Japan, U.S. Aim for China Involvement in Post-Kyoto Framework

Tokyo, Feb. 20 (Jiji Press)--The top leaders of Japan and the
United States will agree to work together to seek China's deep involvement
in a post-Kyoto Protocol framework for greenhouse gas emission cuts, sources
told Jiji Press Friday.

Prime Minister Taro Aso hopes such an agreement with U.S. President
Barack Obama will resuscitate his tottering administration, which was
damaged most recently by the resignation of Shoichi Nakagawa as finance
minister, the sources said.
Unlike his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama aims to play a
leading role in international talks on the successor to the 1997 Kyoto
Protocol, which expires in 2012.
The involvement of China, one of the world's largest carbon dioxide
emitters, is considered essential for a successful conclusion to the
negotiations.
At the upcoming meeting between Aso and Obama in Washington on
Tuesday, the two leaders will consider ways to facilitate China's
participation in the post-Kyoto framework, including transfers of
environmental technologies.
Obama and Aso, the leaders of the world's largest and
second-largest economies, will also discuss measures to overcome the global
economic and financial crisis in the lead-up to the Group of 20 financial
summit to be held in London on April 2.
The two leaders will also agree to enhance the bilateral alliance.
They will exchange ideas on how to cooperate in realizing a comprehensive
solution to North Korean issues, including the reclusive country's nuclear
and missile programs and abductions of Japanese citizens.
With Obama now devising new U.S. strategies on Afghanistan, Aso
will explain Japan's plan to host an international conference on aid to
Pakistan, deemed a key to securing the stability of Afghanistan.
Aso will visit the United States for three days from Monday. He is
the first foreign leader invited to the White House since Obama took office
last month.