When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets his fellow Asia-Pacific leaders for this week's regional summit, he is expected to take the lead in building a consensus on global warming and world trade liberalization.
During the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Sydney, Abe will try to get all 21 member economies to join a framework to curb greenhouse gas emissions that would take effect after the Kyoto Protocol runs down in 2012.
Of the 21 economies, securing commitments from the United States and China — the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters — will be crucial for making a post-Kyoto Protocol regime "truly effective," according to Japanese delegates to the Sydney gathering.
The two nations are not covered by the 1997 U.N. pact.