Posted on: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

EDITORIAL
Important business overlooked in Chile

A shoving match between Chilean and American security guards seems to have obscured the actual summit talks that took place at the weekend Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which surely are of more lasting importance.

There's no question that President Bush's huge and pushy entourage was a source of irritation for Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, which fueled the shoving incident, plus cancellation of a dinner because host Lagos refused to subject his guests to the metal detectors demanded by Bush's Secret Service personnel.

But in the two days he spent in Santiago, Chile, Bush met one-on-one with the heads of state of Canada, Chile, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Mexico. He at least hobnobbed with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he stopped off on the way home to have lunch with the president of Colombia.

These heads of state, in turn, had their own important "bilaterals" among themselves. The Chinese press, for instance, emphasized what they took to be Bush's renewed disapproval of any move toward independence for Taiwan.

To the relief of many APEC members, the forum seemed to swing back to economic subjects from the obsession for terrorism and security that has dominated since 9/11. But the need to get North Korea to relinquish its nuclear weapons programs was a hot topic in several meetings.

The American side continued to try to put a unified face on the region's approach to the issue. But in Los Angeles a day or two before the forum began in Chile, South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun publicly warned of "grave consequences" if Bush persists in his hard line against North Korea.

It will be interesting to find out what the two then said to each other in Santiago — if either talks about it.