China to ratify Kyoto protocol
2002-08-25 09:20
Beijing - China's Premier Zhu Rongji departed from Beijing on Sunday for the Earth
Summit in South Africa, where he is expected to announce China's
intention to ratify a key global warming pact.
As part of his trip, Zhu will also visit Algeria, Morocco and
Cameroon before attending the UN meeting in Johannesburg on the
final leg of his trip, Xinhua news agency said.
The Chinese premier will address the summit on September 3 and is
expected to announce China's intention to ratify the Kyoto Protocol
on global warming, foreign ministry officials said.
"China's State Council (cabinet) has already decided to ratify
the Kyoto Protocol," Zhang Jun, deputy director-general of the
foreign ministry's department of international organisations and
conferences, told journalists.
Zhang added that procedures were under way to finalise the
details of China's ratification.
Asked whether ratification would be announced before Zhu heads
to South Africa, Zhang suggested Zhu could make a formal statement
at the summit.
"The summit begins on August 26 but Premier Zhu will speak on
September 3," he said.
The premier's main objective in Johannesburg will be urging
richer nations to take the global lead in protecting the
environment, and to argue the challenges faced by developing
countries in balancing economic development with environmental
protection, Zhang said.
"It's a plain fact to everybody that without proper development
in developing countries, sustainable development in the world
cannot have a good foundation and cannot have a good future," he
said.
"In light of this ... we should first solve the problems of the
developing countries."
The Kyoto Protocol - signed in 1997 in the Japanese city of
that name as the first co-ordinated world response to tackling
global warming - requires industrialised countries to cut
greenhouse gas emissions to below 1990 levels by 2008-2012.
The United States dropped out of the agreement last year and has
cited its belief that the developing world should take on more
commitments toward ending global warming.
China's decision to ratify the accord will likely put additional
pressure on Washington, which has faced criticism from other
countries for its decision.
The United States is the world's largest emitter of the
greenhouse gases that cause global warming, but is expected to be
taken over by China in the coming decades as its huge coal
emissions are coupled with a rapid increase in the use of the motor
car. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA