BANGKOK, 18 October 2003 — The leaders of APEC’s 21 member nations will pledge to dismantle terrorist organizations at their summit here next week, which saw the city undergo a massive temporary facelift and unprecedented security preparations.
According to a draft statement, the leaders — including the presidents of the United States, Russia and China — will also vow to halt the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
“We agreed to dedicate Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation not only to ensuring the prosperity of our economies, but also to the complementary goal of ensuring the security of our people,” said the draft copy.
The statement, to be released after their two-day summit on Tuesday, pledges to “dismantle, fully and without delay, transnational terrorist groups whose operational and ideological reach threatens the APEC economies.”
The APEC leaders, representing 2.8 billion people, said they would strengthen international non-proliferation regimes and export controls and take other “necessary measures.”
It said a partnership between APEC’s Counter-Terrorism Task Force, the Counter-Terrorism Action Group of the G8 and the United Nations’ Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee would be established.
Washington has made clear that US President George W. Bush, who arrives today to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, intends to push regional nations to stand firm against terrorism.
The APEC leaders also said they regretted the “missed opportunity to advance” the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round when talks collapsed in Cancun last month.
During an informal retreat here yesterday, foreign and trade ministers agreed on the need for a “clear and strong message” from the group to put trade negotiations back on track.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has already arrived here for his first APEC meeting with the goal of further boosting China’s influence in the region and deepening its embrace of Southeast Asia, partly to counter US dominance.
Thailand’s sweeping APEC security operations kicked into gear yesterday as ministers met under the protection of 20,000 armed police and soldiers.
The massive security detail charged with safeguarding the capital left no stone unturned following a year of deadly attacks in Asia and the August arrest of top Southeast Asian terror suspect Hambali in Thailand.
Armed guards patrol the elevated commuter railway and policemen are frisking shoppers at malls, stopping cars for random searches, and blocking roadways near meeting venues.
An enormous yellow banner, over half a kilometer long and four stories high, has been unfurled on the banks of Bangkok’s Chao Praya River, opposite a viewing stand set up in preparation for a procession of royal barges scheduled for Monday.
The banner bears the message: “A Warm Welcome to Thailand to all APEC Delegates”. The barge procession is part of the welcoming ceremonies for the estimated 10,000 foreign delegates, spouses and security forces in Bangkok.
But the banner also serves to conceal from the eyes of the delegates the Tha Tien slum community located on the river banks.
Tattered streets have been hastily re-paved. Vendors of pirated software, DVDs, clothes and watches have been temporarily forced off footpaths and out of night markets.
The government also rounded up thousands of homeless, beggars and prostitutes in the previous weeks.
Bangkok’s street traffic, slow and snarled at the best of times, is expected to get even worse during the meeting. Many of the city’s main arteries have been closed or re-routed to allow the swift transfer of delegates to meetings.
Even some government members have been critical of the country’s make-over efforts. Bangkok Senator Chirmsak Pinthong spoke out against the riverside banner, criticizing it as distortion worthy of a Hollywood studio.
“It’s all a pretense,” said Somrak, 24, one of a new generation of foreign-educated urban Asians.
