Clinton May Leave G-8 Summit Early

O K I N A W A   C I T Y, Japan, July 22, 2000 -- President Clinton went for a solitary walk along the tropical beach outside his Okinawa hotel this morning, strolling barefoot as the sun came up over day two of the Group of Eight economic summit.

But his mind may have been thousands of miles away at Camp David, Md., where Israeli and Palestinian leaders were wrangling over the contested capital of Jerusalem. Even before touching down in Japan, Clinton started compressing his weekend schedule in Okinawa so he could leave five or six hours early, White House officials said Friday night. This could let him return to the Camp David peace talks in rural Maryland late Sunday, if he chooses.

Compressing the Schedule

The White House has already rescheduled a few social events and some of the bilateral meetings Clinton is holding with other world leaders. He’s already met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori.

His meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been moved back from Sunday afternoon to Sunday morning. A barbecue with U.S. troops, originally scheduled for Sunday, will take place tonight.

World leaders at the G-8 summit have shown some readiness to help underwrite anyIsraeli-Palestinian peace agreement. By some estimates, the cost could be upwards of $ 40 billion.

There has been moral support as well, with French President Jacques Chirac praising Clinton’s “courage and determination” to convene the summit.

This afternoon, Clinton told Mori that a recent attack on alocal girl by a U.S. Marine “hurt me in the heart,” a Japaneseofficial told The Associated Press.

Expresses Regret

Clinton expressed regret over the incident when the two leadersmet, according to a spokesmanfor the Japanese delegation who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The spokesman said the Japanese considered Clinton’s comments anapology for the incident.

While the American military presence has helped the economy,Okinawans angrily blame U.S. troops for crimes ranging from theftsand assaults to rapes and killings. Local ire flared anew after anunidentified 19-year-old Marine was arrested July 3 for entering aprivate home, crawling into a 14-year-old girl’s bed and fondlingher in her sleep.

Tech Aid for Third World Nations

Meanwhile, the industrial powerspledged today to help poor nations join the informationtechnology revolution so they can one day leave the Third Worldbehind. The leaders agreed to pool efforts to expand Internetaccess and make it more affordable in developing nations.

“Everyone should be able to enjoy access to information andcommunications networks,” a charter signed by the members said.

In other developments— Mori and Clinton agreed toextend for a fourth year trade talks on a broad range of businesssectors, from telecommunications to financial services andpharmaceuticals.

— Clinton questioned North Korea’s reported offer during itssummit this week with Russia to abandon its missile program inexchange for help in launching space satellites. “It is not clearto me what the offer is...what is being requested in return,” hesaid. — The G-8 agreed to aim at launching a new round of World TradeOrganization talks by the end of this year, a Japanese officialsaid.

Call It … Mini-Summit

The most crucial of his bilateral meetings was an hourlong session with Putin, who is making his first appearance at a G-8 summit. The two leaders met in a seaside restaurant and officials confirm a prime issue was Russia’s opposition to American development of a nuclear missile defense system.

On his way to Okinawa, Putin had stopped by North Korea where there is also opposition to a U.S. system to shoot down incoming missiles. However, it is North Korea’s missile development that gives the U.S. cause to consider a defense system.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told Putin that North Korea would put aside its missile program in exchange for the international community providing rockets to launch satellites, subject to international monitoring.

A senior American official told reporters after the Clinton-Putin meeting that the U.S. president “intends to make a decision in the course of this summer” on plans for a nuclear missile defense. The system failed in a test held on July 7.

The Main Agenda

The Group of Eight leaders discussed the need to let the world’s poorest countries wipe old debts from their books and share the benefits of the current wave of prosperity.

“I called for accelerating the process of eliminating the debtof the poorest countries and nobody contradicted me,” Chirac told reporters.

Debt relief was just one initiative being explored to helpcounter criticism that globalization, the growing flow of trade andinvestment between countries, was helping rich countries andmultinational corporations while leaving millions of the world’spoor behind.

Oil prices were also on the leaders’ minds. White House economic aide Lael Brainard said summit participants were generally pleased about the world’s economic health, except for one thing.

“Greater stability in oil supply was in the mutual interest of both producing and consuming nations,” she said.

The G-8 countries are also expected, before their discussionsclose on Sunday, to offer increased help to fight AIDS in poornations and educate the estimated 100 million poor children not inschool. Brainard said some of theleaders noted risks posed to the global economy by the jump in oilprices, but she said overall the group believed things were going well.

The G-8 consists of the United States, Japan, Russia, Britain,Italy, Canada, Germany and France. The group has held summits eachyear for the past 25 years.

ABCNEWS’ Ann Compton, Tamara Lipper in Okinawa, Barbara Starr in Washington and The Associated Press contributed to this report.