The 21-nation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok October 20-21 may have given the appearance of being splashy and flashy but failed to live up to the buildup and showcase prepared by the host country for months in anticipation.

The actual event, however, may have had more to do with power and prestige for the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was seeking to re-establish the country’s presence on tourist and conference agendas, and US President George W. Bush in quest of other photo opportunities in the buildup to the Presidential campaign back home. It was also a case of most Asian and even other Western Hemisphere countries wanting to deal with trade issues, which was what APEC was established to deal with, while the American priority is now almost exclusively focused on the perceived threat of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Having helped build up the expectation of discussions and results in the trade and economic side, Thaksin said afterwards that leaders made clear trade and investment were at the top of their agenda and had noted the importance of agriculture to the success of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.

The 15th APEC Ministerial Meeting the week before the summit in Bangkok did treat the issue and the Doha Round negotiations in much more detail and issued a lengthy declaration more in line with the participants' preoccupation and plans.

Thaksin had said before the meeting that he would seek treat the event as more than a mere “ritual,“ but afterwards had to face the facts and comments that the conclave had failed to live up to expectations. One of the few sources of satisfaction in Thailand was that the events passed without any major disruption from protests of the type which has plagued many world and especially economic and trade-related gatherings. Tight security precautions, which included televised presentations of new locally-invented traps and devices, and carefully-constructed screens which hid Bangkok slums from the summiteers cordoned off any would-be demonstrators who were also warned off by the Thai Prime Minister.

The lead editorial in the Bangkok Post just after the meeting October 22 analysed the results. "It is almost unimaginable for the world's only superpower not to get its own way. So it was refreshing to see the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation collectively resist the United States, and largely succeed. America brought more security issues into the forum despite the resistance of an unknown number of states. But collectively, formal statements by ministers and leaders kept trade issues I on the agenda, and sent a strong signal of APEC's commitment to the World Trade Organisation. Thailand, as the host, deserves some credit for keeping trade issues to the forefront. It also must take at least some of the blame for yielding to the American push for more attention to security issues."

Bush sets the tone

President Bush set the tone immediately upon arrival when he visited the headquarters of the Thai army to honour the return of Thai troops from Afghanistan where they had assisted in the US-led war on terrorism there.

The first full day of the APEC Summit again seemed the emphasis on terrorism and bilateral discussions with South Korean President Roh by the American president which Bush said showed “real progress“ toward a peaceful solution to the Korean nuclear crisis.

This shift in recent APEC priorities, in the eyes of some senior Asian officials, may be self-defeating since they do not see military means alone as resolving the underlying causes of the terrorism threat, although some want to be seen as strong US allies in the military war on terrorism. But others believe that if APEC cannot be a catalyst for effective economic strategy planning, it will, as one senior Asian diplomat remarked, be seen as a “spent force.“

While the official APEC declaration issued general statements on virtually all issues, including the trade negotiations, they were widely regarded as grossly insufficient platitudes with possibly negative impact. The APEC members reiterated their intention to create a free trade and investment zone by 2010, with 2020 the target for developing country members. The final declaration also managed to weave the threat of bio-terrorism as a menace to economic development of the region. It applauded the establishment by Singapore and the US of a Regional Emerging Disease Intervention Centre that could also deal with natural epidemics such as SARS. Six different anti-terrorism actions were presented, ranging from controlling the spread of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles to the need to address the root causes of terrorism. But when asked what the latter clause meant, Thaksin replied that the question was “too technical” and that he was “not an expert.”

Doubts, confusion evident

At his press conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahatir Mohammed clarified, by adding that financial support for terrorist groups had to be blocked. He stressed the importance of security to economic growth, tourism and investments, “But we are not interested in other aspects of security like military action.”

The developments in APEC, which was established in 1994 and served as a reference for the creation of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summits and process, remain of some relevance to the Euro-Asian dialogue, which from the start also included political and security issues.

On the trade front itself, the US preoccupation with security issues, did little to dispel fears in Asia and elsewhere that the US was “veering toward protectionism and losing sight of its role as leader of global trade,” as the New York Times put it. It also cited a number of key Asian diplomats and others as saying beforehand that they would be seeking concessions from the US for its key exports and signals from the US that it continued to fully support a multilateral trading system rather seeming to emphasise bilateral and regional accords.

The Thai Director General of the WTO, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, was not invited to the summit because of a personal feud with the Thai head of government and had to address peripheral business executives´ meetings and hold bilateral talks with individual leaders in attendance. This virtually assured from the start that trade discussions would be disadvantaged and perhaps relegated, as they proved to be, to a secondary position.

But the concentration of non-economic issues, clearly irritated Malaysian President Mahatir, who complained before the press at the meeting that the gathering was sidetracking what he considered priority discussions on trade and economic issues. He joked that that his country was willing to “be exploited,“ as long as it was done fairly.

Business leaders critical

Business leaders attending the related APEC CEO Forum meeting in Bangkok for $3000 also complained of the lack of communication and interest by the summit itself. “Unless progress is made, people will go around thinking APEC is just leaders going around in funny shirts once a year, travelling in cavalcades in tight security and attending huge banquets,” Peter Charlton, President of Australia’s First Charlton Communications told the business executives’ conference in Bangkok. “What’s the point of a non-binding group which can’t take a common position on a major issue?” remarked a leading Chilean banker.

Another source cited by the Bangkok daily Business Day, also commented that what APEC would not make a difference in deliberations in the WTO.

But Mari Pangestu of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Indonesia did underline the concern regarding the proliferation of bilateral trade agreements resulting in part from the collapse of the WTO multilateral negotiations. These negotiations and accords would create a difficult burden for many developing country governments, remarked Pangestu. And the Executive Vice President of the American FedEx was quoted as saying “The genie of bilateralism is out of the jar” and added that APEC needed to reinvent itself because “It has become over-bureaucratised, absolutely. We’re at an important crossroads and we need to rethink, restate and prioritise.”

Another element at the Bangkok meeting was reported to have been the continued American arguments to China and other Asian governments to ease the pressure on US trade and economy by allowing their currencies to rise against the dollar. This, in the eyes of some analysts, was a policy that could backfire against Washington since there is widespread belief that China needs monetary and economic stability to maintain its economic expansion that also fuels the performance of other regional neighbours. The APEC meeting result was referred to as a delaying tactic dressed up as a face-saving gesture in which Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed to set up a study commission to examine floating the yuan in the future. But he ruled out any change in the near future as “irresponsible.” And even the president for Asia-Pacific of General Motors, underlined that any “rapid disruption” of foreign exchange rates could present problems for business.

Ministers Get Down to Business

If the summit meeting of APEC leaders got mixed reviews regarding their attention to details and practical issues, the 15th meeting of APEC Ministers produced more substantive, but less headline-grabbing results at their sessions in the Thai capital a week earlier.

They generally stuck to the traditional priorities of APEC on trade and economic cooperation, although they also injected the war on terrorism into the proceedings and declaration. But the process ranged over the issues in contention in the international trade and negotiations and also stressed the group's ambitions in an information-based society.