APEC, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, has drawn leaders of economies in the region together every November since a 1993 gathering in Seattle. APEC is valuable
as a regional forumIt started with 12 members, now has 18 and many others are asking to be let in. Even Hong Kong and Taiwan take part in lower-level ministerial meetings along with China, though not in the leadership meeting.
Why is it so attractive?
Not a single business deal can be traced to it, says one of Hawaii's key APEC watchers, Professor David McClain of the University of Hawaii School of Business.
Ah so, but it allows the leaders to discuss disagreeable things with each other without being terribly disagreeable, says his APEC-watching colleague from the East-West Center, Charles Morrison. The two spoke at a recent Pacific and Asian Affairs Council breakfast at Plaza Club.
They co-direct a UH/EWC APEC Studies Center and are rich resources. Their hunch is that American leaders generally are so focused elsewhere that maybe only 250 or so Americans really understand the details of APEC. A significant fraction of them are in Hawaii.
Even the State Department has only a small group of people fully briefed on APEC, they say. State has a lone staffer at the National Center for APEC at Seattle, a small headquarters privately funded with industry contributions left over from the 1993 Seattle summit.
Clinton attended APEC in Indonesia in 1994, missed the 1995 meeting in Tokyo to battle Congress over the government shutdown, and attended last month's in the Philippines. At Subic Bay his private meetings with key Asian leaders, including China's, were probably his most important work. He is expected at next November's session in Vancouver.
Morrison thinks APEC will survive mainly to provide this semi-friendly forum and will break down if it becomes too confrontational.
A major question is whether APEC will gain breadth at the cost of depth in the future by letting in more members. Russia, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Peru, Panama and Colombia are among 10 or 11 actively knocking at the door.
Potential membership could be as much as 50, which could make APEC unwieldy and shallow. Yet it is delicate stuff to say yes to one nation and no to another.
It was tricky enough getting China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to sit down together at times. Should there be more tightrope walking?
Morrison and McClain see eye to eye on the fact that APEC has not directly stimulated economic dealing. But they see it having a far greater mission in trying to bring more consultation among the extremely diverse nations of the region.
The common culture that has permitted closer, stronger economic cooperations in Europe and South America can't be found among China, Japan, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, tiny island nations and potential Latin American members.
THERE is a lot of work to do to find commonalities among such nations. Hawaii has had a role in this and can continue to do so, McClain and Morrison say. We are seen as a hospitable conferencing place with our mixed cultural backgrounds.
Hawaii is also a base for two privately funded international groups, the Pacific Forum and the Pacific Basin Economic Council, that track APEC closely. APEC is headquartered in Singapore but 75 to 100 sub-groups meet elsewhere each year to prepare for the leadership meetings.
In Governor Cayetano's inner circle, his economic development director, Seiji Naya, and executive assistant, Brenda Foster, are well-attuned to Asia-Pacific matters and to APEC.
Freer trade has been a constant U.S. goal at APEC meetings. Progress depends on blending Asian preferences for very informal approaches with Western preferences for hard and fast commitments. Targets have been set but with qualifications added. "Be patient," McClain and Morrison advise.