The APEC summit ended in Shanghai yesterday with a declaration on countering terrorism -- the first ever political statement in the economic forum's history.
The group also said a new round of WTO talks should be launched.
"Leaders unequivocally condemn in the strongest terms the terrorist attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001," said Chinese President Jiang Zemin (江澤民), reading from the APEC leaders' statement on counter-terrorism yesterday.
The role of the UN in combating terrorism received a special mention in the declaration. China strongly endorsed its stance.
The statement also calls for the early signing and ratification of all basic universal anti-terrorist conventions, including the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism.
The emphasis on signing and ratification of related international conventions, observers said, is to put political pressure on countries such as Japan that have yet to ratify the document.
Yukio Satoh, Japan's permanent representative to the UN, said on Oct. 2 that Japan intends to sign the financing convention by the end of this year.
The statement listed specific measures to combat terrorism -- such as appropriate financial measures to prevent the flow of funds to terrorists and enhancing the security of airports, aircraft and ports.
Pacific Rim leaders "pledge to cooperate fully to ensure that international terrorism does not disrupt economies and markets, through close communication and cooperation among economic policy and financial authorities."
In another statement dubbed the APEC Economic Leaders' Declaration, the grouping gave its support to the launch of new trade talks at the WTO ministerial meeting set for Doha, Qatar, in early November.
"We strongly support the launch of the new WTO round at the conference, recognizing that the current slowdown in the world economy has added to its urgency," the statement said, adding "a balanced, sufficiently broad-based agenda" should be the foundation for the new talks.
"Having reached such a consensus is important as APEC accounts for half of the global economy and trade," Jiang said at a press conference that marked the end of the two-day summit.
As well as "applauding" the conclusions of related negotiations on China's WTO accession, the statement also reiterated "strong support for the final approval of Taiwan's accession at the Doha meeting."
Observers said the Taiwan issue -- under APEC -- would become increasingly sticky as the forum gradually started tackling political issues.
"It's a long-term trend for APEC to gradually transform itself into tackling politics, and the development is inevitable," said Yoichi Funabashi, chief diplomatic correspondent for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, who was in Shanghai to attend related APEC meetings.
"[The] Taiwan issue will become much more sticky as APEC becomes more and more political," Funabashi said.
Saying Taiwan's absence from the summit in Shanghai made him feel "sad," Funabashi said: "Taiwan should be more creative in participating in the forum," otherwise, "Taiwan will end up marginalizing itself."
The anti-terrorism statement made no mention of the US-led attacks on Afghanistan, which are opposed by Muslim-majority APEC members Indonesia and Malaysia.
The US downplayed the absence from the APEC statement of a mention of the Taliban or terrorist suspect Osama bin Laden.
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