Mahathir opposes regular APEC meetings
Mahathir opposes regular APEC meetings
JAKARTA (JP): With the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) leadership conference in Indonesia just a few weeks away,
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad yesterday spoke against
regular meetings by the forum as part of his overall objection
towards its institutionalization.
"We don't think that we should have fixed meetings of heads of
government, fixed meetings of ministers of different ministries,
or even senior officials meetings," Mahathir told reporters at
the conclusion of his two-day working visit.
He stressed the he objected to any move to institutionalize
the five-year old forum.
The second APEC leadership meeting, scheduled to take place in
nearby Bogor on Nov. 15, was one of the topics which Mahathir
discussed during his meeting with President Soeharto on Friday.
The Malaysian leader stayed away from the inaugural APEC
leadership meeting on Blake Island, Seattle, last year, after
criticizing the host United States of trying to turn the forum
into another of its spheres of influence.
APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, China,
Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea and the six members of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN) -- Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the
Philippines, Brunei and Indonesia. Chile will formally join the
group this November.
Mahathir said Soeharto had explained the concept of free trade
within the region within a specific time frame whereby the
developed countries would liberalize their markets five to 10-
years faster than the less developed ones.
"We don't ever want it to become a formal trade," Mahathir
said, adding that he would prefer to keep APEC as a very loose
forum."There should not be too rapid a progress for APEC."
Nevertheless, in response questions, Mahathir said he would
attend the Bogor meeting.
He emphasized that the forum must not in any way overshadow
ASEAN.
His position contrasts sharply with the recommendation made by
APEC's Eminent Persons' Group whose latest report issued last
month proposed that the forum move to turn the Asia Pacific
region into a free trade area. The group's report is expected to
feature prominently in the APEC's ministerial conference in
Jakarta in November preceding the leadership meeting.
ASEAN members from the outset have stated that APEC must
remain a loose, informal consultative forum as stipulated in the
1990 Kuching declaration.
Recently during an APEC senior officials meeting in
Yogyakarta, the director general of foreign economic relations at
the Indonesian foreign ministry, denied that ASEAN had changed
its attitude towards APEC. He said that ASEAN continues to be
wary of APEC and that the forum must not dilute the cohesiveness
of ASEAN.
Russia
When queried on the possibility of countries such as Cambodia,
Vietnam, Peru, and Russia taking part in a number APEC's
activities, Mahathir said he welcomed the idea.
He said issues such as human rights and democratization should
not be made as prerequisites to join the forum.
If there are such problems it should be discussed internally
within APEC, Mahathir remarked.
He emphasized that the membership of the forum should be open
to all countries bordering on the Pacific.
Touching on the dispute of Sipadan and Ligitan islands,
Mahathir said both Indonesia and Malaysia have agreed to discuss
the matter further.
In recent negotiations the two parties reached an impasse when
Malaysia proposed arbitration through the International Court of
Justice. (mds)