RAWANG, Malaysia - Malaysia said on Thursday Australia and the United States should not hijack next week's summit of Asia-Pacific leaders to discuss climate change, saying it was not the right forum.

Host Australia has written to leaders of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to put climate change at the top of the agenda at the Sept. 8-9 summit in Sydney.

But fellow APEC member Malaysia said Australia and the United States lacked credentials to lead discussions on the subject.

"It is unfortunate that people who are talking about climate change like America are not even members of the Kyoto Protocol," Malaysia's outspoken Trade Minister Rafidah Aziz said.

"If you want to talk about climate change, please join in with the rest of the global community to make commitments about managing climate change," she told reporters.

"So there's no point talking outside of the (Kyoto Protocol) forum," said Rafidah, who is due to attend APEC ministerial talks on Sept. 6 ahead of the summit.

A visiting U.S. trade official brushed aside Rafidah's criticism, saying that climate change was key to APEC as the issue has both political and economic dimensions.

"An issue like climate change...is the kind of thing that APEC can usefully help address," Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia told Reuters. "President Bush's administration remained focused on pushing forward in that area."

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said on Monday that APEC leaders would be asked to back practical ways for their nations to save energy.

The United States and Australia have refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol setting greenhouse emissions targets for developed countries.

Howard has long been a critic of the pact because it does not include major developing economies and unfairly punishes energy-rich countries such as Australia, a major coal exporter.

Rafidah also said Malaysia would back a project to study the idea of setting up a pan-APEC free-trade pact but said any decision should not be binding on the member economies.

APEC members account for nearly half of world trade, 40 percent of the world's population and 56 percent of the world's gross domestic product.

While trade is a major focus for the group, the subject is often pushed down the agenda during annual summits by more pressing issues of the day, such as bird flu and the North Korean nuclear crisis.