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Jiang Zemin Reads APEC Leaders' Declaration Chinese President Jiang Zemin read to the press the Leaders' Declaration of the Ninth Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum Sunday afternoon. Leaders of APEC members attending the Meeting were present at the declaration-reading ceremony. APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS' DECLARATION: Shanghai, China 21 October 2001 MEETING NEW CHALLENGES IN THE NEW CENTURY Attending the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting are Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark, Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Mexican President Vicente Fox, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Mekere Morauta, Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, US President George W. Bush and Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. The APEC members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam. Chinese Taipei not to send its representative to the APEC Leaders' Meetings scheduled for October 20-21 in Shanghai. **** Chinese Foreign Minister Meets Peruvian, Malaysian Counterparts. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan Sunday met on separate occasions with his Peruvian and Malaysian counterparts, Diego Garcia Sayan and Syed Hamid Albar, and exchanged views on enhancing bilateral ties and on global and regional issues of common interests. Sayan and Syed Hamid are in Shanghai for this year's Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings. At his meeting with Sayan, Tang said he is pleased with the continuous development of China-Peru relations since the two countries established diplomatic ties 30 years ago. He reiterated that the Chinese government is willing to work with the Peruvian side for further advancing bilateral cooperation in all fields for mutual benefits. Peru attaches great importance to developing relations with China and is looking forward to pushing forward the relations, he said, adding that he is happy with the sound cooperation between the two countries in international affairs. When meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid, Tang spoke highly of the expanding bilateral ties, saying that he is satisfied with the close coordination and cooperation between the two countries in regional and global affairs. Tang also reiterated the Chinese government's stance and propositions on the anti-terrorism issue. Syed Hamid said that he agrees to Tang's assessment of bilateral ties and that the Malaysian side is pleased with the strong momentum in the development of bilateral ties. He said Malaysia is ready to further strengthen cooperation with China to push forward bilateral relations to a new high, and to maintain contact and coordination with China on the anti- terrorism issue. **** Jordan Denounces Israel's Aggressions Against Palestinians. Jordan on Saturday denounced Israel's military actions against the Palestinians during the past three days as "criminal aggressions" and called for intervention from the U.S. and European Union (EU) to end the violence. Jordan follows the Israeli aggressions with deep concern and calls on the U.S., the EU and world community to intervene rapidly and firmly to end the military operations by the Israeli forces against the unarmed Palestinians, the Jordanian government said in a statement. The Israeli acts in the West Bank are a "serious development and a criminal and horrible aggression against the Palestinians, which have no justification and should be ended immediately," the statement said. Jordan, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Arab League summit , has been engaged in intensive consultations with Arab countries to help end the Israeli bloody aggressions against the Palestinians, it added. Israeli forces reportedly killed 19 Palestinians during the past three days since Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi was killed on Wednesday by Palestinian gunmen in Jerusalem. Some 900 people have been killed and thousands of others injured, most of them Palestinians, since the Israeli-Palestinian violence broke out in September last year. Jordan, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, has been trying to help end the confrontations and bring them back to negotiations on the basis of the relevant U.N. resolutions and signed agreements between the two sides. **** Kandahar Under Fresh U.S. Air Strikes. U.S. warplanes launched fresh air strikes against the southeastern Afghan city of Kandahar on Sunday morning, leaving the city without electricity or water, the Cable News Network (CNN) reported. Meanwhile, heaving fighting was reported on Sunday between the Taliban troops and the opposition Northern Alliance forces around the Taliban-controlled town of Mazar-e-Sharif. Earlier in the day, the U.S. forces started the third week of air strikes against Afghanistan, using attack helicopters for the first time and low-flying warplanes in attacks on the Afghan capital of Kabul. At least three loud explosions rocked Kabul before dawn on Sunday, which came under U.S. air raids for the 15th consecutive day, but there was little or no response from the Taliban troops. **** PLA Chief of General Staff Meets Russian Guests. Fu Quanyou, chief of General Staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) met in Beijing on October 21 with Anatoly Vasilijevich Kvashnin, chief of general staff of Russia's armed forces and deputy defense minister. Fu, also member of China's Central Military Commission, said that