Leaders of the 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit concluded their summit here Thursday with a vow to intensify efforts to combat terrorism.
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“Under the shadow cast by the terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, and against Russian aircraft over the Sinai, and elsewhere, we strongly condemn all acts, methods, and practices of terrorism in all their forms and manifestations”, the declaration read.
The statement is a rare departure from convention for APEC which typically prefers to focus on economic and business issues.
The 21 APEC member economies are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam.
WORLD ECONOMY: “We met at a time when global growth is uneven and continues to fall short of expectation”.
In a declaration at the end of the Manila meeting, they stressed solidarity amongst governments to work together in the “urgent” fight against terrorism. The joint declaration also stressed on preventing terrorism from undermining the values of free and open economies and called for more global cooperation to defeat it.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. of Quezon City said China is already feeling the pressure despite the exclusion of the issue from the APEC agenda, given the tough stance shown by President Aquino, as well as US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“We are talking about efficiency, transparency and consistency in implementing regulations, and not allowing regulations to become a non-transparent opaque way of co-operation”, he said.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaigner Ashley Fruno says “We were shocked that our event was stopped, as all we were doing was advocating for kindness and reminding APEC leaders and delegates that animal agriculture is a leading cause of climate change”.
The U.S.-led TPP trade deal, involving 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region, excludes countries like China due to its so-called “high-standards” which China fails to meet.
In a legal setback for Beijing, an arbitration court in the Netherlands has ruled it has jurisdiction to hear a few territorial claims the Philippines has filed against China over disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Japan has voiced objections to Chinese moves to expand its claims in the South China Sea that Tokyo says are violating global law and threatening free navigation and flight in the region.
The first of two APEC summit retreats began Thursday with the leaders posing for a “family photo”, one of several traditions of the annual gatherings that rotate from one member to the next.
China is good at manufacturing and infrastructure construction, especially the construction of roads, seaports and airports, he said, expressing the hope that China can help APEC economies improve their infrastructure facilities.
Police responded by firing water cannons and scuffled with protesters who were chanting: “Junk APEC”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping used the APEC forum to push for further progress to develop the rival Free-Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) a multilateral free trade pact.
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In deference to Xi, the APEC leaders’ did not officially tackle the issue.
