Climate Change and Nuclear Power at APEC Meeting

Climate Change and Nuclear Power at APEC Meeting



2007 September -   Australia and the United 
States will cooperate more closely on climate change and nuclear power, 
Prime Minister John Howard and President George W. Bush announced 
Wednesday at a news conference following their bi-lateral meeting at the 
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, APEC, gathering in Sydney. 
The leaders and senior officials of the 21 APEC economies situated around 
the Pacific Rim are meeting here through Sunday to strengthen the 
Asia-Pacific community. The focus of the APEC meeting will be on economic 
development, trade, regional security, job creation and climate change. 
Prime Minister Howard told reporters, "We agreed on joint statements 
regarding climate change and energy, a joint nuclear energy action plan, 
which involves cooperation on civil nuclear energy, including R&D, skills 
and technical training, and regulatory issues.

 
"Australia intends to participate in the Global Nuclear Energy 
Partnership, and there will be great benefits in terms of access to 
nuclear technology and nonproliferation," Howard said. "And the United 
States will support Australian membership in the Generation IV 
International Forum, which involves R&D to develop safer and better 
nuclear reactors." 
Under the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, nations with advanced nuclear 
capabilities would provide fresh fuel for nuclear power plants and recover 
and recycle used fuel for other client nations who agree to employ nuclear 
energy for power generation purposes only. Energy officials from the 
nuclear powers China, France, Japan, Russia and the United States signed 
on to the plan in May. 
On the defense side, said Howard, "the two countries will explore enhanced 
cooperation on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. And that 
could, in fact, involve a stationing - basing in Australia by the United 
States equipment and stores and provisions that would be available for 
ready use in disaster relief in our immediate region. And we think in 
particular of any repetition of the tsunami disaster or things of that 
kind which occurred a couple of years ago." 
The two countries will strengthen their "already robust program of 
military exchanges and joint operations," said the Australian prime 
minister, who assured President Bush that Australian forces would remain 
in Iraq. 
President Bush defended his approach to climate change, including his 
rejection of the Kyoto Protocol that limits the greenhouse gas emissions 
of industrialized nations by a legally binding percentage of 1990 
emissions. Neither the United States nor Australia has joined the Kyoto 
treaty, named for the city in Japan where it was drafted in 1997. 
"Now, I know some say, well, since he's against Kyoto he doesn't care 
about the climate change," said President Bush. "That's urban legend, that 
is preposterous." 
Pointing out that last year the United States "reduced overall greenhouse 
gas emissions and grew our economy at the same time," Bush said that shows 
his strategy of putting new technologies in place is working. 
Australia and China are both coal producing and consuming countries, but 
burning coal in traditional ways produces large amounts of greenhouse gas 
emissions. 
Bush complimented the Australian prime minister for proposing to cut back 
on tariffs that prohibit the export of technologies that will enable China 
to burn coal more cleanly. "We support him strongly on this, so that 
technology is more likely to be able to flow from those of us who have it 
to those who don't," Bush said.

"And there are fundamental questions," he said. "How fast can we get 
effective technology to the market - coal sequestration technologies, 
nuclear spent fuel reprocessing technologies to the market? And once to 
the market, can we help developing nations acquire those technologies? 
Otherwise, it's an exercise that's not going to be effective," said Bush. 
"So I appreciate you bringing up the nuclear power initiative," said Bush 
to Howard. "If you truly care about greenhouse gases, then you'll support 
nuclear power. After all, nuclear power enables you to generate 
electricity without any greenhouse gases." 
For years, the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, the United 
States was surpassed by China this year. The American president said he 
would discuss climate change with Chinese President Hu Jintao during the 
APEC meeting. 
"In order for there to be an effective climate change policy, China needs 
to be at the table," said Bush. "In order to get China at the table they 
have to be a part of defining the goals. Once we can get people to define 
the goals, then we can encourage people to define the tactics necessary to 
achieve the goals." 
"I believe this strategy is going to be a lot more effective than trying 
us - people - countries to say, this is what you've got to do. We're 
telling you how to behave - as opposed to why don't we work together to 
achieve a common consensus on being good stewards of the environment," 
said Bush, adding, "APEC is a good forum to do this." 
Today, President Hu addressed the opening ceremony of the APEC Business 
Summit and expounded China's views on advancing comprehensive cooperation 
among the APEC members in pursuit of sustainable development in the region 
and the world at large. 
Friday, when APEC leaders gather for the high-level portion of the 
meeting, has been declared a public holiday in the Sydney metropolitan 
area. 
All week, steel fences and concrete barricades have surrounded the APEC 
area and armed guards are in the streets.

