Leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region held a summit yesterday to give new impetus to deadlocked trade talks and the fight against bird flu, as police clashes with protesters turned violent.
The 21 APEC leaders and representatives -- including US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Hu Jintao (
As well as appealing for intensive efforts to ensure the success of the Dec. 13-18 WTO talks in Hong Kong, the leaders will address bird flu, terrorism, North Korea and energy security.
As the motorcades of the presidents and prime ministers swept into the high-tech BEXCO exhibition center in Busan, around 10,000 farmers and anti-globalization protesters gathered nearby.
Chanting anti-US slogans and waving colorful banners reading "No APEC, No Bush" and "Terrorist Bush Go Home," the crowd, some armed with metal pipes, long bamboo sticks and bottles, faced off with thousands of riot police ringing the center.
"We want to hurt them and we want them to hurt us," a farmer from just north of the port city said, as he brandished a weighty 3m-long bamboo stick, his face masked with a red handkerchief and his breath smelling of South Korean rice wine.
On two occasions hundreds of hardcore protesters tried to break through a make-shift police barricade of ocean-liner cargo containers to reach bridges over the Suyeong River to reach the APEC meeting, triggering violent clashes and volleys of water cannon loaded with seawater which left several people injured.
APEC countries account for nearly 60 percent of global trade, and the leaders were to issue a statement today calling for compromises on farm subsidies to prevent the so-called Doha round of WTO talks from collapsing.
"Unless progress is made in this area, we cannot make progress in the round as a whole," a draft of the statement states.
"Avoiding or compromising our ambition on this issue would mean we would lower expectations for the round as a whole," the draft continues..
Asia-Pacific nations have become embroiled in an acrimonious war of words with the EU, and South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that APEC felt it was up to the EU to make a new offer on agriculture.
"They are basically saying that now the ball is in Europe's court and they are asking for a very active and flexible attitude in negotiations from the Europeans," Ban said after the first session of talks.
He said the group's leaders would sign off on the "very strong message" today that the Hong Kong WTO meeting cannot be allowed to fail. But calls by Australia and Canada to harden the statement were rebuffed, Ban said.
The EU has refused to match a US offer on cutting farm subsidies, instead making a "bottom line" offer earlier this month to cut the bloc's overall tariff rate from 23 percent to 12 percent.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has this week rebuffed APEC pressure and insisted Europe would not be making a new offer.
Bird flu is also an urgent topic which will be addressed today.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard flagged a new Canberra initiative in a speech here and made thinly-veiled criticism of Thailand, China and Vietnam for being slow to report the extent of outbreaks in 2003 and last year.
Howard stressed the importance of preparing for a pandemic and "of putting aside any sense of national pride or self-consciousness about any outbreak."
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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