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Editorial: Making the most of the APEC meet

Academia Sinica president Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) will represent President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) at the APEC leaders summit in Mexico this weekend. At the meeting Lee will be seated next to US President George W. Bush and will have a chance to meet with China's President Jiang Zemin (江澤民). He will give a speech. Since Taiwan has never before been accorded such treatment at an APEC summit there is a lot of anticipation.

Ever since the first APEC leaders summit in 1993 Taiwan has tried to send high-ranking officials, but these efforts have always been frustrated by China. During his presidency, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) sent senior presidential adviser Koo Chen-fu (辜振甫), and Vincent Siew and Chiang Ping-kun (江丙坤), who went in their capacity as chairmen of the Council for Economic Planning and Development. Chen wanted Siew to represent him in 2000 as well but ended up sending central bank governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南) because of the rift with the KMT over the temporary cancellation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant. Last year, Taiwan was blocked from participating in the leaders' meeting because China refused to extend an invitation to former vice president Li Yuan-tzu (李元簇), Chen's emissary, giving rise to both domestic and international sympathy and concern.

Chen has not been able to send a higher ranking official than Lee to this year's summit. However, the close relationship between Lee and Chen, Lee's job and his international reputation, mean that his appointment is still a substantive breakthrough that will raise Taiwan's visibility in the international arena.

APEC's main purpose is to improve economic cooperation and promote a liberalization of trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region. Building a mechanism to achieve these goals will be a difficult task given the shadow cast over Southeast Asian nations by recent bombings, the international war on terror, the slowing international economy and international deflation. The annual APEC meeting, however, offers leaders an opportunity to discuss common economic concerns. This will help shape consensus and solve problems. Lee is certain to take this opportunity to initiate a dialogue with the APEC leaders regarding Taiwan's major economic concerns as well as its "go south" policy. This will help give Taiwan a more important role in APEC in the future.

Given the Bush administration's talk of attacking Iraq and recent terrorist attacks, it is certain that anti-terrorism efforts will be the focus of some discussion at this week's APEC meetings. If these take the form of bilateral talks, Taiwan will be included. But if other countries arrange talks between foreign ministers on the sidelines of the summit, Taiwan may find itself left out in the cold as it has at previous summits.

Lee has a good relationship with the leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait and he is also the head of the Advisory Group on Cross-Strait Affairs. The issue most anticipated at this APEC summit is whether he will be able to use his status as Chen's representative to arrange a meeting with Jiang in an attempt to break the political deadlock in the cross-strait relationship. Judging from past APEC experiences, Jiang will at the most extend a polite greeting to Lee and the possibility of substantive talks is infinitesimal. Even so, if Lee can raise Taiwan's international visibility and let the world see a picture with representatives from each side of the Taiwan Strait shaking hands, he will not have failed his mission.
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