E. Asian leaders confident ahead of summit

E. Asian leaders confident ahead of summit

MANILA (AP): Southeast Asian leaders, seeking to ensure
economic recovery will gain momentum, arrived Saturday to endorse
stronger ties with their northeastern neighbors and efforts to
push their agenda with global organizations while making plans
for the future.

In a further upbeat note, Philippine President Joseph Estrada
said China had agreed to halt any further construction in
disputed areas of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea.

The agreement, if confirmed by the Chinese, would represent a
major concession by Beijing. Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji is taking
part in the weekend summit as an invited guest.

During informal talks over dinner Saturday night and during
the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit Sunday,
they also will try to spark more structural reforms to fend off
disasters like the financial crisis that plagued the region for
two years.

With the worst of the crisis apparently over, officials are
finally getting the opportunity to look to tomorrow, which raises
a number of key questions, especially with China apparently
headed for membership in the World Trade Organization and
becoming even more of a target for foreign investors.

"How do you make ASEAN attractive?" Philippine Trade Secretary
Jose Pardo said. "How do you keep the engines revving and moving
faster?"

A key focus in meetings by senior officials in advance of the
summit has been to increase cooperation with China, Japan and
Korea, possibly laying the groundwork for transforming ASEAN into
a more powerful regional force.

Premier Zhu, who flew in to Manila on Friday, said his talks
so far had been valuable in developing financial and economic
cooperation with other countries in the region, which he said was
vital to ensure there would not be another Asian economic crisis.

"The worst part of the crisis is over," Zhu said. But the
Chinese leader added that Asian nations needed to continue
economic reforms and improve financial regulation.

"If you don't deal with these issues, the possibility of a
crisis recurring won't be completely removed," he said.

Zhu provided some good news for ASEAN when he said there is no
need to devalue the Chinese yuan. ASEAN officials have cited such
a devaluation as one potential threat to the region's recovery.

In addition, Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi will
announce a new aid package on Sunday that Thai Foreign Minister
Surin Pitsuwan said would be worth about US$90 million and is in
addition to the $82 billion that it earlier pledged to Asian
countries hit by the regional financial crisis that began two
years ago.

The package is aimed at boosting human resources through
exchanges of people, goods and information, officials said
Saturday. Obuchi also will announce a major fund for the World
Bank and Asia Development Bank to tackle poverty, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman said.

Thai Trade Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi said Saturday that
wealthy countries - especially the United States - must make
concessions to developing nations if a new round of World Trade
Organization negotiations is to succeed.

But he also rejected calls by some developing nations for
"wholesale renegotiations" on implementing the last big global
accord, which they contend has failed to meet promises of equal
benefits from trade between rich and poor countries.

"It would be a monumental task for the WTO to go back and
renegotiate past agreements," Supachai said. "It would not augur
well for a new round."

Security is tight for the summit, and there was a brief scare
Friday night when police, helped by bomb-sniffing dogs, seized a
box containing about two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of suspected
firecracker powder from a car entering the summit site. Security
officials downplayed the incident and released the car's owner
after questioning.

Meanwhile, 30 people-power advocates were trying to make sure
Saturday that ASEAN leaders, who have been trumpeting their
economic rebound, don't forget that poverty and human rights
abuses still abound in the region.