FReepmail me to get on or off
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
---groan---
Posted on 09/06/2007 1:20:13 PM PDT by decimon
SYDNEY, Australia - President Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao, leaders of two of the world's worst polluting nations, called Thursday for greater international cooperation in tackling climate change without stifling economic growth.
Bush also was to push for expanded trade with Pacific Rim nations and appeal for help in getting stalled global trade talks going again. He was laying out his views on the environment, energy security and the economic costs of terrorism in a speech to business leaders from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
Climate change was high on the agenda of the U.S. and Chinese presidents in a 90-minute meeting and aides said it would be an important aspect of Bush's speech. The president also was to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, among heads of state here for the annual meeting of the 21-nation economic gathering.
Bush has been criticized by environmentalists and others for his opposition to the 1997 Kyoto treaty against global warming, and China has long been slammed for the huge amounts of greenhouse gases its power plants and industries pump into the atmosphere. The fact that neither China nor India, another major global polluter, were covered by Kyoto was one reason Bush has opposed it.
But both leaders seemed to be generally in agreement on the subject.
"We believe that the issue of climate change bears on the welfare of the whole humanity and sustainable development of the whole world," Hu told reporters after his meeting with Bush. "And this issue should be appropriately tackled through stronger international cooperation."
Climate control has been designated a top agenda item for this year's APEC meeting.
"We talked about climate change and our desire to work together on climate change," Bush said.
Aides said the president would give a more detailed account of his climate change proposals in his speech to APEC business leaders.
One of them is a proposal to eliminate tariffs on environmental and clean-energy technologies. In his talks with Hu, Bush invited the Chinese leader to consider doing the same, said Dan Price, a presidential economic adviser on the National Security Council.
"President Bush raised the issue of climate change, and both sides welcomed the attention of APEC to climate, and they confirmed the importance of addressing this pressing problem cooperatively and responsibly, and in a manner that did not stall or stunt economic growth," Price said.
Hu had suggested the United Nations should be the one to spearhead climate control efforts. Price said that wasn't necessarily contradictory with the Bush approach.
The U.S. and Chinese leaders also talked about North Korea, Iran and Chinese product safety. Hu "was quite articulate about product safety, and I appreciated his comments," Bush said. White House aides later said Hu expressed a willingness to step up Chinese efforts to ensure the safety of products and to crack down on efforts to ship tainted foods.
Bush said he accepted Hu's invitation to attend the 2008 Summer Olympics. And the two leaders talked about establishing a "hot line" like the longtime one between Washington and Moscow to alert each other to possible military situations that might seem threatening or be ambiguous.
Both leaders expressed opposition to efforts within Taiwan to seek U.N. membership. The U.S. has opposed steps toward independence for the self-governing island, which Beijing considers a renegade province, preferring to adhere to its "One China" policy even as it continues to sell military supplies to Taiwan.
Bush has called for greater reliance on technology to combat global warming. Although early in his first term, he had insisted that the science of what causes global warming was not yet settled, more recently he has been less questioning of a link between human activity and higher global temperatures, and supportive of programs to tackle the problem.
Earlier this week, Bush said it was an "urban legend that is preposterous" for critics to suggest that his opposition to the Kyoto treaty showed a lack of environmental awareness or concern about climate change.
Bush was also having lunch with South East Asian leaders and meeting with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Putin.
In his speech, the president was also issuing an appeal to Asia-Pacific business leaders for their help in getting stalled global trade liberalization talks restarted.
The trade talks known as the Doha round have stumbled since their inception in Qatar's capital in 2001, largely because of wrangling between rich and poor countries over eliminating barriers to farm trade and, more recently, manufacturing trade.
Thank you.
He does NOT call for action on "global warming!"
It's meaningless unless it is ratified by the Senate. In any event, Kyoto is dead.
The earth was here before we got here and will be around long after we are gone.
I don’t believe many read the article.
Bush has been very careful to always say “climate change”, not global warming.
Where's Jimmy Hoffa when he's needed?
(Oh, I know. Part of 675.
It was reported that Hu then laughed and said, "Don't call me, I'll call you."
FYI: Clinton already signed it on Nov 12, 1998
I know. :(
It hasn't been ratified yet though.
Kyoto’s back door is unclos.
Click on POGW graphic for full GW rundown
New!!: Dr. John Ray's
GREENIE WATCH
Ping me if you find one I've missed.
Hhm, it is 2007 and we still lack a Repub President.
Re. Global warming/green house gases. Deport illegals (USA pop drop of about 30% of carbon emitters). Then put big mirrors all over which will reflect the global warming back into space and help global cool.
Zany ideas, but still light years better than the Dem proposals.
Once I sent an e-mail to Kofi Anan, and told him I use the UN flag to wipe my boots.
Can somebody please tell me why Bush is buying into the alarmism? He’s not up for re-election.
I cannot believe that I voted for this man so many times.
Just the ordinary powers of the Executive Branch.
The only possible meaning for that would be that the Senate would then be allowed to vote on it.
It didn't mean much when Clinton signed it either.
To what are you referring? The headline which spins a vague statement?
“We talked about climate change and our desire to work together on climate change,” Bush said.
Please splain Lucy/lepton. Why is he even bothering to pay it lip service?
“Climate change” killed T-Rex and the dinosaurs. It’s been happening on this planet for billions of years. There is not a damn thing any bloviating politician can do about and they know it deep down.
But nobody gave a shit (it’s 12:30 and all the kids out there are already asleep so I can say that) about saving the trees and the arctic sea lion that liberal environmentalists love. So they came up with this junk science agenda that made it more personal for soccer moms and the clueless. Save the trees and the environment or you are all going to burn in a great big ball of fire!
So I ask you again lepton since you took up the challenge...
Why is GW even playing along?
FR GW, no need to respond. Just thought it would be appropo to ping that name here.
lepton or anybody here: Please explain why Pres Bush would even pay lip service to this nonsense. Anyone. Please.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.