Russia: Was There a Ballot Box?
By Chto Delat (St. Petersburg, Russia)
March 12, 2012

It is no secret that an overwhelming amount of corruption pervades Russia’s civic and economic life. And this [past] winter’s parliamentary and presidential elections proved to be no exception. Anyone who has taken an active interest in the practice of so-called “free and democratic” Russian elections can attest to their being rigged or skewed, to a greater or lesser degree, since 1993. This was especially the case with post-Soviet Russia’s first president, Boris Yeltsin, and his “triumphant” re-election in 1996.

In light of this, it was widely anticipated that in the most recent elections, the ruling party, United Russia, and the campaign of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin—which were, in fact, one and the same entity—would engage in massive electoral fraud to secure vote majorities. Which is why the simple demand for “fair elections,” first made this past winter by a widespread grassroots election monitoring movement, was not just a radical call for change, but also one that proved capable—albeit temporarily and incompletely—of uniting opposition parties and ordinary citizens across the country’s political spectrum.

The grassroots movement turned this unprecedented opportunity to challenge the status quo into a palpable reality, with the main goal of impeding any attempts to manipulate and falsify election results, or, at the very least, documenting them.

No one, however, could have predicted this movement would become so popular among segments of the population that have previously been averse to politics. Young professionals—including lawyers, artists, economists, journalists and academics—suddenly enlisted as volunteer observers at polling stations. They drafted legal complaints and attended protest marches and rallies after monitors revealed the monstrous and despicable tricks the authorities employed to tip the elections in their favor.

This film, shot by the Mobile Observers Group for the Petrograd District of St. Petersburg on March 4, 2012, recounts what the group considers to be a run-of-the-mill instance of electoral fraud: a portable ballot box that should have been used by workers at a local market was stuffed, unbeknownst to the constituents, with ballots marked for Putin. It was impossible, however, to prove conclusively that the fraud had taken place because the “victims” themselves either could care less about what had happened or were too disempowered to do anything about it other than to wish the observers success in their mission.

The most dramatic result of the work done by the Mobile Observers Group was not the evidence it offered of electoral violations, but rather its exposure of the traditional division of Russia into two classes of people: those who recognize the need to act as free citizens and defend common civic interests, and those who remain indifferent. Only time will tell how this conflict, recurrent throughout Russian history, is resolved in its most recent incidence.

_____

Local authorities pretend that nothing is going on and everything is fine. They also act as if this heavy rain does not happen every now and then. They all act surprised. They do the same trick in winter when it starts snowing.

The city is paralyzed: water is everywhere, cars are drowning.

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

heavy rain in Vladivostok by Ivan Komogortsev

G-20 heads of government (May 2011) (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

China and Canada Sign Corporate Protection Pact

You just can’t make this stuff up!

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She has kept her eye fixed on the housing market ever since the recession, as keenly as she used to follow the ball in Under-15 lacrosse championships.  Should some old biddy pop her clogs, thus vacating a property, Clammie will strike as efficiently as a cobra.

Unfortunately, she has not yet sold her own house.

Basically, she is after a double-fronted, Georgian town house in the best street in Suttonford.  Garaging would be essential, so should one with an attached carriage house come up, it would be a-ma-zing, darling.

When her husband, Tristram, drags himself in from work and sets to in the kitchen, she offers to lay the table and, pouring him a Prosecco,  she begins her assault, as carefully planned as the logistics for an Everest expedition.  The only difference is that he has no Sherpa support to aid him with familial burdens.

But, Clammie,..he expostulates, we can only just cover the mortgage and the school fees for our beloved bratlets.

Don’t call them that, she counters swiftly.  Look, I can always do a couple of days in “A la Mode” to help out.

But you’d just spend everything you earned on their stock.

Yes, but I’d get a staff discount, so think what that would save you.

I don’t get your logic, her husband sighed.

Well, if I worked there, a scout might see me modelling the designer gear and may just see my suitability as a Kate Moss stand-in.  Then think what I could earn. You know I enjoy spending, so I could derive gratification from seeing other people spend their husbands’ salaries.

Ah, but if you are going to be out all day, then why do you need a bigger house?

