"Green Imperialism"- the blame game getting hotter

At the World Economic Forum on East Asia, a two-day conference in Singapore on Monday, Malaysia and Indonesia have hit out against the rich countries.

Malaysia and Indonesia, the world's leading producers of crude palm oil, are leading a campaign to fight environmentalist claims that their plantations destroy vast swathes of tropical forest, pushing endangered animals like the orangutan towards extinction.

Asian business and government leaders have also accused rich countries of hypocrisy, saying they run polluting industries with cheap labor in China and then blame the country for worsening global warming and climate change.

Nor Mohamed Yakcop, Malaysia's Second Finance Minister, has called to end the "hypocrisy" that blames China and other developing countries for environmental damage when sustainable development is the collective responsibility of nations.

Nor Mohamed has called it the 'green imperialism,' practised by rich nations.

China's economic boom has given rise to massive and harmful pollution nationwide, and a Dutch government research body said last week that China for the first time spewed out more carbon-dioxide emissions last year than the United States.

Nor Mohamed Yakcop told the forum that "the companies that are polluting in China are owned by Americans and Europeans and Japanese and others. They are benefiting from the cheap labour. They are benefiting from the resources...."

A Chinese aviation tycoon told the discussion that the West was the original polluter, while an American businessman noted that Asia's energy consumption is relatively disproportionate to its contribution to the world economy.

But all participants agreed that instead of fixing blame, the problem should be solved internationally and with private sector participation.

"Countries without trees keep telling the countries with trees to stop chopping them down and to slow down growth. We can't slow down growth because we have plenty of poverty left," Yakcop told the forum attended by about 300 business leaders and government officials