VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - China and Russia sounded the alarm about the state of the global economy and urged Asian-Pacific countries at a summit on Saturday to protect themselves by forging deeper regional economic ties.
Chinese President Hu Jintao said Beijing would do all it
could to strengthen the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) by rebalancing its economy, Asia’s biggest,
to improve the chances of a global economic recovery.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said trade barriers must be
smashed down as he opened the APEC summit which he is hosting on
a small island linked to the Pacific port of Vladivostok by a
spectacular new bridge that symbolises Moscow’s pivotal turn to
Asia away from debt-stricken Europe.
“It’s important to build bridges, not walls. We must
continue striving for greater integration,” Putin told the APEC
leaders, seated at a round table in a room with a view of the $1
billion cable-stayed bridge, the largest of its kind.
“The global economic recovery is faltering. We can overcome
the negative trends only by increasing the volume of trade in
goods and services and enhancing the flow of capital.”
Hu told business leaders before the summit the world economy
was being hampered by “destabilising factors and uncertainties”
and the crisis that hit in 2008-09 was far from over. China
would play its role, he said, in strengthening the recovery.
“We will work to maintain the balance between keeping steady
and robust growth, adjusting the economic structure and managing
inflation expectations. We will boost domestic demand and
maintain steady and robust growth as well as basic price
stability,” he said.
Hu spelled out plans for China, whose economic growth has
slowed as Europe’s debt crisis worsened, to pump $157 billion
into infrastructure investment in agriculture, energy, railways
and roads.
Hu steps down as China’s leader in the autumn after a
Communist Party congress, but he promised continuity and
stability for the economy.
Putin, who has just begun a new six-year term as president,
said on Friday Russia would be a stable energy supplier and a
gateway to Europe for Asian countries, and also pledged to
develop his country’s transport network.
RUSSIA LOOKS EAST
The relative strength of China’s economy, by far the largest
in Asia and second in the world to the United States, is key to
Russia’s decision to look eastwards as it seeks to develop its
economy and Europe battles economic problems.
APEC, which includes the United States, Japan, South Korea,
Indonesia and Canada, groups countries around the Pacific Rim
which account for 40 percent of the world’s population, 54
percent of its economic output and 44 percent of trade.
APEC members are broadly showing relatively strong growth,
but boosting trade and growth is vital for the group as it tries
to remove the trade barriers that hinder investment.
The European Union has been at odds with both China and
Russia over trade practices it regards as limiting free
competition. Cooperation in APEC is also hindered by territorial
and other disputes among some of the members.
Putin, 59, limped slightly as he greeted leaders at the
summit. Aides said he had merely pulled a muscle. Underlining
Putin’s good health, a spokesman said he had a “very active
lifestyle.”
Discussions at the two-day meeting will focus on food
security and trade liberalisation. An agreement was reached
before the summit to slash import duties on technologies that
can promote economic growth without endangering the environment.
Breakthroughs are not expected on other trade issues at the
meeting, which U.S. President Barack Obama is missing. He has
been attending the Democratic Party convention and Washington is
being represented by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
U.S. officials say Clinton’s trip is partly intended to
assess Russia’s push to expand engagement in Asia, which
parallels Washington’s own turn towards the Asia-Pacific region.
Also missing the summit was Australian Prime Minister Julia
Gillard. Putin said she had dropped out because her father had
died.