To store all my clothes, silly.  It’s a false economy to have to stuff all my outfits into wardrobes that I can’t easily access and have everything creased to kingdom come.  I can never find what I actually possess, and so I end up buying last minute alternatives.

Tristram sliced his finger while chopping an onion:

Ouch!  Will you get me a plaster, please?

You’re just not listening and probably cut yourself deliberately.

Clammie burst into tears.  She didn’t know if it was the onion that had precipitated the flow, or thespian tendencies.

Look, said Tristram, sucking the bleeding digit, stop crying.  You don’t even know if anything on the High Street has come on the market at the moment.

Oh yes, I do!  Clammie was triumphant. The eight-bedroomed house in the middle of High Street- the one that was a seventeenth century drovers’ inn- was in “Shelley’s” window this morning.  It’s cheap because it sits on a geological seam which has something to do with radon.

I’m not having the bratlets develop a “Ready-Brek” glow, Tristram shouted, waving the knife rather dangerously.

It’s no worse than the mobile phone mast in their school playing fields, Clammie screeched.  And it is a small price to pay for social cachet.

Then she realised that the au pair was in the adjoining study, Skype-ing her friends in Moscow.

Please to keep quiet, Alyona glared through the open doorway.

Clammie backed down immediately.  Sorry.

Then, turning to Tristram, she continued, but in a more subdued tone:

But will you at least consider it?  After all, I have asked Kirstie and Phil to meet us there tomorrow, at seven, after you get back from work.

What!  Tristram forgot Alyona for once. I’m not having that Allsopp woman patronise me and expose my lack of compromise on prime time tv.

No, you are perfectly capable of exposing your own lack of compromise, Tristram.  Actually, Kirstie and Phil have been really helpful and even have a first time buyer in mind for our place.

Oh yeah, he was becoming sarcastic and hypoglaecemic.  You mean, a ninety year old who has had a lifetime to save up a deposit.  Don’t be naïve, Chlamydia- ( he always used her full name when he was annoyed)- we haven’t even had a survey done.

Oh, suit yourself, but Duncan Bannatyne didn’t get to where he is by missing opportunities.

No, his trip to the top of the greasy pole has given him the ultimate reward of a cardiac arrest and the chance to spend a lot of time with Hilary Devey and Deborah Meaden.  Lucky man.  But at least he had the sense to start small and kicked off his entrepreneurial activities with the purchase of a clapped out ice cream van.

Ooh, you are so bitter, Tristram. By the way, the risotto’s burning!  Take it off the heat.

Well, will you take me off the heat, if I just go along for peace’s sake?

Okay.  But you’ll be on my back burner if you don’t and Alyona says if we don’t go for the house, she will ask her syndicate to buy it and then I will probably end up looking after her kids.

Simples, mouthed Alyona, without even removing the headset .  But I let you rent the carriage house. Boyfriend with Mercedes has deposit. He say me not just pretty meerkat.

Tristram knew the battle was already lost.  He’d be working till he was seventy five, or would have to emigrate to Vladivostok.  George Osborne had a lot to answer for by not pursuing mansion tax as a husband’s ultimate get-out clause with over-aspiring wives.

Despite their lengthy travels, fans of SKA-Energia Khabarovsk have had plenty to cheer about so far this season.

As this blog has previously mentioned, the Russian Far Eats does not possess a reputation for being a hotbed of footballing talent and success. One of the largest and most problematic regions of the country, those cities closer to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo than Moscow and St Petersburg have yet to experience success at the highest level of the domestic game, with only a handful of teams even appearing in what is now the Premier League. For an area of its size and significance, it is grossly under-represented.

This in itself is not particularly strange in the world of Russian football – it has long been the case that the national sport is traditionally dominated by the Moscow clubs, with a sizable portion of the top flight being made up of sides from in and around the capital. In recent years there has been some debate over the diversification or lack thereof at the top level – whilst Torpedo, Saturn, Khimki and FC Moscow have all left the top flight, it has been predominantly teams from the Volga-Ural region which have moved into their places, doing little to spread the power around the Russian game.

Of course, the Russian Far East has not been completely ignored in footballing terms. When the Russian system was created out of the ashes of the Soviet leagues, the winners of the regional tournament, Okean Nakhodka, were given a place in the newly-formed Russian Top League. Despite the obvious disadvantage of being based thousands of miles from their nearest competitor, they did not disgrace themselves, surviving the inaugural campaign only to be relegated the following season.