the peoples of China and Russia have maintained long-term friendship. The strategic partnership of coordinaion between the two countries is being deepened and strengthened, and will help maintain the peace and stability in the region and the world. The PLA attaches importance to maintaining and developing relations of friendship and cooperation with the Russian armed forces, Fu said. Fu also briefed Kvashnin on China's national defense policy and the development of its armed forces. Kvashnin expressed gratitude to Fu's invitation and praised highly of China's rapid economic growth and military construction. Kvashnin said that the development of friendship between the two countries and the two armed forces has been in line with the fundamental interests of the two peoples and is conducive to the regional and world's peace and stability. Xiong Guangkai, deputy chief of general staff of the PLA, Sergei N. Goncharov, Minister-Counsellor of the Russian Embassy in China and other officials were present at the meeting. **** Putin Attends Tripartite Meeting in Dushanbe. ``We confirmed the intention of the Russian Federation to continue support to the Islamic state of Afghanistan in the military-technical sphere,'' Putin said. Putin spoke at the end of a tripartite meeting with his Tajik counterpart, Emomali Rakhmonov, and Afghanistan's deposed president Burnahuddin Rabbani, in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. Meeting separately with Rabbani before the three-sided session, Putin said Russia recognized his government as legitimate and supported it. ``The internationally recognized government long has been fighting to free its people. Our position (of supporting it) long has been defined,'' Putin said, according to the Russian ITAR-Tass news agency. Putin also met separately with Rakhmonov for about two hours at Rakhmonov's guest house compound in Dushanbe. Rakhmonov told reporters the summit was arranged by Putin. The three leaders issued a joint statement promising to intensify their efforts aimed at stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and the region as a whole, and providing humanitarian aid to displaced people. ``We hope that in this joint fight, we will kill terrorism,'' said Rabbani. Putin made a pre-dawn stopover in Tajikistan as he was returning to Moscow from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's summit in Shanghai, China. He was accompanied by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov. Before Putin arrived in this Central Asian country, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov and the head of Moscow's Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, met here with Rakhmonov and top defense and security officials. Moscow has backed Rabbani's government as well as the northern alliance, the military wing of the opposition to the fundamentalist Taliban militia that controls most of the country. Tajikistan is close to the alliance, which has a strong ethnic Tajik component. Ivanov said countries that actively support the northern alliance, such as Russia, Iran and Tajikistan, needed to share their views so as to enhance their cooperation in the fight against terrorism. Iran and Russia oppose letting so-called Taliban ``moderates'' into a broad-based coalition being considered to rule Afghanistan if the Taliban regime collapses under U.S.-led attacks. ``We consider the position of the Islamic state of Afghanistan that excludes the Taliban movement from a future Afghan government to be well-founded,'' Putin said. Secretary of State Colin Powell, however, has expressed a willingness to include some rank-and-file Taliban members ¡ª if they accept the rights of others. Pakistan, which until the current crisis was the Taliban's closest ally, is pressing for members of the militia to be included. Tajikistan, which shares a volatile 750-mile border with Afghanistan, has attracted attention both as a possible launch pad for military attacks and the most convenient place to marshal humanitarian efforts. About 25,000 Russian troops are stationed in the former Soviet republic to help guard the border. Rakhmonov on Monday hailed the effort to help Afghan refugees, saying that up to 10 planes a day and a number of trains were bringing humanitarian supplies to his country for distribution in Afghanistan. **** Taliban Cabinet Vows to Fight Against U.S. Commandos. Taliban cabinet on Sunday held a special session to discuss the current crisis inside Afghanistan, vowing to fight against the U.S. ground assault, according to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP). Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban spokesman and education minister, told AIP after the meeting that the cabinet decided to distribute more weapons and ammunition, including rocket launchers, heavy machine-guns and anti-aircraft machine-guns, to their forces across the country to fight against the U.S. commandos. The Taliban authorities promised to provide more security to the international NGOs operating in Afghanistan, and appealed to them to continue their relief programs in the war-torn country. The cabinet meeting suggested all the NGOs to shift their offices from unsafe areas to secure places. The Taliban spokesman denied recent reports suggesting offices of several NGOs had been robbed by the Taliban soldiers, saying the Taliban had never done such things. According to AIP, the Taliban cabinet also expressed its satisfaction with the Taliban forces' response to U.S. commando raid so far. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
