U.S. Opposing Japan Environment Proposal
Posted by alexfrancis on June 7, 2007
Photo Caption:Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso address a press conference after EU-Japan talks at the Chancellery in Berlin.
Japan feels that it has the responsibility to advocate for environmental protection treaties, as it did with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol. At the recent G-8 Summit, Abe proposed that all nations agree in principal to reduce Greenhouse emissions by half by 2050.
The EU is more eager to cooperate with Japan’s proposal to half greenhouse emissions by 2050 than the United States. The United States argues that the proposal is unfair because it places a greater burden on developed countries than those that are in the midst of development, like its up and coming rival: China.
In this case the United States is afraid that China will simply free-ride, while the U.S. will lose economic ground by paying for cutbacks. It seems the United States is less concerned with the greater global good as it is with securing its position as number one.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070605/wl_asia_afp/germanyg8japaneu_070605180651
