Terror now on Apec's agenda

By AUDREY YOUNG, political editor

When Prime Minister Helen Clark flies into Bangkok from Vietnam tonight for the Apec leaders' summit, her plane, like all the others, will be escorted by F-16 fighter jets. It will then land at an airport guarded by 1300 commandos and armoured personnel carriers.

More than 20,000 security staff will be deployed through the annual summit of 21 Pacific rim leaders. Protest has been banned and the streets cleared of prostitutes, beggars, dogs and peddlers of pirated goods.

Taxi drivers have received training in how to spot a terrorist (one sign is that they don't like talking to taxi drivers) and what portable missiles look like.

Security is so unprecedented that mice will be used to test the leader's food for poisoning before it is served at two gala dinners, according to Associated Press.

The Thais have reason to be nervous.

Thai police uncovered a plot in May to attack five embassies in Bangkok.

Hambali, the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah who was captured in Thailand in August, allegedly confessed to plans to blow up two American-owned hotels during the summit.

Terrorism has forced its way on to the Apec agenda which, before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, was almost entirely trade-focused.

The A-list roll-call will comprise United States President George W. Bush, Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

It is the most important multilateral forum New Zealand attends.

"I think Apec is of great value to New Zealand, first because it gives us a seat at the table with the countries right around the Pacific rim, many large and powerful countries obviously," Helen Clark said this week before her trip to Singapore and Vietnam ahead of Apec, "and secondly because it has always had a focus on trade which is important for the New Zealand economy."

New Zealand is very clear that counter-terrorism should not overwhelm its key pursuit, to get a commitment from leaders to reactivate the World Trade Organisation's Doha Development Round.

"It is important to keep the balance. There is no way you can't discuss the counter-terrorism issues because the evidence is that with the terrorist attacks of September 2001 the whole economy is affected by that.

"But they are quite delicately poised issues. Certainly from the United States' point of view, they very much want the counter-terrorism issues discussed and I think they have to be, but not to the point where they marginalise the reasons for which the organisation was formed.

"I don't think the Americans are saying that either. They are just saying ,'We have got to have counter-terrorism in there', and I think they do."

But she also said in a speech in Singapore this week that the causes of terrorism had to be addressed. And in comments, possibly aimed at Thailand's state of preparedness, she indirectly cautioned against sacrificing freedoms in the cause of anti-terrorism.

"We have to address the symptoms of terrorism with determination. We also need to tackle the conditions that foster it. And we need to be careful not to undermine the very values we seek to uphold in the fight against terrorism."

Of some sensitivity is the fact that Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, has not outlawed Jemaah Islamiyah, the terrorist organisation believed responsible for the Bali nightclub bombings a year ago and which has close ties to al Qaeda.

But it has also been commended for the investigation into the Bali bombings, for which three men have been sentenced to death.

President Bush will use the summit to call for countries to remain vigilant. He will also increase pressure on US trading partners to create a "level playing field" for American exporters, a critical base of support for him in the run-up to next year's election.

He will prod the leaders of Japan and China to let the market determine the value of their currencies, and vowed to expedite bilateral free-trade negotiations with Australia, Thailand and other "friends".

But Bush, who will visit Australia after Apec, caused embarrassment in Australia and anger in east Asia when he described John Howard's Government as America's "sheriff" for the region. In an interview before his trip, Bush was asked whether Washington viewed the capital, Canberra, as the region's "deputy sheriff". This was a reference to similar comments made by Howard three years ago. At that time, his words generated a huge row across the region

Apparently unaware of the sensitivity of the subject, Bush said: "We don't see [Australia] as a deputy sheriff; we see it as a sheriff. There is nothing 'deputy' about this relationship."

The row was the last thing Howard needed at a time when Australia's neighbours are nervous of Canberra's muscular support for the war against terrorism. Malaysia's Deputy Defence Minister, Shafie Apdal, used Bush's comments to express his country's dissatisfaction with the US.

The political mood was further worsened by the Malaysian Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, when he used an Islamic summit to launch an attack on Jews.

"1.3 billion Muslims cannot be defeated by a few million Jews," he told the meeting in Malaysia. "The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million. But today they rule this world by proxy."

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will have a challenging job chairing the meeting.