China, Japan to participate in building post-Kyoto Protocol framework

BEIJING—China and Japan will participate in constructing a new framework for tackling climate change after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012, according to a press communique from the first China-Japan high-level economic dialogue in Beijing.
The two countries pledged to actively tackle climate change under the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change and said that the post-Kyoto framework should be an effective mechanism with the participation of all major economies with responsible attitudes, the communique said.
The Japanese explained the importance of establishing new negotiation opportunities at the session of the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention (COP) in Bali, Indonesia, which opened on Monday.
The Chinese side said that it would research the proposal of the Japanese side, the communique said.
Both sides acknowledged the effectiveness of multi-field cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate (APP).
They agreed that, to effectively carry out measures to prevent global warming, it was vital to include multi-faceted cooperation under future mechanisms. Both sides agreed to push concerted efforts to tackle public hazards and global warming, according to the communique.
The two countries also pledged to enhance cooperation in expanding experimental zones for recycling, improving water quality in major waterways including the Yangtze, tackling air pollution, and preventing illegal cross-border waste transfers, it said.
China and Japan held their first high-level economic dialogue in Beijing on Saturday. The dialogue mechanism was jointly launched by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan during Wen’s Japan trip in April.
The United Nations Climate Change Conference opened on Monday in Bali, Indonesia, a resort island. China and Japan are important trade partners and economic and trade cooperation is the basis on which to construct the bilateral strategic and reciprocal relations, Wen said in his meeting with the visiting Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.
According to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wen also highlighted the current growth momentum of the Sino-Japanese relations, saying the two nations are facing good opportunities to further developing ties.
“The two sides should seize the opportunity to boost the exchange and cooperation and make joint efforts to promote the peaceful coexistence, cooperation with mutual benefit, common development and long-lasting friendship,” Wen said.
When commenting on the ongoing first meeting of the China-Japan high-level economic dialogue mechanism in Beijing, Wen said the mechanism serves as an important platform to coordinate the different Chinese and Japanese governmental departments and exchange views on issues to each other’s key concerns in an aim to improve the level of the bilateral economic and trade cooperation.
Masahiko Komura, who was here to attend the mechanism meeting, said Japan and China could have a candid and comprehensive dialogue on the economic and trade issues, especially on economic policy, energy efficiency, environmental protection, investment and international and regional trade-related issues.
Japan will continue its efforts to further expand the exchange and cooperation in various fields with China in a bid to step up the bilateral strategic and reciprocal relations, Masahiko Komura said.—Xinhua