More important than the fact of the U.S. being the single biggest contributor to GHG emissions is its increasing tendency, under the Bush administration, towards unilateralism in matters such as ecology and elimination of nuclear weapons that warrant a global approach and cooperation. Evident in this are the quest for hegemony — economic and military — and a lack of appreciation of the basic maladies of the present system of economic and political management. The world not only shares a common environment but it is also universalising the same market economy system that contributed to environmental degradation in the last few centuries because of its reliance on unremitting expansion of consumption on the basis of widening inequalities and not setting an economic value to the environment and natural features that ought to be considered the common heritage of mankind. The U.S. and Australia, which are the only developed countries to have reneged on the Kyoto Protocol, have now declared an "Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate" with four other countries — India, China, Japan, and South Korea — at the Asian Regional Forum meeting in Laos. The emphasis of this partnership is on technological fixes to the problem of climate change and on preserving energy security and economic growth. India has described this partnership as being complementary to and consistent with the Kyoto accord, which both India and China had ratified. It is important that these two countries recognise the primacy of the Kyoto Protocol, viewing the new Asia-Pacific partnership as a supplementary measure, and do not get drawn into any arrangement that would undermine the very objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.