Hosting Apec in 1999: rubbing shoulders and herding elephants

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley hosted Apec in 1999. Photo / Martin Sykes

Dame Jenny Shipley went to Apec just twice. Once to Kuala Lumpur in 1998 and then up to Auckland for the 1999 meeting which she hosted.

She is the only New Zealand prime minister — and the first woman leader — to have had the satisfaction of hosting an Apec meeting in person.

"It was the biggest thing New Zealand had done in a foreign affairs and trade sense," she recalls. "But it transpired there was a lot of foreign affairs in there as well. But that was more by accident of history."

The Apec Leaders meeting took place after a period of regional turmoil. By September 1999, the region was starting to climb out of the Asian crisis but it had taken sustained diplomacy to ensure a strong turnout of political leaders and business people.

"I made 12 state visits in less that twelve months," Shipley recalls. "Eleven were to Apec economies sharing the goals of what we wanted to achieve because in these things it's 'garbage in, garbage out'."

The Shipley Government was also supporting campaigns for former Labour Cabinet Minister Mike Moore to become Director-General of the World Trade Organisation(WTO) and National Cabinet Minister Sir Don McKinnon to be Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

"Apec itself was so well planned by the time we got there it was a time and motion study of greeting people," she recounts, crediting Sir Maarten Wevers who was chair of the Apec senior officials. "It was an enormously complex task. I was delighted to have a very capable group of ministers who were involved in it. It was two and a half years — almost the whole of my prime ministership — thinking about how it worked."

As if hosting 21 Apec leaders wasn't enough for a relatively small city like Auckland, which in 1999 had few major venues and five star hotels, Shipley says Cabinet decided to offer a state visit for one of the very senior leaders that was coming for Apec.

"I remember the conversation, 'We'll invite the United States, China and South Korea, as the next biggest', and never anticipated that the whole three of them would accept. I was literally flying aeroplanes every night whether prior to, during or after Apec.

"Of course there was competitiveness about whether they were being treated equally. Particularly with both China and the US in the country together. So it had to be handled enormously carefully."

Shipley says there was a focus in Apec on trying to ensure China did not devalue. There were conversations with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji in China. "It was still a very dominant issue then. The question of China being prepared to hold the line for these other economies. The small ones were wanting to do everything they could to see that the big ones did not just let the elephants trample the room."

A free trade agreement with Singapore and Chile, which ultimately became the nucleus of the Trans Pacific Partnership, was the subject of talks with Singapore's Goh Chok Tong.

"We were very determined to promote the World Trade Organisation (WTO) round and get things back on track. We were also prepared to say we would set a high standard agreement and then invite people to join. Chile came on board right away."

Indonesia's economy which had been hit hard by the Asian crisis was being bailed out by the International Monetary Fund. But before Apec got under way there was a crisis in Timor Leste which had begun with attacks by pro-Indonesia militia groups on civilians, and expanded to general violence throughout the country.

"It had to be dealt with," says Shipley. An emergency meeting of foreign ministers chaired by Don McKinnon was called. Shipley spoke with Indonesian President B.J. Habibie to let him know.

Indonesia did not budge until Clinton announced he would no longer support the IMF bailout unless the army withdrew and peacekeepers were allowed in.

"Habibbe was so furious we agreed to let the foreign ministers meet and discuss Timor he decided not come," she says.

Getting China into the WTO was a priority in 1999. Clinton and Chinese president Jiang Zemin met at Government house on the issue.

The Apec declaration included regulations, Customs complexities — collaboration around borders and trade. Asked how it played out to be a host from a smaller nation with a seat at the table meeting with the power players, Shipley replied. "They're just ordinary people with extraordinary jobs. I remember one of the funniest occasions was at the dinner at the Wintergarden. Putin was running for election and Clinton was offering to come and campaign for him. "Putin, very dry and saying 'kind of you to offer'.

Very soft and amusing 'leader to leader'. We come and go."

Shipley and her husband Burton got lots of advice on Apec and decided they would host people and attempt to be generous and inclusive.

She's glad she made an effort, as the first woman to chair Apec, to work through issues with Muslim leaders "20 years ago, globally, women leaders were not common".

The State visits had their moments.

She took Jiang to visit a Canterbury forestry development and out to see a farm to demonstrate agriculture did not need to be subsidised.

"He asked me to come in his car and, speaking in English, said 'Can you show where the peasants live?'" She replied the farmers own and run their own businesses in New Zealand.

Like other former leaders Shipley says personal relationships matter for small countries. "Bill (Clinton) came and saw us on subsequent visits. He sat on the floor like ordinary people sit on floor."

Goh is a "very good friend". They are both on the Boao forum board.

She had the the privilege of visiting Zhu and meeting him and his family as old friends. She says you could argue the protests against the Chinese president at Apec were a lowlight.

Asked if Apec has lived up to its promise, Shipley replies. "I think it is variable. Success is often determined by if the key players are in the room.

"I was always strongly in favour of a face-to-face meeting. The public are cynical about this. The cost of flying and so on. But the dividend for the country from being able to have very direct engagement really does matter. You have to have strong credentials and to be willing to use those. Megaphone diplomacy does not work — you've got to demonstrate engagement and be honest."