APEC's credibility depends on its concrete actions
APEC's credibility depends on its concrete actions
The Strait Times, Asia News Network, Singapore
The APEC summit in Shanghai last Sunday turned out to be a
productive affair. On the economic front, leaders of the 21
Pacific Rim economies all pledged to press on with trade
liberalization and reforms. They will support the launching of
new global negotiations at the World Trade Organization. They
adopted the so-called Shanghai Accord to give the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum economies a new road map to guide them
towards freer trade.
Politically, they did something unprecedented by taking an
unequivocal stand against terrorism. Beyond their condemnation of
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in America, they called for a
bigger United Nations' role to combat terrorism. This was an APEC
summit like no other in that the politics of terrorism and its
ramifications, not just APEC economics, hogged the limelight.
These are exceptional times, yes, but a word of caution is in
order. APEC must stay focused on its primary task of fostering
economic growth, and not stray into political minefields. The
last thing APEC leaders want to do is turn it into a political
forum.
U.S. President George W. Bush, attending his first APEC
summit, sought support for America's war against terrorism. He
rallied APEC leaders to his cause and got as much as he possibly
could from them.
Significantly, the leaders' statement on counter-terrorism
neither mentioned nor endorsed the U.S. military strikes in
Afghanistan. This underlines the caution, if not misgivings, some
APEC leaders felt about America's campaign, which has stoked
anti-U.S. protests in Indonesia and elsewhere.
Happily, the spectacular fireworks display that China put up
for APEC leaders on the summit's eve was not replayed in their
talks. To be sure, they had differences, but these did not become
stumbling blocks at the summit. This is a remarkable show of APEC
cohesion in trying times.
The uncertainties caused by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and
fears of global recession helped to concentrate minds. Going by
the pledges, there is, apparently, political will among them to
get on with liberalization to achieve their free-trade goal by
2020.
True, many of their differences over trade and other issues
were papered over. But the fact that all the APEC leaders
attended the Shanghai summit, save Taipei's boycott to protest
against its level of representation, is an important political
statement in itself.
APEC leaders endorsed the Shanghai Accord, which is
essentially a bid to prod APEC to move faster towards its free-
trade goals. It commits APEC economies to speed up reforms and
liberalize trade through greater transparency, peer reviews of
action plans, and constant stock-taking to check the backsliders
and speed up the slow-movers.
All this is fine. APEC leaders now have to match words with
deeds. Its secretariat in Singapore should be strengthened to
nudge the economies along with, say, half-yearly open reviews to
promote the Apec spirit of voluntarism.
Without demonstrable political will to tear down trade
barriers, APEC's credibility will be questioned. Left to their
own devices, some APEC economies have been complacent or, worse,
they backtrack. This means that APEC must really get serious to
stay relevant, and there is no better time to do it than now.
To get started, try lowering the costs of doing business in
APEC economies by five percent over the next five years, as the
accord proposes.
Liberalize customs and visa procedures. Stick faithfully to
tariff-cutting schedules. These are the nuts and bolts of free
trade. Get moving.