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.