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.
PHOTO: AP
"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.
The omissions were "not a setback," a US official said on condition of anonymity. "What we were looking for was what we got. We didn't need more from this group."
The official cited the agreements on hunting down terrorist funds and references to the UN Charter's self-defense clause as victories for the White House stand.
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS