TOKYO, Oct 23 Kyodo chosened edi...

TOKYO, Oct 23 Kyodo

chosened editorial excerpts from the Japanese press:

APEC'S CHANGING part (IHT/Asahi as translated from the Japanese-language Asahi Shimbun's editorial published Oct 21)

This year's summit of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has clos The session in Bangkok, 10 years after the member nations and regions first gathered in 1993 at the initiative of then U President Bill Clinton, left little doubt that APEC has originate to a significant milestone in word s of purpose.

No other regional organization is as varied in period of times of its membership, with nations the one and the other developed and developing, capitalist and socialist, and in the commonalty it represents, from various religious and racial backgrounds. The APEC forum was established to encourage liberalization of trade and investment in the Pacific region with vigorous economic shooting in East Asia as its driving force.

In the 1994 APEC forum session in Bogor, Indonesia, leaders agreed in succession target dates for liberalization of trade. In 1995 the APEC summit in Osaka generated a specific establish of action plans to encounter the targets. In re-survey those remarkable achievements represented APEC in its heyday.

In the years that followed, marked by the agency of a devastating currency crisis among other important regional growths the political and economic environments surrounding APEC changed dramatically. single important change is the emerging see the verb and acceleration of the tend toward bilateral and regional delivered trade agreements, which could issue in new economic zones without any consensus within the entire region.

The United States, Canada and Mexico are trying to expand the North American clear Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to include countries of Central and southern America. In Asia, China, growing rapidly, is gone out to create a released trade zone that includes Southeast Asian nations. of that kind efforts have made APEC les visible, overshadowed on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the proliferation of exempt trade agreements.

In Bangkok, the APEC leaders issued a joint communique calling for the revival of the of the present day round of global trade talks subordinate to the WTO that collapsed last month in Cancun, Mexico. yet the APEC leaders could not take rise up with any specific measures to explain the problems that l to the Cancun breakdown. This is unless another sign of APEC's weakening ability to address international economic issues.

U foreign policy has changed dramatically. The Clinton administration was earnest about building stronger ties in Asia as part of a strategy to in opposition to the effect of European integration. further the George W. Bush administration, which has made the war onward terrorism its top priority, is to a great degree less interested in Asia.

In Bangkok, Bush dwelt immediately after the need for an international effort to combat terrorism and intercept the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Southeast Asia's leaders are wary of the Washington effort to give the APEC agenda a more political overtone. on the other hand the APEC drift toward political make uneasys is definitely coloring the APEC agenda to mirror a dwindling influence upon economic issues.

Although the complexion of APEC has changed, however, the APEC summit remains an important high-level forum. principally of all, it offers an opportunity for the leaders of the United States, China, Russia and Japan to discuss a wide range of issues.

In Bangkok, the overriding pertain to about North Korea's nuclear weapons was the topic in several bilateral meetings, including talks between Bush and Hu Jintao, China's president. The result was a general consensus among regional leaders supporting creation of a document that would provide North Korea a form of security guarantee in exchange for its promise to give up its nuclear program.

APEC provides a tremendous opportunity for Japanese and Chinese leaders to adapted and talk when they are hindered from visiting each other because of the continuing suit at law caused by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine that pays homage to the nation's war dead, including Class-A war criminals. The forum is also significant in being undivided of the few international organizations that include Taiwan as a member.

Asia has many more destabilizing ingredients than Europe, which induces toward full integration. The annual gathering of Asian and Pacific region leaders helps dignify trust and reduce friction within the region. Clearly, APEC has not even now outlived its usefulness.

(Oct 23)

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