Participations Matter 2.5

The significance was not about the achievement of the meeting, but about meeting itself. The representatives of environmental issue from Japan, China and South Korea met in Kitakyushu City, Japan, and agreed with a joint statement to tackle the problem of particulate matter 2.5, the air pollution mainly in China that had been affecting those three nations. Although Japan and South Korea sent ministers of environment, China, hesitating to show cooperative attitude toward Japan, downgraded it from the three to the two-and-a-half ministers meeting by sending a deputy minister. In spite of that it became “the ministerial meeting 2.5,” the Japanese government welcomed the development in trilateral diplomacy.

The three parties agreed on establishing “policy dialogue” in official level on preventing borderless air pollutions. The joint statement also reconfirmed the necessity of cooperation of three counties on environmental issues such as PM 2.5, the Yellow Sands and climate change, concerned the effect on health by air polluters, and recommended scientific research and reducing emission.

While the meeting focused on the cooperation among three countries, most problems of international air pollution stem from China. The deputy minister of environmental protection of China explained that the irrational location of industry by rapid industrialization and urbanization and use of coal for energy resource caused air pollution in China. He requested the contribution of Japan and South Korea, introducing their own effort on stricter preventive legislation against air pollution, increasing monitoring posts and total quantitative regulation on use of coal.

Regardless the insufficiency of Chinese effort, the Minister of Environment of Japan, Nobuteru Ishihara, looked forward to the trilateral framework. “Although the relationship among Japan, China and South Korea is deteriorated, those nations are interested in environmental issues. I want to make the cooperation of three nations deeper on the issues like PM 2.5,” told Ishihara.

The government of Japan had been annoyed with consecutive cancellation of meeting with those two governments. China cancelled the trilateral summit meeting planned in this month with frustration on the Senkaku issue. South Korea cancelled the visit of Foreign and Trade Minister to Japan as a protest of Japanese ministers’ visit to Yasukuni Shrine. The meeting on environment became a valuable gain for Japanese diplomacy. However, nobody can anticipate the breakthrough on Senkaku issue or historical dispute between Japan and other two simply by a development over environmental cooperation. The emphasis of the outcome by Japanese government was just a political demonstration.