News analysis: More words than action at G8 summit

By Wang Jingzhong and Bao Erwen

TOYAKO, Japan, July 9 (Chinese media) -- In spite of

demonstrating their resolve to tackle the world's most pressing issues by

releasing a series of statements, the Group of Eight (G8) once again stopped

short of pledging immediate and concrete action instead of words, to the

disappointment of many.

While it is a positive sign the leaders are hammering

home their determination to tackle the issues, the G8 nations, accounting for

nearly 60 percent of the world economy, should turn their words into action,

analysts say.

The G8 leaders were gathering in the northern

Japanese resort of Toyako for their annual summit, as the world is experiencing

financial turmoil, fuel and food price hikes and a potentially disastrous rise

in global temperatures.

NO BREAKTHROUGH ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Climate change is a major issue discussed in the

working session on the second day of the three-day summit.

In a statement, the G8 leaders said they "seek to

share" the vision of the goal of achieving at a least 50 percent reduction of

global emissions by 2050.

While declaring "each of us will implement ambitious

mid-term goals in order to achieve absolute emissions reduction," the G8 nations

failed to specify what their mid-term goals are.

And the statement only set a long-term goal for

chopping global emissions rather than targets for each of the G8 nations.

Moreover, it failed to mention a base year for the

reduction, as some analysts pointed out.

The agreement "is an important and significant step

forward" in the efforts to fight global warming, said Koji Tsuruoka,

director-general for global issues with the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

However, the Japanese official stopped short of

describing the agreement as a breakthrough, noting: "It is naive to think a

breakthrough can be made."

Considering the fact some of the G8 members, notably

the U.S., have long refused to set numerical targets for its carbon emissions,

some may argue that the G8 statement at least represents a step forward on the

issue of climate change, analysts note.

However, many analysts quickly pointed out that a

deal that falls short of mid-term targets is unlikely to make people take these

long-term commitments seriously.

"Unless the G8 leaders agree on immediate action and

medium-term targets for reducing their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, any

long-term promises will be unattainable," said Oxfam, an international aid

agency.

Even on the long-term goal, the G8 nations'

commitment looked shaky as they wanted to bring major developing countries on

board.

In their process of industrialization, developed

countries emitted huge amounts of greenhouse gas without binding limits, and

their current per capita emissions are much higher than those in developing

countries.

Economic interests was the key reason behind the G8 nations' failure to take a decisive move on climate change, reflecting the dilemma they are facing in solving global issues while carefully taking care of their own interests, according to the analysts.

INADEQUATE MEASURES FOR WORLD ECONOMY

The world economy is another major topic at the

working session of the G8 summit. But the leaders wrote few effective

"prescriptions" for the issue.

The G8 leaders said they were positive about the

outlook of the world economy, despite problems.

The leaders expressed their "strong concern about

elevated fuel and food prices since they pose a serious challenge to the stable

growth worldwide."

They also said they will resist protectionist

pressures against international trade and investment in all its manifestations.

While the G8 leaders attach great importance to the

most pressing issues that are threatening the world economy, they failed to come

up with specific measures.

Economists have blamed the U.S. subprime loan crisis

for the slowing global economy, yet the G8 leaders did not put forth any new

measures to deal with the crisis during their working session and they only

repeated their previous suggestions for strengthening the financial system.

On the issue of the WTO Doha round which is critical

to economic growth and development, there was no exciting news from the G8

summit.

The failure to make a breakthrough in the

negotiations of the Doha round was due mainly to the sharp differences between

developing countries and the U.S. and European countries over whether the latter

should cancel agricultural subsidies.

The G8 summit also failed to write an effective "prescription" to curb speculation in oil, whose prices have shot up to record highs.