More recently, Luch-Energia Vladivostok were the side to attempt to take a European league trophy as far east as possible, spending two different spells at the highest level and achieving mixed results in the process. Their mere presence in the top flight caused geographical controversy, with some bitter losers calling for their removal from the Russian system entirely. In response, the Vladivostok club calmly pointed out their own, considerably more regular travelling difficulties, and the matter was put to bed.

However, Okean disappeared from the top flight in 1993, whilst Luch were last relegated from the Premier League in 2008, dropping into the First Division from which they suffered the embarrassment of relegation after a long 2012-13 campaign. Back in the regional leagues from which they came – currently 3rd in their division behind FC Chita and Smena Konsomolsk-na-Amur – they are unlikely to cause problems for Russia’s footballing establishment in the near future.

It would seem then, that the issue of the Far East and its geographical problems had solved itself – the representatives had all but disappeared from the highest levels, and indeed the phenomenon spread westwards. With the relegation of Tom Tomsk from the Premier League, the easternmost representative in the top flight during the current season is Amkar Perm, lying on the western slope of the Urals and therefore limiting the physical spread of clubs to less than half of the vast country.

In football as in everyday life however, things do not occur simply in Russia. Tom are, following another bail-out from state-owned energy companies, flying high at the top of the First Division and looking strong for a return to the top flight. The two Nizhny Novgorod clubs were forced to merge, whilst FC Ufa are seeking to place Bashkortostan on the footballing map. Still, the biggest story of the season could yet come from the Far East, and in particular SKA-Energia Khabarovsk.

As a club, SKA are by no means extraordinary. Forever in the shadow of the Vladivostok side in terms of both prestige and achievement, their greatest post-Soviet success came with a 5th place finish in the second tier back in 2006. Under Soviet government the side spent much of its life at regional level, never reaching the Top League and spending more time changing its name than competing for honours – no fewer than seven acronyms have been emblazoned on the club’s logo since its 1946 inception.

Despite the lack of historical precedent, the current atmosphere amongst the club’s fans and observers is one of optimism. Almost half way through the First Division season – the reduced line-up cutting the season down to 32 games – SKA sit 3rd in the table, with a game in hand over Ural Ekaterinburg potentially pushing them into the coveted automatic promotion places.

The reason for their success is no secret, and indeed is stunningly obvious in its clarity. Unlike some of their divisional rivals – Tom and Ural have found the net 49 times between them so far this season – they have not been blessed with great goalscoring form, but a defence which has conceded just six times in twice as many matches has ensured that few teams have stopped the Khabarovsk side taking at least something from the game. Before today’s clash with Tom, only Metallurg Novokuznetsk have managed to claim all three points.

Further inspiration lies poetically in the very problem which has often blighted football in the Russian Far East. SKA have continued the regional tradition of a strong home record, helped by the mammoth distances visitors are forced to travel, but more importantly they seem to have discovered the art of avoided defeat on their own excursions. Belgorod, Moscow, Nizhnekamsk and Ekaterinburg have already seen the team chalk up thousands of miles, but escaping with a point has become an art form in Khabarovsk, and the rewards are made obvious by the current standings.

To imply that SKA will still be in the promotion hunt in May is pure speculation, and there is an almost infinite number of variables which could make or break their promising season. However, for the club to be challenging at all is a testament to the sheer determination of the club, city and region not to be forgotten about as the centralising mission continues, and it would be a crying shame if the European centre is allowed to strangle the life out of the provincial game. As Terek Grozny are showing in the Premier League, the outsiders will not down easily.

Massive Floods Kill At Least 70 in Nigeria. About 12,000 people have been displaced by flood disaster that ravaged many communities in Kano and Jigawa states where no fewer than 400,000 farmlands and 36,000 houses have been destroyed by the floods.

Tropical storm Nadine was located about 490 mi. [790 km] WSW of the Azores.

Category 1 Hurricane Lane was located about 1180 mi. [1895 km] WSW of the southern tip of Baja California. Lane should weaken into a tropical storm today and further weakening is expected on Wednesday. No threat to land.

