APEC leaders target terror, economic growth as summit ends

APEC leaders target terror, economic growth as summit ends

Stephen Collinson, Agence France-Presse, Los Cabos, Mexico

Pacific Rim leaders condemned the "mass slaughter of innocents"
in the Bali bombing, decried terror attacks in Russia and the
Philippines and told North Korea to quit producing nuclear
weapons, as they ended a weekend summit on Sunday.

Launching a bold initiative to safeguard global trade and
transport, they chased the terrorist "money trail" in a new
offensive against the radicalism threatening their joint economic
prospects.

But there was no sign that U.S. President George W. Bush
brought fellow leaders into line behind a tough U.S. stance on
Iraq over two days of talks, informal chats and official banquets
set against the symbolic backdrop of the sun sparkled Pacific
Ocean.

Terrorism is a "profound threat" to the region's vision of
free, open and prosperous economies, said Mexican President
Vicente Fox, reading a final declaration, flanked by fellow
leaders shaded by parasols.

Faithful to APEC tradition, leaders sported traditional dress
of the host country. Mexico kitted out male leaders in pure white
Guayabera shirts, while female leaders, including Philippine
President Gloria Arroyo, wore scarlet and white smocks known as
Huipiles.

Highlighting the Bali car bombing two weeks ago, which killed
more than 180 people, leaders bemoaned "this mass slaughter of
the innocent, many of whom were Indonesian and Australian
citizens," in a statement on recent terror attacks.

In a separate document on terrorism and economic growth, they
condemned "in the strongest terms, recent terrorist acts in the
APEC region," especially the Bali attack, bombings in the
Philippines and the Chechen hostage siege in Moscow.

Russia's diplomats savored their coup in ensuring the Chechnya
question was referred to for the first time at an international
summit document as terrorism, following the bloody commando raid
which ended the standoff in a theater early Saturday.

APEC leaders also called on Stalinist North Korea to give up
the nuclear weapons program it revealed to a US envoy earlier
this month, warning Pyongyang's cautious diplomatic emergence was
doomed if it refused.

"We call upon (North Korea) to visibly honor its commitment to
give up nuclear weapons programs and reaffirm our commitment to
ensure a peaceful resolution of this issue," the leaders said in
a special statement.

"We note the potential for the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea to benefit economically from greater participation as a
member of the Asia-Pacific community," they said.

Like a previous communique issued by Japan, South Korea and
the United States on Saturday, the statement did not contain any
specific mention of sanctions Pyongyang would face should it
refuse to give up the program.

APEC was set up as an economic alliance, but for two years has
been consumed by the challenge of terrorism.

Leaders hiked security at airports, seaports and to share
anti-terror intelligence.

One measure, adopted in a victory for Washington, is the
introduction of reinforced cockpit doors on civilian aircraft
before April 2003.

APEC members must meet port security targets by July 2004.
"We must grow our economies even as we protect our borders and
find new ways to secure our key economic infrastructure from
terrorist attacks," their declaration said.

"We will jointly work to deny terrorists access to the world's
financial system and use the money trail to locate and apprehend
terrorists," leaders said, and vowed to enact a set of
cybersecurity laws to protect the Internet.

On traditional APEC ground, they promised to restore trust in
financial markets by driving out corporate corruption.

Bush left Los Cabos for the campaign trail without softening
opposition to his firm line on Iraq, with controversy building on
the U.S. push for a firm UN Security Council resolution on
weapons inspections.

China's President Jiang Zemin meanwhile, made a barbed exit
from the international stage, before he starts to hand over his
Communist party posts later this year.

A beaming Jiang, 76, enjoyed rubbing shoulders with fellow
leaders for probably the last time -- perhaps surveying his
legacy, which he hopes will portray him as the man who ushered
China irrevocably into the modern world.

But he could not resist one last dig at Japan, warning Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi in face-to-face talks never again to
visit a shrine in Tokyo that honors fallen soldiers including
convicted World War II criminals.