A summit of 21 Asia Pacific leaders will go ahead as scheduled in China on October 20-21 despite the US-led strikes on Afghanistan, organisers said on Monday.
Officials told Reuters they were confident the US-British air strikes on Sunday would not affect an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai, during which US President George W. Bush is to meet Chinese President Jiang Zemin for the first time.
"It shouldn't have any effect on our plans and although we can't be sure of specific scheduling changes, we're confident it shouldn't influence our work," said Li Chunping, a deputy division head at Shanghai's APEC preparatory office.
The United States and Britain unleashed waves of bomb and missile strikes on Afghanistan on Sunday to cripple the armed forces of its Taliban rulers and drive into the open those believed responsible for last month's suicide plane attacks on America.
Chinese officials have been forging ahead with preparations despite the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which killed nearly 5,600 people.
US officials said in September that Bush planned to attend the Shanghai summit, although he postponed visits to Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing.
Leaders from 19 other countries, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are set to convene in Shanghai from October 20-21.
Senior officials meet on October 15-16, and trade and foreign ministers -- including Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and US Secretary of State Colin Powell -- hold talks on October 17-18. The preliminary meetings will set the agenda for the summit.
APEC -- a group that has spent its first decade dedicated to freeing trade in the Asia-Pacific region -- is now expected to grapple with responses to the attacks on the United States, the war on terror and their impact on the global economy.
(China Daily 10/08/2001)
