obligations to cut pollution and that it might undermine the 140-nation Kyoto accord, which went into force on Feb. 16.
The Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, also announced overnight in Washington, aims to create cleaner technologies for energy-hungry economies such as China and India, meeting long-term energy needs while reducing pollution and addressing climate concerns.
"We view this as a complement, not an alternative" to the Kyoto treaty, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick said at a joint news conference by the six countries at an annual Asia-Pacific security conference in the Laotian capital of Vientiane.
A ministerial meeting to hammer out programs for the pact will be held in Adelaide, Australia, in November.
Emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases are believed to be behind rising global temperatures that many scientists say are disrupting weather patterns.
Average global temperatures rose about 1oC in the 20th century, and scientists say this has contributed to the thawing of the permafrost, rising ocean levels and extreme weather.
The US, which accounts for one-quarter of the world's greenhouse gases, and Australia refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, saying it would harm their economies by raising energy prices, and cost five million jobs in the US alone.
Their other objection is that the pact mandates greenhouse gas emission reductions only among industrial countries and not developing countries like India and China, which is second only to the US in emissions.
"In the end the key to solving these problems is going to be technology ... cleaner technologies, making technologies more economic," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said. "These things are going to be a lot more effective over time than just political declarations."
Although Downer insisted the new initiative would not undermine the Kyoto protocol, he made it clear he did not think much of it.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Wednesday called the Kyoto pact "a failure," and said, "We have to do better."
Global greenhouse-gas emissions would have increased 41 percent from 1990 to 2010 without the Kyoto protocol, Downer said. With the accord, they are expected to go up by 40 percent if all countries meet their targets, he claimed.
Downer said a bigger impact on emissions is needed if the efforts are to affect climate change.
Yesterday's joint statement said the countries could collaborate on clean coal, liquefied natural gas, methane, civilian nuclear power, geothermal power, rural energy systems, solar power, wind power and bio-energy. In the long-term, they could develop hydrogen nanotechnologies, next-generation nuclear fission and fusion energy, it said.
Environmental group Friends of the Earth was skeptical about the pact because it contained no legally binding requirements to cut emissions.
Greenpeace said "the pact sounds more like a dirty coal deal."
"Why waste time inking a new pact when both the US and Australia have yet to implement existing commitments" under a UN accord to transfer climate-reducing technology, Greenpeace said.
Zoellick defended the nonbinding clause, saying "one can't just command other parties to do things. You need to try to develop interests and incentives."
Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew said the new initiative showed that its authors acknowledge the problem.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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