APEC may be the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, but one hardly comes away from this year's leaders' meeting with that impression. Far from it.
That little was accomplished at the summit surprised few.
APEC has a well-deserved reputation for underachievement and non-cooperation. Making this year's event even more noteworthy in the nothing-happened department is that the economic issues APEC was created to tackle were barely on the radar screen.
In the spotlight instead was global terrorism, a focus pushed by US President George W. Bush, whose nation is reeling from the attacks of Sept. 11. Yes, APEC leaders head home with a bit of progress, having agreed to cut trade costs by 5 percent over the next five years. They also agreed to start new market-opening talks at the WTO.
But terrorism was the clear focus, something that may not be sitting well with many Pacific Rim nations. For many leaders here, giving economic issues short shrift might've been fine if Bush wasn't returning to Washington empty-handed. While the White House is putting a positive spin on APEC's move to "unequivocally condemn" the attacks on New York and Washington and pledge "financial measures" to choke off terrorists' financing, no one is fooled. For many APEC members, the focus on global terror was a blow.
With the world sliding into the first synchronized recession in a generation, Asia is in for rough times. The US is its biggest export market, and American consumers aren't exactly shopping and traveling much these days. Last month's terrorist attacks had a direct -- and still unfolding -- effect on US consumers and businesses.
Rarely has there been a greater need for Asia's policy makers to put their heads together and act to stabilize their economies.
Much of East Asia is experiencing its worst slowdown in decades -- even worse that the 1997-1998 Asian crisis. Then, the US economy was booming and picking up the slack. Japan wasn't sliding as it is today.
Thanks to the bursting of the US stock bubble, many Asian nations are on the edge of recession. From Japan to Taiwan, Singapore to Hong Kong, economies are shrinking. The fact that the US is hurting raises the stakes for the continent. The terrorist attacks and spate of anthrax cases will make things worse.
Pacific Rim leaders didn't get the opportunity to raise those issues in Shanghai. That's a particular problem for average folks in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur and Manila, many of whom haven't recovered from the 1997 and 1998 crisis. Terrorism is a concern for them, as it is for everyone in the world. At the moment, though, they care far more about losing their jobs and keeping a roof over their heads.
China's APEC turn also wasn't without distractions. Taiwan wasn't here. China, which still considers Taiwan a breakaway province, barred it from attending.
Much of the effort went into hiding differences over everything from the US-led strikes on Afghanistan to boat people using Indonesia as a staging post on their way to Australia.
This year's APEC confab followed a dubious pattern established a few years ago. In the early years of APEC, say Seattle in 1993, Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994 and Osaka, Japan, in 1995, the group produced results opening trade. The Vancouver summit of 1997 failed thanks to Asia's financial crisis, and meetings since have resulted in little of note. Add Shanghai to the list.
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