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.