Bush backs Australia on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation climate deal

By Sunday, leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit must sign off on a consensus statement on the divisive topic — or embarrass host Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who put climate change at the top of the forum’s agenda.

U.S. President George W. Bush weighed in on the debate saying that

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for the first time at APEC, saying that China and other developing nations must be a part of any effective strategy to combat global warming.

“For there to be an effective climate change policy, China needs to be at the table,” Bush said at a joint news conference with Howard, a strong ally of the president and a supporter of the Iraq war.

Bush said he backed an Australian proposal that Asia-Pacific countries endorse a new, inclusive approach to climate change — one that unlike the current Kyoto Protocol would require China and other developing countries to meet emissions targets.

Bush’s message was not new. But the APEC meeting comes as momentum builds toward striking a new international framework on global warming. Bush has invited 12 countries and the European Union to a climate change meeting in Washington on Sept. 27-28, and a larger, U.N.-backed meeting is due to be held on the issue in Indonesia in December.

Nations like Indonesia and the Philippines, however, have resisted Australia’s proposal, arguing that discussion of specific goals on cutting greenhouse gases should be done under U.N. auspices, not at APEC.

“It’s fine for us to call on having greater commitment on climate change issues because it is a priority on the global agenda now,” said Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu. “But we think that if we are talking about setting international targets then it should not be in the APEC context.”

Though the summit at Sydney’s landmark, shell-shaped Opera House does not start until the weekend, diplomacy is accelerating. After Bush’s daylong parlay with Howard Wednesday, Thursday will be Chinese President Hu Jintao’s turn to meet with both. Russia’s Vladimir Putin is coming, too. All told, 21 leaders, from Chile to Vietnam, will attend.

Protesters, who have vowed to stage large demonstrations against the gathering and Bush in particular, held an uneventful protest Wednesday, despite police threats to arrest any high school students for truancy.

The Supreme Court of New South Wales, the state where Sydney is located, dealt protesters a setback, barring them from marching Saturday toward the Opera House and directing them to a route away from the conference site.

Finding consensus on climate change among a diverse group that includes rich and poor countries is bedeviling senior officials at APEC, who tried for a second day Wednesday to draft a statement the leaders would accept.

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