President Bush apologized for the high level of security and said he feels 
"guilty" about it. 
"Look, I don't want to come to a community and say, you know, what a pain 
it is to have the American President. Unfortunately, however, this is what 
the authorities thought was necessary to protect people," said Bush. "And 
you live in a free society. People feel like they want to protest; fine, 
they can. And unfortunately, evidently, some people may want to try to be 
violent in their protests. But I apologize to the Australian people if 
I've caused this inconvenience." 
New South Wales Police are allowing the state's Green Party to hold an 
event for media in Sydney's Martin Place on Friday, despite threatening 
Tuesday to go to Supreme Court to prevent it. 
"The Greens have been requested to move an event that we are planning in 
Martin Place even though it is several hundred meters outside the APEC 
restricted zone," said Sylvia Hale, NSW Greens MP and police spokesperson. 

The New South Wales government, endorsed by the APEC Taskforce, has 
legislated that areas of the Sydney Central Business District, Hickson 
Road, Darling Harbour and parts of the Harbour off Circular Quay are 
"declared areas" under the APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Act 2007. This 
enables specific police powers to be used in those areas to ensure public 
safety and order. 

"Effectively the Police are trying to declare the APEC declared area a 
"no-protest zone" but that is not what the legislation passed by the 
parliament says," Hale said. 
"The APEC police powers law gives the police extraordinary additional 
powers but it does not allow them to ban any dissenting views from being 
expressed in the middle of the Sydney Central Business District," said 
Hale. 
The Greens event will be a press conference accompanied by some street 
theatre featuring a group of party members dressed to resemble lifesavers 
candies while Greens Senator Kerry Nettle calls on APEC leaders to be 
climate savers. 
"We have held scores of similar events in Martin Place without incident," 
said Hale. "There is absolutely no reason why we should not be allowed to 
express a political view in Martin Place or anywhere else in the city."
Hale called on NSW Premier Morris Iemma to guarantee that there will be no 
undercover police or other security agents attempting to provoke violence 
at demonstrations planned during the APEC meeting. 
Her call follows an admission by Canadian authorities that three people 
photographed wearing bandanas covering their faces and carrying rocks at 
an August demonstration at the North American government leaders summit 
were undercover police officers. 
"I want a public assurance that the police will not be trying to 
manufacture an excuse for giving their special APEC powers and weapons a 
workout," said Hale. "Sydney has a long history of peaceful political 
protest and the Greens want to see that history continue. We are 
discouraging any violence by either protesters or police." 

Twelve Greenpeace activists were arrested Monday at the world's biggest 
coal port at Newcastle, 160 kilometers north of Sydney, after painting the 
message "Australia Pushing Export Coal" on the side of a coal ship, The 
Endeavour, and unfurling a large banner in Chinese calling on China to be 
cautious of John Howard and George Bush’s attempts to sabotage Kyoto.
Greenpeace says the protest was staged to expose the Howard Government's 
real APEC agenda, "to protect Australia's coal export industry by 
undermining the Kyoto Protocol." 
Two ice sculptures of Prime Minister Howard and President Bush are touring 
Sydney during the APEC forum slowly melting in the sun as a reminder of 
the impact of climate change and the failure of these two leaders to 
ratify the Kyoto Protocol or set firm targets for greenhouse gas 
reductions. 
The ice sculptures were made for Make Poverty History, a coalition of more 
than 60 aid agencies, community groups and religious organizations, to 
dramatize the coalition's report "APEC: An End to Extreme Poverty - An 
Alternative APEC Agenda." 
Make Poverty History Co-chair Andrew Hewett said climate change is not 
simply an environmental or economic challenge. "It is a moral challenge, 
because those least responsible for causing the problem - the poorest 
people in the poorest countries of the world - will overwhelmingly pay the 
highest price as climate change begins to bite." 
He urged Australia to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, commit to deep cuts in 
greenhouse gas emissions, and support adaptation to the planet's warming 
climate on the part of developing countries around the Pacific Rim. 
APEC's 21 Member Economies are - Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, 
Chile, People's Republic of China, Hong Kong, China; Indonesia, Japan, 
South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, The 
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Chinese Taipei, Thailand, United States, 
and Vietnam. 

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