Asia:Leaders of 16 Asian countries, including top polluters China and Japan, yesterday agreed to a vague pact on climate change as they tried to put aside discord over Burma's suppression of democracy protests.
In the declaration, signed in Singapore, leaders of the East Asia Summit (EAS) committed to stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations in the long run.
The pact will serve as a basis for climate negotiations at the UN meeting next month in Bali, but it contains no fixed targets on cutting emissions or even limiting their growth by a specific date, after objections from poorer Asian countries.
"Climate change has to be addressed - but they cannot leave people in absolute poverty," Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said after the negotiations.
The EAS - comprising 10 southeast Asian nations plus China, India, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand - agreed that all countries should address the challenge of climate change, based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.
Asked why it did not include numerical targets, Singapore's Mr Lee said: "This is a declaration of intent, not a negotiated treaty of what we are going to do to restrict ourselves."
Australia said the pact would make it easier to negotiate a replacement for the Kyoto Protocol on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. The UN hopes the Bali meeting will kick off two years of talks to agree a new framework to fight climate change.
"There has been a turning of the tide in China and India's position: they're saying, 'yes, we need to do something to stabilise emissions'," Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said earlier.
Japan has pledged $1.8 billion (€1.21 billion) in loans to fund green projects in Asia.
While the east Asian leaders tried to focus on climate change and trade, the issue of how to encourage wayward member Burma to embrace democracy soured the 40th anniversary celebrations of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), at which the grouping adopted a legal charter on Tuesday.
The Philippines broke ranks with other Asean members and called for the immediate release of detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We particularly deplore the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi. She must be released. Now," Philippines president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said in a statement.
The Philippine congress might not ratify the charter if Burma does not commit to democracy and release Ms Suu Kyi, Ms Arroyo said this week.
The charter gives Asean a legal identity, enshrines principles of democracy and human rights and paves the way for free trade and economic integration by 2015. The document must be ratified by all member states within 12 months.
Mr Lee said western sanctions on Burma were ineffective because the regime had chosen to isolate itself. "You say, 'I don't want to do business in Myanmar [ Burma]', but it's water off a duck's back," he said. - (Reuters)