Typhoon Sanba Reaches Vladivostok, Russia, floods the city’s streets.

When New York meets Vladivostok you get Brian and Anya.  A real pleasure to shoot as bursts of laughter made me almost drop my gear.  In the end composure prevailed and some really nice natural shots came out.  Photos were shot in “Old Daowai” Harbin China.  This newly revitalized area is perfect for open streets, vacant balconies and steel gates giving Brian and Anya a fun day out on the streets in front of the camera.

Thanks Brian and Anya,

bQ

Nach meinen Recherchen, bietet Die Firma “Storm Marine – Vladivostok” zurzeit die einzige Möglichkeit, mit einer Fähre aus Wladiwostok nach Südkorea (Donghae) oder Japan (Sakaiminato) zu reisen. Die Fähre “Eastern Dream” fährt am Mittwoch ab und kommt am Donnerstag in Donghae an, fährt am gleichen Tag ab und kommt am Freitag in Sakaimininato an. Von dort geht es am Samstag los, wieder über Donghae (am Sonntag) und man kommt am Montag in Wladiwostok an. Wann man am Mittwoch losfahren möchtet, müsste man sich spätestens am Montag bei der Firma melden.

Die aktuelle Preise sind auf der Webseite aufgelistet. Auch für den, der die russische Sprache versteht, scheint das Ganze etwas chaotisch. Die Unterschiede zwischen manchen Kategorien sind kaum zu fasse. Auf jeden Fall, wie ich es verstehe, kostet die billigste Variante auf einer Matraze auf dem Boden mit 12 Personen 205 USD (335 USD hin und zurück) von Wladiwostok bis Donghae und 265 USD (440 USD hin und zurück) bis Sakaiminato. Dazu kommen noch die Hafengebühr i.H.v. 560 RUB und Kerosinzuschlag von 20 USD. Alles ist in Rubel zu zahlen, die Umrechnung folgt nach dem Wechselkurs von Zentralbank +1,03 % Kommission.

In der Zeit, wann ich die Tickets buchen müsste, hat das Online-Buchungssystem nicht funktioniert. Jetzt sieht es so aus, als ob es über das Internet machbar ist.

Man kann auf der Fähre auch Autos und Motorräder transportieren. Für Motorräder kostet die Fracht:
- Hubraum bis 500 cc
Wladiwostok – Sakaiminato 600 USD (1100 USD hin und zurück)
- Hubraum über 500 cc
Wladiwostok – Sakaiminato 700 USD (1200 USD hin und zurück)

Dazu kommt natürlich die ganze Abwicklung bei dem Zoll von Wladiwostok. Wer kein Russisch spricht, muss Leistungen eines Zolldeklarantes nutzen. Der Kontakt, den “Storm Marine” empfehlt - “Links, LTD.”, ist ziemlich fit, was sowas angeht. Wenn man nach Japan will, aber der Motorrad woanders hin soll, können die Links-Leute ihn auch nach andere Destinationen verschiffen.

Ahoi!

That feeling of apartness is common in Vladivostok, too, where the main national television newscasts go to air a day later than in Moscow. Russia’s gateway to the Pacific lies more than 6,400 kilometres and seven times zones east of the Kremlin. It takes eight days by rail to get from European Russia to here on the storied Trans-Siberian Express.

By air, the daily nonstop flights between Vladivostok and Moscow take nine hours. Whether by air or train, for virtually the entire length of the trip there is little to be seen but taiga and mighty, often meandering rivers, the awesome landscape punctuated every few hundred kilometres by invariably rundown villages and towns.

Vladivostok, like Vancouver and San Francisco, has a dramatic setting. It sits astride a peninsula that juts into the Sea of Japan and is surrounded by hills adorned with magnificent conifers and shabby Soviet-era apartment blocks. The city, which is home to the Russian navy’s Pacific fleet, and fleets of deep sea fishing trawlers and freighters, has a salty, optimistic frontier feel to it, but many young people have fled to better paying jobs elsewhere in Russia.

Like western Canadians, eastern Russians have long complained of neglect by the political centre without proper regard to how much their resources have contributed to federal coffers. Depending on whose arithmetic you believe, to impress Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit, the Kremlin has just spent as much as $21 billion to spruce Vladivostok up. The money built some badly needed highways and an air terminal. The Far Eastern Federal University also benefited from a spectacular new waterfront campus on Russky Island, where the APEC forum was held.

