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."