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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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