Japan, U.K. agree on need for China, U.S. commitments on climate+

TOKYO, Nov. 24 Kyodo -
Japan and Britain agreed Tuesday on the need to secure Chinese and U.S.
commitments to setting ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
as a key U.N.-sponsored climate change conference in Copenhagen nears next
month.

During their 25-minute telephone conversation, which was initiated at London's
request, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told his British counterpart
Gordon Brown that Tokyo sees Beijing's commitment as particularly important,
the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
China and the United States are two major emitters of heat-trapping gas, and
one focus has been how they can be involved in a new international framework
that would succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which will expire in 2012.
Brown said Japan's goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by
2020 from 1990 levels -- if all other major economies also agree on ambitious
targets -- has had a positive impact on India, Brazil and Russia.
Hatoyama said his government is in the process of putting into action the
so-called Hatoyama Initiative, in which Tokyo would provide more technical and
financial assistance to developing countries as they work on the global
challenge.
Turning to Myanmar, where the country's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
remains detained, the Japanese and British leaders agreed on the importance
they attach to the general election to be held in the country next year.
In talks with Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein in Tokyo early this month,
Hatoyama pressed Myanmar to release the Nobel Peace Prize laureate before it
holds the election.
Hatoyama and Brown also discussed Afghanistan, to which Britain has committed
troops and is in the process of rethinking its strategy, with Brown saying that
Britain looks forward to Japan's additional contributions to the war-torn
country.
Hatoyama briefed his British counterpart on Japan's promise to spend up to $5
billion in nonmilitary aid to Afghanistan over the next five years in exchange
for ending its mission in the Indian Ocean to refuel warships supporting
U.S.-led coalition forces in the country.
==Kyodo
2009-11-24 23:11:23