The two-day APEC leaders’ meeting was also the reason a pair of spectacular cable bridges was built. Like the Lion’s Gate Bridge in Vancouver, the shorter of these spans has already become a vital connection between two parts of Vladivostok. The other, vastly more expensive 1.1-kilometre bridge linking Russky Island and its 5,000 residents to the mainland is a Bridge to Nowhere, ending almost immediately after it reaches the island. It may already be a bigger white elephant than Mirabel Airport, which was Pierre Trudeau’s signature spending folly.

Though few Russians and perhaps even fewer Canadians know it, Canadian troops once policed Vladivostok and the Royal Bank of Canada had a branch here. The Canadian Expeditionary Force, numbering more than 4,100 soldiers, was mustered under controversial orders from the government of Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden. It landed in Vladivostok in October, 1918 as part of an allied army trying to help pro-Czarist White Russians overthrow the Bolshevik Revolution.

A few Canadian soldiers got as far as Omsk, in central Siberia, before returning home late in 1919. Although they did little fighting, 14 Canadians died in Russia. They are buried in a plot in Vladivostok’s sailors’ cemetery.

Most of Vladivostok’s main air routes are to the west, although Singapore and even Darwin, Australia are closer than Moscow. Much nearer, of course, are China, the two Koreas and Japan. Sapporo is only slightly further away than Montreal is from Toronto.

Like Canada, Russia was slow to twig to the opportunities presented by Asia’s economic boom. A lot of the talk in Moscow and Vladivostok today is about how to cash in on China’s success. As in Canada, exporting resources are a big part of the discussion. To assist with that and to transport Asian exports to European Russia, the Kremlin is keen to further develop its twin land bridges to Europe, the Trans-Siberian railway and newer BAM (Baikal-Amur Mainline) railway. There is also talk of a completely rebuilt Trans-Siberian Highway, parts of which are now in a total shambles.

Not everyone in the Russian Far East has caught the Chinese fever. Many Russians who live along or near the Pacific coast resent the growing number of Chinese in their midst and their economic influence. The Chinese run successful farms, clear the forests and own trading houses, shops and restaurants in or near border cities such as Blagoveshchensk, which has a large Chinese expatriate community and is part of a free-trade zone with the Chinese city of Heihe, on the far shore of the Amur River.

Vladivostok was established around the time of Canada’s confederation. Before that, the Russian coast belonged to several Chinese and Korean dynasties. China formally surrendered its claim in 1860 in the Treaty of Beijing although military battles to control the territory continued for some years.

Despite that history, or perhaps because of it, Vladivostok – which means “Ruler of the East” in Russian – looks and feels far more European today than it does Asian. There are 600,000 Russians here and relatively few Chinese.

Establishing and then preserving Russian interests on the Pacific was the Trans-Siberian Railway’s raison d’etre. But the railway, a new national highway, a couple of grand bridges and a flashy new university may not be enough for the Russian Far East to survive the Asian wave. The region is blessed with abundant resources, is sparsely populated, isolated from the rest of the country and surrounded by hundreds of millions of Chinese, Koreans and Japanese. These are all reasons why at some time in the future Vladivostok’s ascendant Asian neighbours may once again hold formal or informal sway over Russia’s Gateway to the Pacific.

Related articles

• Russia hosts 24th APEC Summit in Vladivostok (english.pravda.ru)
• APEC: Russia’s window to the Pacific (eastasiaforum.org)

Over the weekend, the peripatetic 57-year-old minister of international trade was on the far side of the world in Russia’s Pacific gateway attending a Pacific Rim leaders’ summit with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. During the 10 days before that, Fast Eddie — as Canada’s man in perpetual motion has inevitably been called — had made a whirlwind visit to Thailand, Burma, Vietnam and Cambodia.

The unofficial cheerleader for something akin to the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canada’s top salesman overseas has been pitching for Canada since being named to the cabinet 15 months ago. As the Harper government’s priorities, like so much else today, have shifted to Asia, the MP from Abbotsford, B.C., has probably spent more time on the far side of the Pacific than anywhere else.

