Momentum gathered yesterday for Pacific Rim leaders to use their annual summit to try to break a deadlock in negotiations that are threatening the current global trade round.
Senior officials yesterday fine- tuned what they said would be a strongly worded statement that the 21 leaders of the APEC forum would adopt later this week to try to revive hopes for a WTO meeting in Hong Kong next month.
APEC's business lobby group, meeting yesterday on the sidelines of the official gathering, called on the leaders to use their political influence to end the stalemate.
"We believe that the negotiations require an injection from political leaders, of commitment and determination to achieve a successful outcome," the APEC Business Advisory Council said in a letter to South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, the summit's host.
"We urge APEC leaders to exert their collective will in ways that cannot be denied," said the business lobby, which was scheduled to meet yesterday.
The WTO's so-called Doha round of negotiations have come to a near standstill because of differences over lowering subsidies protecting farmers, especially in Europe, and other reasons. Officials are worried the talks could collapse if progress is not made in Hong Kong.
"If this cannot be resolved, nothing will happen in Hong Kong and it will be hard for the WTO to get back on it's feet," said Edcel Custodio, the Philippines' senior official. "It's make or break."
Underscoring the issue's importance at APEC, South Korea had called an unscheduled meeting of trade ministers for today specifically to discuss the WTO statement, Custodio said.
But it is unclear what influence APEC, which includes seven of the world's 13 largest economies but has Russia as its only European member, can have on the WTO negotiations.
Almost 40,000 security forces have been deployed in Busan, where US President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the 18 other leaders will hold their summit on Friday and Saturday.
The police and military forces are guarding against terrorist attacks and planned antiglobalization demonstrations organizers say will draw tens of thousands of people into the streets during the summit.
The leaders' summit is preceded by two days of discussions by APEC foreign and trade ministers starting today. A wide variety of bilateral talks will also be held during the week.
APEC leaders are also expected to sign off of a wide-ranging communique that will include new counterterrorism and anticorruption proposals, cooperation on combatting bird flu, and steps to advance the group's goal of establishing a free-trade zone by 2020.
Officials reached agreement Sunday on a US proposal to test major airports in each APEC economy for vulnerability to attack using shoulder-fired missiles. Initial opposition from China and other countries was overcome by making the commitment nonbinding and the tests voluntary, officials said.
Agreement was also reached on fighting bird flu, including cooperation to develop a vaccine and greater information sharing and other measures.
also see story:
`Persecution,' APEC don't mix
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
A Vietnamese migrant worker yesterday won NT$12 million (US$379,627) on a Lunar New Year scratch card in Kaohsiung as part of Taiwan Lottery Co’s (台灣彩券) “NT$12 Million Grand Fortune” (1200萬大吉利) game. The man was the first top-prize winner of the new game launched on Jan. 6 to mark the Lunar New Year. Three Vietnamese migrant workers visited a Taiwan Lottery shop on Xinyue Street in Kaohsiung’s Gangshan District (崗山), a store representative said. The player bought multiple tickets and, after winning nothing, held the final lottery ticket in one hand and rubbed the store’s statue of the Maitreya Buddha’s belly with the other,
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
RSS