COPENHAGEN, Asia's battle: Page 3 — Japan objected to a draft proposal released Friday at the COP15 climate negotiations, saying that it would give the United States, which opted out of the Kyoto Protocol, a free pass to increase its carbon dioxide emissions beyond 2012 and penalize nations such as Japan that have already ratified the pact.

In addition, the draft proposal does not ask enough of developing nations, a Japanese spokesman said. The proposal, released Friday morning after five straight days of negotiations, comes as senior ministers began arriving in Copenhagen for final negotiations this week.

The six-page official draft calls on developed countries to undertake legally binding nationally appropriate mitigation commitments. It offers four possibilities for quantified reductions ranging from 25 percent to 45 percent compared to 1990 levels.