Ogata speaks at eco-safety forum in China

June 29, 2012

Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo on June 27 made a keynote speech at the 2nd International Ecological Safety and Elderly Health Forum in Chengdu in China’s Sichuan Province.

During the opening plenary, Ogata appeared as a guest speaker following speeches by the forum’s organizer Jiang Mingjun and Oleg Rusak of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Quoting the 1990 Rio Declaration which states that “peace, development and environmental protection are interdependent and indivisible,” Ogata emphasized the following three challenges: to preserve “the world’s natural environment and natural resources that are essential to human survival;” to establish “a just and stable society where basic human needs are met for every citizen;” and to work to “end wars, conflicts, and nuclear proliferation, coping with other security-related issues.”

In order to overcome the global warming emergency, Ogata stated that based on the principle of “Common but Differentiated Responsibility” set by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, developed countries must undertake “dual responsibilities” as major CO2 emitters. One is to “set ambitious and binding emissions reduction targets and take the lead in implementing them,” and the other is to “provide adequate financial as well as technical assistance to developing countries to achieve this.”

Ogata stated that emerging powers, in the meantime, are also required to make greater efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, and that China is in position to “demonstrate the superiority of socialism to capitalism” in the field of global environment protection.

Referring to the Fukushima nuclear accident, Ogata pointed out that it was “the result of the inherently flawed nature of nuclear power plant technology,” and stressed the need to initiate an all-out effort for Japan to break away from nuclear power generation and turn to renewable sources of energy.

The Beijin-based International Ecological Safety Cooperative Organization organized the forum under the auspices of the Communist Party of China. Ogata attended this conference along with about 20 other guests, including Nalinee Thavisin (Thai PM’s Office minister), Madhav Kumar Nepal (former Nepalese PM), and Keo Rasmey (chairman of Cambodia’s Funcinpec Party).