Food security is crucial to China's sustainable development, said Ding Yifan, Deputy Director of the Institute of World Development at the Development Research Center of the State Council. China's efforts to solve its food problem do not add pressure to, but contribute to food security in the world, he said.

China feeds about 20 percent of the world's population with some 9 percent of its arable land. For nearly 10 years, it has met over 95 percent of its grain demand on its own and exported a net amount of 8 million tons of staple grains such as wheat, rice and corn annually on average.

China is ready to share experiences in agricultural development with other developing countries within the framework of South-South cooperation and provide various kinds of assistance in its power, Hu said.

Since 2003, China has provided nearly 300,000 tons of food assistance, built 14 integrated agricultural projects, established more than 20 demonstration centers for agricultural technologies overseas, and trained more than 4,000 managerial and technical staff in the field of agriculture for other developing countries.

At the major economies' meeting on energy security and climate change, Hu called on these economies to take the lead in addressing climate change. Major economies should play an exemplary role in fulfilling the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and its Kyoto Protocol, he said. They should actively advance international negotiations and take the lead in carrying out practical cooperation to ensure that environmentally friendly technologies are available and affordable to developing countries, Hu added.

Ding said China has taken a series of concrete measures to save energy and cut greenhouse gas emissions. It also takes provincial governors' efforts in this regard as a yardstick to access their performance, he said.

Who's responsible?

China has set the goal of reducing energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent and cutting the total discharge of major pollutants by 10 percent from 2005 levels and raising its forest coverage rate to 20 percent from the 2005 figure of 18.2 percent by 2010. Hu told his counterparts that China is firmly committed to the goal.

While every country is responsible for mitigating climate change, developed countries should take on more responsibilities, Jin said. Developed countries are obligated to do so because they not only discharged large amounts of pollutants as they sought industrialization but also have relocated polluting industries to developing countries, damaging the environment in these countries, he said. Moreover, they are capable enough to make greater contributions to welfare of the international community. He said he strongly believes in the principle of "common but differentiated responsibilities."

Leaders of the G8 nations agreed on a long-term target of at least halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a decision that Jin regards as the most concrete progress of this year's G8 Summit.

Countries hold different positions on oil and food price rises because of their varied interests, Jin said. The United States tends to shift its responsibilities to others and seek solutions to its own benefit, he said. The reason why it stresses rising demands of oil and food is that it intends to put the blame on large developing countries such as China and India, he said.

While acknowledging rising demand does contribute to oil and food price rises, Jin said the roles of different factors should be weighed carefully.

A secret World Bank report, recently obtained by The Guardian newspaper, shows that biofuels have forced world food prices up by 75 percent, contradicting U.S. Government's claims that biofuels contribute less than 3 percent to food price rises.

Jin believes that food price hikes pose a grave challenge to world stability, as evidenced by the fact that some countries have plunged into turmoil in the wake of rising food prices. The food issue is even more urgent than climate change and should be tackled immediately, he said.

Hu's Four-point Proposals

- Build a sustainable world economic system. Countries should commit themselves to sustainable development, strengthen the coordination of macro-economic policies and make concerted efforts to maintain the growth of the world economy. Developed countries and developing countries should forge a global development partnership featuring equality, mutual benefit and win-win progress, and work together to advance economic globalization.

- Build an inclusive and orderly international financial system. Countries should work together to give developing countries a greater say and representation in international financial institutions, thus enhancing the effectiveness of the international financial system.

- Build a fair and equitable international trade regime. Countries should jointly oppose trade protectionism, support efforts to strengthen the multilateral trading regime, and work for an early, comprehensive and balanced outcome of the ongoing Doha Round of WTO negotiations.

- Build a fair and effective global development system. Developed countries should take credible measures to honor their commitments by increasing assistance, opening markets, transferring more technologies to the developing countries and relieving their debts, whereas developing countries should enhance their capacity building.

Hokkaido Topics

- G8 leaders set the long-term target of at least halving global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 together with all the other parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

- G8 leaders said they remain positive about the future global economic growth, while acknowledging that the world economy is facing uncertainty and downside risks persist. They pledged to promote the Doha Round of WTO negotiations and address oil and grain price hikes.

- G8 leaders made positive comments on the progress in North Korea's denuclearization and expressed the hope that North Korea will make new progress in this regard. They also gave support for the six countries' efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue and urged Iran to implement relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.

- On African development, G8 leaders said they would be committed to achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals. They promised to work together with African countries to increase private investment in the continent.