Bush pushes for anti-terrorism debate at Bangkok trade summit

PACIFIC SUMMIT: US President Mr George Bush forced the war on terror on the Pacific Rim summit yesterday, despite the resentment…

PACIFIC SUMMIT: US President Mr George Bush forced the war on terror on the Pacific Rim summit yesterday, despite the resentment of some Asian nations which want it to stick to freeing trade.

The Canadian Prime Minister Mr Jean Chretien said afterwards that the leaders did not discuss anti-terror measures at the first session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) forum summit but would do so today. "We will talk about terrorism because it is very important for the stability of investment that terrorism be eliminated around the world.

"There is nothing more nervous than a million dollars. If you don't have stability, you are in trouble. That's why we want to discuss terrorism," he said.

The final draft says the 21 members agree to "dismantle, fully and without delay, transnational terrorist groups that threaten APEC economies".

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The draft declaration calls for increased security co-ordination, tighter controls at ports and a campaign to stop militants moving money around the world.

The leaders promise to discuss such issues at future meetings "and to take specific actions", said the draft, which could yet be changed. It reflected President Bush's argument that terrorism posed "a direct and profound" challenge to freeing trade and increasing wealth.

Although it also referred strongly to promoting trade, some in Asia were unhappy at the emphasis on security. Malaysian Prime Minister Mr Mahathir Mohamad was blunt. "APEC was formed as an economic co-operation group. But we don't agree \ taking away economic matters into security, military or politics."

The irrepressible Mr Mahathir also railed at inequities in trade, saying developing nations were "ready to be exploited, but we must be fairly exploited".

Some worried the divisions on terrorism could cause serious friction. "If the talks go beyond economic issues, we don't want to see the relationship among members in the forum deteriorate," said Thai Prime Minister Mr Thaksin Shinawatra, the host of the summit whose country has long been a close US ally.

APEC includes several countries struggling to contain militancy within their own borders, including Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, Russia and the Philippines.

Nevertheless, economic issues were still prominent at the summit of a group spanning a wide range of countries from the US to Papua New Guinea.

On Sunday, Mr Bush called on China to do something about its yuan currency, which Washington feels is undervalued. Chinese President Mr Hu Jintao agreed on a joint panel to study a way to float the yuan, but, significantly, did so after China's central bank chief issued a long defence of Beijing's policy of effectively pegging the yuan to the dollar.

The final draft declaration also agreed to push for a swift restart of global trade talks which collapsed in Cancun last month amid differences between developed and developing nations on how to pull down tariff barriers.

"We lent our strong support for continuing the valuable work done at the Cancun ministerial conference," said the final draft.

However, the language, agreed by foreign and trade ministers over the weekend, was seen largely as little more than rhetoric with APEC including countries which clashed bitterly in Cancun.