China presses a `new Silk Road'

Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) called yesterday for a "new Silk Road" between Asia and Europe as envoys from the two continents continued their uphill quest to build political ties to match strong commercial links.

Jiang's opening speech to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) foreign ministers' talks in Beijing blended the historical metaphor with allusions to China's modern concern about Western human rights criticism and US economic and political power.

"ASEM should build up a new Silk Road to actively boost exchanges between these two civilizations in the new century so that countries in Asia and Europe will build on their respective civilizations and respect, learn from, complement and benefit each other," Jiang said.

"ASEM should be an important force for promoting the establishment of a new international political and economic order," he said. "The goal of realizing democracy in international relations is far from being attained."

Jiang frequently calls for respect among civilizations and democracy among nations to parry Western criticism of China's Communist regime, and often appeals for a new world order without a dominant superpower.

The second message might play well with the 26 ASEM members, who share concerns about a new US unilateralism emerging in the wake of Washington's withdrawal from a global climate treaty and its plans to build a missile defense shield.

Asia and Europe together account for about half the world's economy, but political links have lagged behind burgeoning trade ties as the EU slowly hammers out a common foreign policy and Asian states grapple with economic crisis and mutual suspicion.

Many critics write off ASEM as an ineffectual forum in an Asian-Pacific region chock full of talking shops with confusing acronyms hampered by cautious consensual decision-making.

Chris Patten, the European Commissioner for External Affairs, urged his counterparts to aim higher in Beijing.

"International meetings these days are not rare events. They have to justify themselves by their results," Patten said. "I'm sure that this one will pass that simple but extremely important test."

Asian members have resisted European efforts to include human rights issues in the dialogue and the EU has rebuffed Asian calls to include Myanmar in ASEM gatherings.

"No issue should be off limits or off the agenda, even where we disagree," Patten said. "We need rules and regulations to manage the process of globalization and to protect human rights and promote the rule of law and good governance."

In the morning session, ministers discussed mainly European issues, including the expansion of the EU, according to a Japanese official who attended the meeting.

But talks did not touch on the reconciliation process on the Korean peninsula, he added.

Diplomatic sources had said the ASEM members were likely to urge North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to commit to a summit with South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Nearly a year has lapsed since their historic meeting in Pyongyang.

The EU has stressed the importance of completing China's accession into the WTO, which has bogged down over technical disputes a year after Brussels and Beijing clinched a bilateral trade pact on Chinese WTO entry.

Earlier this week, Patten said it was critical to restart multilateral trade talks, which have languished since the failure to launch a new round in Seattle 18 months ago.