Fast’s line of argument is that in a world of economic turmoil, Canada’s financial numbers are, relatively speaking, brilliant. And they are combined with a deep and abundant human resources skill set as well as a variety of natural resources.

Fast may be one of the most self-effacing, least well known of Harper’s ministers but he is also one of the few that the prime minister apparently has a lot of confidence in. Few ministers have got the freedom to operate as independently as Fast does.

One of Harper’s mantras has been about developing much stronger business ties across Asia. As its official name — Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation — suggests, APEC meetings are supposed to be mostly about just trade.

This time around in Vladivostok, however, the prime minister said relatively little in public about trade. Rather, he chose to launch a fresh wave of verbal assaults on the pariah regimes in Iran and Syria and told Pauline Marois, Quebec’s separatist premier-elect, that he would only discuss ways to improve the economy with her and not engage with her on issues she is designing to force a showdown with Ottawa.

While the prime minister was preoccupied elsewhere, talking business was all the prime minister’s point man on trade had done during five days in Vladivostok, Fast assured me when we met on the pleasant but isolated island where Russia chose to host the annual APEC meeting.

“It is not about a shopping list, but Canada has a list of priorities,” that it had made known to the other 20 APEC member states, he said. “APEC provides a perfect venue to engage the business community. The message I always communicate to business people — and I’ve met thousands from all over the world in the last year and a half — is that Canada is open for business.”

As in London where he was gung-ho about promoting new technologies in Canada, Fast was equally Chamber of Commerce-like when he talked here about Canada’s prospects in Asia. While much of Canada’s political and media attention lately has been on a $15.1-billion takeover bid of a Canadian energy company by a state-owned Chinese energy company, Fast was eager to talk about business possibilities for Canada that he had seen across the world’s most populous region.

“This trip was completely focused on a much higher level of engagement in Southeast Asia,” Fast said. Putting so many eggs in the Asia basket was not the dominant theme of the Harper’s initial global commerce strategy, which is being refreshed after five years.

“I can assure you that the new five-year strategy will involve a very special focus on Asia and more specifically Southeast Asia,” Fast said.

The Mennonite lawyer was particularly fired up about Thailand the day that I met him here. The kingdom, he noted, had quietly become Canada’s top trading partner in Southeast Asia. Fast was also bullish about the diversity of businesses that Canadians could undertake in Myanmar, which is suddenly opening up to the world politically and is in the process of implementing significant economic reforms, too.

Whilst in Myanmar, Fast met with the country’s president, Thein Sein and with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the international media’s favourite opposition leader at the moment. As well as plans to open an embassy there, Canada intends to soon establish a “full service” trade commissioner’s office there, Fast said.

Rhyming off agriculture, food processing and storage, aerospace and financial services as products and services that Canada could sell to Burma, he said that Canada’s greatest export prospects were probably in education.

“Canada is a world leader in education and that is something that Burma desperately needs and welcomes,” Fast said. “We can partner with Burmese who want to make significant progress toward democracy, human rights and prosperity.”

Next up for by far the Harper government’s most travelled minister: South America.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Hu Jintao, President of China, today witnessed the signing of the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA).  The Agreement was signed by Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway, and Chen Deming, China’s Minister of Commerce, on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.

“Our Government is committed to creating the right conditions for Canadian businesses to compete globally,” said the Prime Minister. “This agreement with China – the world’s second largest economy – will provide stronger protection for Canadians investing in China, and create jobs and economic growth in Canada.”

The conclusion of negotiations with China was announced by Prime Minister Harper during an official visit to China in February 2012. Throughout the negotiating process, Canada consulted with a variety of Canadian stakeholders. Now that the agreement has been signed, both countries will proceed with their respective ratification process. In Canada, this will include tabling the agreement in the House of Commons for 21 sitting-days.

Foreign direct investment between Canada and China has increased more than five-fold between 2005 and 2011 to a total of $15.4 billion. The potential for increased Canadian investment in China is significant given the country is expected to become the world’s largest economy by 2020.  Chinese firms have also expressed a desire to invest in Canada. Sectors of interest include mining, and oil and gas extraction.

Since 2006, Canada has concluded or brought into force FIPAs with 12 countries, and is in active negotiations with 13 others.

