Police sealed off Honolulu's usually laid-back Waikiki Beach as Chinese President Hu Jintao became the latest leader to arrive for the weekend summit that will be led by US President Barack Obama, a Hawaii native.
US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, chairing talks on Thursday of finance ministers from the APEC bloc, said that the meeting was dominated by how to make growth more balanced and sustainable, given the crisis in Europe.
"Asian economies will need to do more to stimulate domestic demand growth -- both so they are less vulnerable to slowdowns, such as the situation in Europe, and so they can continue to contribute to global growth," he said.
The 21 members of APEC, or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, account for about 40 percent of the world's population, more than 50 percent of its gross domestic product and 44 percent of global trade.
"While APEC economies are the most vulnerable to a global slowdown, they can also play the greatest role in contributing to the global recovery and establishing the foundations of strong, sustainable, and balanced future growth," Geithner said.
Europe warned Thursday that the debt crisis was dragging the region towards a new recession, as Greece chose a new prime minister to try to pull it back from the brink of financial disaster and Italy lurched into crisis.
In Honolulu, where Obama hopes this weekend to unveil the broad outlines of a landmark trade pact, there were signs of tensions between the United States and the Asia-Pacific's emerging power, China.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, previewing the US message for the summit of the 21-member APEC forum, said the region stands at a "pivot point" as it becomes "the world's strategic and economic center of gravity."
After noting that the post-World War II institutions between the United States and Europe had paid "remarkable dividends," Clinton said the time had come for "a more dynamic and durable trans-Pacific system."
Clinton insisted that the United States welcomed a "thriving China," saying it was not in either country's interest for Washington to try to contain the rising Asian power.
But the top US diplomat, who later held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, also voiced concern about Beijing's record both on human rights and the economy.
"We are alarmed by recent incidents in Tibet of young people lighting themselves on fire in desperate acts of protest as well as the continued house arrest of the Chinese lawyer Chen Guangcheng," she said.
"We continue to call on China to embrace a different path."
Obama on Sunday is expected to announce a tentative free trade deal called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) with eight other nations -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is seriously considering bringing the world's third largest economy into the talks, a step that would move the once-obscure pact closer to becoming an Asia-wide trade deal.
Obama, who arrives late Friday, hopes that such trade deals will ramp up US exports and create badly needed jobs, his top priority as he seeks re-election next year.
Business organizations from across the Asia-Pacific region expressed strong support for the TPP as an "economic growth catalyst" and pressed for negotiations to be concluded in the first half of 2012.
The group, which included the Asia-Pacific Chamber of Commerce and a number of national federations and business coalitions, urged TPP leaders "to set an ambitious timetable for completion of these talks."
Critics point out that the TPP pact includes communist Vietnam and say that the agreement's details are vague. The pact has sparked opposition among farmers in Japan and the United States who fear growing competition.
China is not part of the TPP and on Monday questioned US goals for the summit, including the reduction of tariffs on green goods within the APEC bloc.
"It seems that the current goals put out by the US side are too ambitious and beyond the reach of developing economies," assistant foreign minister Wu Hailong said.
yahoo.com
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