G8 Summit agreement will be tested by whether participating countries can take effective measures

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

   The Summit of the Group of Eight that ended on June 8 in Heiligendamm in Germany issued the chair’s summary on political and security issues and a declaration on the world economy.

   On the prevention of global warning, the largest agenda at the summit meeting, the declaration stated that the summit countries “will consider seriously the decisions ... which include at least a halving of global emissions by 2050.” However, it failed to set numerical targets, including the benchmark year for emission controls, leaving it as a future task.

Urgent global task

   This summit focused on whether the United States, the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, would be persuaded to participate in the U.N. framework for curbing global warming. It is significant that through negotiations with other countries, the U.S. promised to consider halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. It is a step forward that pressed by the international community, the U.S. which had withdrawn from the Kyoto Protocol agreed to come back to the U.N. framework.

   At a meeting scheduled for December in Indonesia, new efforts to prevent global warming will start. The U.S. and other countries should tackle the challenge of effectively halving global emissions in line with the promise made in the summit.

   This summit meeting also dealt with diplomatic and security issues such as terrorism and the situation regarding Iran. However, the summit documents completely ignored the challenge of getting rid of nuclear weapons from the world in defiance of the strong demand of the international community. The summit also failed to discuss the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

   The U.S. and Britain have been waging a war of aggression against Iraq in violation of the U.N. Charter. Concerning the Iraq situation, however, the chair’s summary only condemned “acts of terrorism” and “sectarian violence”, closing its eyes to the fact that the U.S. military rule has brought about the tragedy to Iraq.

   Not only in Iraq but also in the U.S. Congress, the call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq within a set timeframe is increasing. The fact that the summit failed to take up this question even in this situation ironically shows how sensitive this issue is for the summit countries.

Responsibility of Japanese government

   Prime Minister Abe Shinzo is boasting that Japan’s proposal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 was incorporated into the summit declaration. However, he has never pressed the United States to set binding goals.

   Prime Minister Abe must stop taking a subservient attitude to the U.S. and make strong diplomatic efforts to meet international challenges.

- Akahata, June 10, 2007