Asian summit leaders pledge terror crackdown
Asian and Pacific nation leaders today promised a crackdown against terrorist groups and tougher steps to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
The 21-nation summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation concluded two days of talks which were shrouded in security concerns and overshadowed by one and possibly two North Korean missile tests.
US President George Bush won support for new moves to end the year-old nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
The summit’s final communique did not specifically mention North Korea’s nuclear threat, but a verbal statement read by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for a restart of six-nation talks to resolve the crisis.
Thaksin stressed that the North’s security concerns must be addressed.
While some nations complained that security issues had dominated the meeting’s stated economic agenda, the summit urged all countries to “eliminate the severe and growing danger problem posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction”, said the formal communique, released at the end of the gathering.
The Asian and Pacific leaders also urged countries to ”dismantle fully and without delay transnational terrorist groups that threaten the APEC economies”.
North Korea jarred nerves by firing an anti-ship missile off its east coast as part of its annual military exercise.
It was North Korea’s first missile test-firing since April and called attention to Bush’s fledgling proposal to defuse tensions by offering Pyongyang a five-nation security guarantee if it would scrap its nuclear weapons programme.
Japan said today it suspected that North Korea may have test-fired a second missile. The government said it was trying to confirm the information.
The United States pressed the summit to take note of Bush’s initiative, which would commit the United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea to a no-invasion pledge.
The administration said its proposal was still in the early stages of development. A US official in Washington said the administration was still debating issues such as when to offer a security pledge and what North Korea would have to do beforehand.
US officials viewed North Korea’s missile firing as a provocative attempt to get attention during the summit but said it only served to isolate the already reclusive regime.
Bush met with South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and they issued a joint statement urging North Korea “to refrain from any action which would exacerbate the situation”.
The scourge of terrorism was a prominent summit topic, underscored by Indonesia’s warning of possible attacks as Bush prepared to visit the island of Bali in a quick stop en route to Australia.
Bush personally thanked Thailand for the capture of Asia’s top terror suspect, known as Hambali, who is accused of masterminding bomb attacks against U.S. and other Western targets across Southeast Asia.
