Bush to attend APEC summit

Bush to attend APEC summit

BEIJING (Reuters): U.S. President George W. Bush will attend an October summit of Asia-Pacific leaders in Shanghai despite the catastrophic terror attacks on the United States, a top Chinese official said on Thursday.

Bush told Chinese President Jiang Zemin in a telephone conversation on Wednesday night he would attend the meeting, Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya told a news conference.

"After the conversation between the Chinese and U.S. presidents after the attack, President George W. Bush has confirmed that he will attend as planned the October event, the APEC informal meeting in Shanghai," said Wang.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit is scheduled to feature the first meeting between Jiang and Bush. Nineteen other leaders from around the region are due to attend.

Wang gave assurances of tight security at the event.

"The relevant organizing committees for the APEC informal leaders' meeting to be held in Shanghai have always paid the highest attention to the issue of security," he said. "We will try our best to provide security guarantees."