Strides on North Korea, Iraq at forum

US-China ties gain; reconstruction aid gathers support

By Rafael D. Frankel, Globe Correspondent

BANGKOK - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum ended yesterday with calls for jump-starting world trade, but the most significant developments occurred on the sidelines of the summit in discussions on North Korea and Iraq.

Separate meetings in Bangkok between President Bush and Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea, produced new momentum in dealing with North Korea's nuclear program.

At the meeting, Bush offered multilateral security assurances for North Korea in exchange for nuclear disarmament. Last night, Pyongyang insisted that it wanted a bilateral agreement with the United States.

Bush was successful in persuading some APEC members to contribute aid to rebuild Iraq, ahead of a donors' conference that begins tomorrow in Madrid. Both South Korea and Japan have said they would donate money, and other APEC countries such as New Zealand also appeared supportive.

In a visit to Singapore yesterday, Bush stressed regional cooperation in the war on terrorism. Today he goes to Bali, Indonesia, the site of a terrorist attack in October 2002 that killed 202 people.

Although ostensibly dedicated to economics, the 21-nation APEC summit was dominated this year by security and terrorism issues.

"There is broad agreement within APEC that economics and security now go hand in hand," a senior US official said Monday.

In a final four-page statement, the leaders emphasized their collective belief that last month's World Trade Organization conference in Cancun, Mexico, represented a missed opportunity to further multilateral trade. The talks collapsed amid disputes between poor and wealthy nations.

Throughout the meetings, a growing partnership was on display between the United States and China, a sign of improving US-China relations two years after a diplomatic tussle over the fatal collision of a US spy plane and a Chinese fighter jet.

Relations between the two nations have improved to the point that US Secretary of State Colin L. Powell twice referred to "our Chinese friends" in a speech Monday to APEC delegates.

"In the past 2 1/2 years, we have worked to achieve a candid, constructive, and strong relationship of the kind that might not have been imaginable just a few years ago," Powell said.

After meeting with Hu, Bush said the two had a "very constructive dialogue," and thanked the Chinese leader for his help on North Korea.

Hu also referred to the Chinese-US relationship as "constructive and cooperative" and said their two meetings this year represent "the very sound momentum of the development of our bilateral relations."

China, however, remains wary of American support for Taiwan, and the United States would very much like to see the Chinese re value their currency, which is kept artificially low.

"It is a sign of a mature relationship between two nations where you don't hold one issue hostage to another issue," Powell said Monday.

Though the United States was not directly involved, momentum also appeared to build toward resolving the political deadlock in Burma, where the military government is holding democracy leaders under house arrest.

©2003 Globe Newspaper Company