Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan has called the Shanghai meeting of leaders of the member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum a total success that will have an important and far-reaching impact on the future of the Pacific rim.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Tang said China, as the host of the summit meeting, is satisfied with the results of the summit which he said is a "centennial event at the focus of world attention."
All the leaders of the 21 member economies of APEC, except Taiwan, took part in the two-day informal summit that ended here Sunday.
The summit this year is the ninth of its kind in APEC history and has as its theme "Meeting New Challenges in the New Century: Achieving Common Prosperity through Participation and Cooperation. "
During the summit leaders of APEC economies conducted extensive consultations and reached consensus on the economic scenario of the world and the Asia-Pacific region, the direction of APEC development in the future, human capacity building and other issues.
A declaration of the leaders was issued at the end of the summit.
"The meeting represented a steady step forward for Asia-Pacific regional cooperation, consolidated and strengthened friendly and cooperative relations among APEC members, and has also offered an opportunity for the rest of the world to understand China better and vice versa," the minister said.
"This is a successful meeting. It has an important and far- reaching impact. As the host of the meeting, China is satisfied with the achievements of the meeting," he added.
Tang noted that the summit has been held at a time when humanity has just entered a new century, and the whole world, including the Asia-Pacific region, is facing severe challenges produced by economic globalization and a knowledge-based economy.
"As the most important economic forum in the region, how to strengthen regional economic cooperation for the promotion of common development in the face of new opportunities and challenges is the historic mission of the summit," Tang said.
He noted that the Shanghai Accord endorsed at this year's APEC meeting has reiterated the members' determination to attain the Bogor Goals in the pursuit of common prosperity, enriched the content of APEC cooperation and enhanced its cooperative mechanism.
In addition, the e-APEC Strategy adopted by the meeting will have a positive impact on narrowing the digital divide among member economies and promoting the development of the information industry in the region.
All in all, Tang said, the summit will have a lasting impact on the future of APEC and is expected to help promote a sustainable development of the Asia-Pacific regional economy.
As the host of a series of APEC meetings, Tang said China has taken into full consideration different situations facing APEC members and their different concerns and pushed for the discussion of frontier issues facing the global economy and economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region as the focus of the meetings. China has also worked hard coordinating the positions of different countries.
It is thanks to all these efforts on the Chinese side that the participants have reached consensus on a wide range of issues of common concern and made substantive progress on major issues discussed at the meetings, Tang said.
"China has played an irreplaceable, important role in the successful holding of the meetings, for which it has won the praise of all members," Tang said.
He noted that since it joined the APEC in 1993, China has actively participated in all APEC activities in a cooperative spirit, and that its positive and constructive stance has always drawn praises from other APEC members.
With the deepening of its domestic reforms and its economic development, China will have much closer ties with other economies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it will play a more important role in setting the APEC agenda, Tang said.
Tang noted that APEC was established in the late 1980s when profound changes were taking place in international political and economic fields. Since its establishment, APEC has advanced trade and investment liberalization and economic and technological cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, and made positive contributions to regional and global economic development.
"The APEC meetings in Shanghai have enhanced the confidence of APEC members in the economic development of the Asia-Pacific region and laid a solid foundation for APEC's development in the new century," the foreign minister said.
Along with an ever changing international situation, APEC will continue to play a guiding role in solving some outstanding issues in global and regional economic development, boosting the development of a multi-lateral trade system, contributing to economic and trade cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region, and meeting new challenges with full respect given to diversity. In this way, APEC will march firmly toward attaining the Bogor goals and common prosperity.
Talking about Sino-U.S. relations, Tang noted that the U.S. is the biggest developed country and China is the biggest developing country. Both are key members of APEC and can cooperate in a number of fields such as trade, investment, the new economy, and economic and technological cooperation.
The Shanghai APEC meetings are favorable to strengthening economic and trade cooperation and promoting a sound and steady development of bilateral relations, Tang said. In their first meeting, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President George Bush exchanged views and reached consensus on bilateral relations, APEC cooperation as well as international and regional issues of common concern.
"Their meeting has given a vigorous push to the improvement and development of Sino-U.S. relations and laid a fine foundation for a relationship of constructive cooperation between the two countries in the new century," the foreign minister said.
Chinese President Jiang Zemin also met with many other leaders of APEC member economies. The meetings played an important role in stabilizing and developing relations between China and the world powers such as the United States and Russia, promoting good neighborly ties between China and its neighbors, and contributing to regional and global stability and prosperity.
"The successful hosting of the APEC 2001 meetings exhibited achievements China has made since the country's reform and opening and raised China's international status," Tang said, adding that the success was a good beginning for China's diplomacy in the new century.
Responding to a question relating to the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, Tang said the negative impact of the incident on the global and regional economy has become apparent. Leaders of APEC members exchanged views and made a joint statement in this regard. They condemned the terrorist attacks and expressed the wish of strengthening cooperation and making efforts to mitigate the incident's impact on world economic development as soon as possible.
(Xinhua News Agency October 21,2001)