Above: Chinese President Hu Jintao attends the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vladivostok September 8, 2012. REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese President Hu Jintao urged Asia-Pacific nations on Saturday to speed up infrastructure development to help face the “grave challenges” from the global economy, in comments that follow Beijing’s unveiling of $157 billion in such projects.

The remarks at the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit lent further weight to what analysts see as an increasingly vocal commitment from Beijing to stimulate the economy by leaning heavily on the construction of railroads, ports and other infrastructure.

By Douglas Busvine and John Ruwitch | Reuters

China’s economic planning body, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has approved 60 infrastructure projects worth more than $150 billion. The news boosted asset prices from steel futures to stocks, especially of companies related to construction.

“To strengthen infrastructure development is key to promoting recovery and achieving sustained and stable growth,” Hu told an APEC business leaders’ conference in Vladivostok, Russia.

“Governments should play an important role in infrastructure building and step up financial support for infrastructure development,” he added, pledging later to “increase input in infrastructure development and social services” in China.

Although the value of the projects is much smaller compared with China’s mammoth stimulus package during the global financial crisis, analysts said they may feed through to the economy by the fourth quarter of 2012 to arrest a consistent slide in GDP growth since the beginning of 2011.

Still, there were some doubts about whether or not the infrastructure projects approved by the NDRC are new. The official Xinhua news agency reported that many had been approved before.

Major infrastructure project approvals were scarce in 2011 while the government was busy tightening policy, so approvals for 2012 may appear big on a relative basis.

But the enthusiastic market reaction suggested that investors had been unaware of the scale of the infrastructure drive.

China steel futures jumped and Chinese stocks rallied by the most in eight months on the news. U.S. heavy equipment and steel makers also got a boost.

Analysts have steadily cut their 2012 GDP growth forecasts to converge with Beijing’s target of 7.5 percent, which would be the weakest in at least 13 years. Predictions for a recovery have also been pushed out from the first quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter.

In Vladivostok, Hu said the economy was still “facing notable downward pressure” and in the world economy “there are still some destabilizing factors and uncertainties.

“We will work to maintain the balance between keeping steady and robust growth, adjusting the economic structure and managing inflation expectations.”

Chinese economic data scheduled for release on Sunday and Monday is expected to back the view that growth in the world’s second-biggest economy is still slowing down.

STILL STIMULUS

Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch saw China’s infrastructure approvals as part of a two-pronged effort to “arrest slowdown”, the second part of which was land sales.

“We believe this new approach of policy stimulus is in the right direction because adding home supply and improving urban infrastructure are the two best ways to contain home prices, speed up urbanization and increase social welfare,” economists Ting Lu and Larry Hu wrote in a research note on Friday.

The scale of the infrastructure development was not as large as China’s 4 trillion yuan stimulus in the wake of the global financial meltdown, but Jin Liqun, chairman of the supervisory board of the China Investment Corp (CIC), the country’s $480 billion sovereign wealth fund, said it would help.

“This is not repetition of the stimulus package in 2008-09, but still it’s stimulus,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of an international sovereign wealth fund meeting in Mexico City.

In Vladivostok, businesses applauded Hu’s remarks.

“It’s very good news,” said Richard Lavin, who oversees China operations for Caterpillar, which had begun exporting machinery it made in China to offset the country’s slowdown.

“To have President Hu … talking about infrastructure and the role it plays in ongoing stable economic development … I thought that was really exciting,” Lavin told Reuters.

Scott Price, CEO and president of Walmart Asia, said despite the slowdown China was an “enormous upside opportunity for growth”.

“When a car stops going at 100 miles an hour and only goes 69, it’s still going pretty fast. A Chinese economy growing at 7.5 percent is still a very attractive market. There are, in our minds, massive territories of under-served customers,” he said.

So far, little has been said by the government about how the projects will be funded.

An executive at one large Chinese bank said it would participate in the stimulus program, saying his bank’s pricing power was stronger in the infrastructure sector than in industries that are suffering from over capacity.

Economists Lu and Hu, with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said they suspected the majority of the funding would be from bank lending.

“We should focus on credit growth instead of government announcement for forecasting economic impact,” they wrote.

