TY - JOUR
T1 - Japan's conciliation with the United States in climate change negotiations
AU - Miyaoka, Isao
N1 - Funding Information:
At INC2, Japan took the initiative in including in the convention the so-called ‘pledge and review process’: the process by which states shall unilaterally pledge targets and concrete measures within three months of ratification and by which international investigative teams shall review their implementations. It was perceived that ‘The Japanese suggested that this was one possible way of keeping the US “in the game” of negotiation and making some commitment to emissions reductions, however limited’ (Rahman and Roncerel, 1994, p. 264). Although this ambiguous proposal was supported by the United Kingdom and France, it came under criticism from environmental groups, which believed that even the US administration would not appreciate the idea (Rahman and Roncerel, 1994). It is worth noting here that MITI tried to relax the treaty’s provisions on national commitments for itself, rather than for the benefit of the United States. In Japan, the Special Committee on Global Environmental Problems of the ruling LDP also criticized MITI for having acted arbitrarily without the LDP’s approval, and revised the proposal so that the pledge and review process might be based on the premise of common targets (Yomiuri shinbun, 30 August 1991, p. 13; Schreurs, 1995, pp. 24–27; Kawashima, 2000, pp. 42–43).
Publisher Copyright:
© Oxford University Press and the Japan Association of International Relations 2004.
PY - 2004/2/1
Y1 - 2004/2/1
N2 - This paper attempts to analyze Japan's conciliation with the United States regarding national targets on greenhouse gas emissions in the multilateral climate change negotiations (1990-2001) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and for the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention. Japan's conciliatory proposals had nothing to do with bilateral pressure from the United States. Why, then, did Japan make special efforts to conciliate with the United States, and offer lenient proposals? I focus on three factors: concern for international status, the costs of the climate change regime and domestic politics. My main argument is that the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry used 'conciliation' with the United States in its favor as an excuse for making proposals that would emasculate the climate change regime and as a means of receiving support from the United States for differentiation of national targets on greenhouse gas emissions.
AB - This paper attempts to analyze Japan's conciliation with the United States regarding national targets on greenhouse gas emissions in the multilateral climate change negotiations (1990-2001) for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and for the Kyoto Protocol to the Convention. Japan's conciliatory proposals had nothing to do with bilateral pressure from the United States. Why, then, did Japan make special efforts to conciliate with the United States, and offer lenient proposals? I focus on three factors: concern for international status, the costs of the climate change regime and domestic politics. My main argument is that the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry used 'conciliation' with the United States in its favor as an excuse for making proposals that would emasculate the climate change regime and as a means of receiving support from the United States for differentiation of national targets on greenhouse gas emissions.
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U2 - 10.1093/irap/4.1.73
DO - 10.1093/irap/4.1.73
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85045156445
SN - 1470-482X
VL - 4
SP - 73
EP - 96
JO - International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
JF - International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
IS - 1
ER -
