"This less efficient system has concerned some members," Chiang said. "They think it may be hard to reach the Bogor Goals under the process."
The Bogor Goals were set at the APEC leaders' meeting in 1994 and aim to realize free trade and investment across the APEC grouping by 2010 for developed economies and 2020 for developing economies. Renewing commitment to the Bogor Goals is an item on the top of the agenda at this year's meeting.
POWER SHIFT
Aside from the normal functions of APEC, the growing power of China and the diminishing power of the US and Japan in the bloc also affect the development of the organization, Lee said.
The US has shifted a lot of attention to the Middle East, while Japan is striving to turn around its long-struggling economy, Lee said.
Equipped with a strengthening economy, China has been gaining more influence in APEC in recent years. A predictable consequence of this is that Taiwan's room for reaching out to economic allies and concluding free-trade deals will narrow over time, Chiang said.
Taiwan should therefore seek to act as a more important pillar of APEC instead of placing excessive attention on cross-strait issues at annual meetings.
Against this backdrop, Taiwan must develop a means for proposing issues that could steer the APEC agenda in a beneficial direction, rather than haggling over seating arrangements or whether representatives from both sides are able to make eye contact or not.
Daniel Liao (廖東周), the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Department of International Organizations, said initiatives that Taiwan has proposed over the years range from agricultural cooperation in earlier years to information technology support more recently.
One example of the latter was the establishment of the APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) in 2003 to help eliminate the "digital divide" among member economies by setting up centers for Vietnam, Chile, Peru, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, an initiative which was welcomed by APEC leaders, Liao said.
Taiwan will propose that the project be expanded to create jobs for the six countries this year, in the next stage of the program entitled "ADOC Plus," he said.
Another contribution Taiwan will make this year involves the donation of US$500,000 to assist with regional efforts against the spread of bird flu, he said.
But Taiwan's efforts need to be more comprehensive.
"I think that no matter who represents Taiwan at the meeting, the most crucial task now is to send meaningful messages to the international community," Lee said.
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