(Editing by Neil Fullick)

Meeting With Consulate Staff and Families

Remarks

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

U.S. Consulate

Vladivostok, Russia

September 9, 2012

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SECRETARY CLINTON: Hi, everybody. (Applause.)

PARTICIPANT: Madam Secretary, I give you your Vlad consulate team.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, excellent. Wow. Great to see all of you. I thank you for coming by this afternoon on Sunday to – come around this way. (Laughter.) I can see more of you without having my eyes go that way. (Laughter.) I want to thank the consul general. Thank you, Sylvia, for your leadership and your work here. (Applause.) I want to thank our ambassador, Ambassador McFaul. Thank you for all your hard work.

Somebody told me that I am the first Secretary of State to ever come here while I was Secretary of State. Is that true? You think so? (Laughter.) Excellent. (Applause.) Well, that gives me a chance to say thank you. Thank you to Americans and Russians alike. Because although this may be a small consulate, your responsibilities are large, and I think they’re going to get larger, because I think there are tremendous opportunities here in Vladivostok and in the Russian Far East. There’s a lot of good work to be done on the economic front working with businesses, American and Russian alike. The Exxon Mobil project is one example of that, but I think there are many others, and I believe that we have already demonstrated the benefits of having all of you here.

You serve people in some of the most far-flung places on the earth. I know it’s not always easy, but just in the past few months, you’ve done everything from helping a tiger conservation expert retain his Russian residency to facilitating tens of billions of dollars in investment for multinational companies. And then, of course, you did so much work and preparation for the APEC Summit. And thank you, thank you, thank you for all you did. You have literally – some of you have been working for years. You’ve overcome all the obstacles. When you needed computers, you flew them in from Moscow. When you needed coffee, you enlisted the coffeemaker from the consul general’s residence. You really were innovative and creative, all good hallmarks of getting the job done.

And I know, too, that sometimes you can see – you can feel like you’re very far away, particularly the Americans who are here. But I think you’ve demonstrated – and Sylvia certainly has told me – that this is a very interesting place to live, lots of good culture and art and this new university that I hope is going to be a great success. It certainly has wonderful facilities, and I’m excited because I think you’re going to be in the center of a lot of action between now and the years to come.

I want to thank particularly the local staff, all of our Russian staff. Some of you have been with this consulate since it opened 20 years ago. You’ve been through the ups and the downs and all of the changes. And I am so grateful to you, because really, we could not do this work without you . Consul generals and ambassadors and even secretaries come and go, but you guys, you’re the nerve center, you’re the memory bank, you’re the ones who are the ones who keep the continuity of this work going.

I am sure sometimes it may not be the most popular thing to be working at the American consulate, but I am very grateful to you because this relationship is worth it. It is so important. I am one of those who believe that despite our differences, which are real – different cultures, different experiences, different histories; I know all of that – that as we move forward in the future, our young people are going to have so much in common. And that’s what I want us to foster, that kind of future for bright, creative, hard-working, young Russians and Americans.

So I really wanted to come to say thank you. I mean, I could have just left the island and gone to the airport, but I knew who did the work, and I wanted you to know that we’re very appreciative and how much we value the relationship between the United States and Russia. I think it’s one of the most exciting times to serve in Russia, and I really just wish the very best for the Russian people who have been so resilient, so courageous, gone through so much, and deserve such a bright future with all that God has to offer. So bless you all. Let me shake your hands and thank you personally. Thank you so much. (Applause.)

Press Availability in Vladivostok, Russia

Press Availability

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Consulate General Vladivostok

Vladivostok, Russia

September 9, 2012

 

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SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon, everybody. Well, first, let me say how pleased I was to visit Vladivostok, and to see the new university for this APEC meeting. I was very delighted to attend on behalf of President Obama. Let me just highlight a few of the developments, beginning with what APEC’s members are doing to promote sustainable growth while preserving and protecting our natural resources.

Last year in Honolulu, APEC leaders committed to spark green growth by developing a list of environmental products on which we would significantly reduce tariffs. And here in Vladivostok, the leaders delivered on that commitment, agreeing on a list that includes solar panels, gas, and wind turbines and dozens more products. Today, tariffs on these products can run as high as 35 percent. By 2015, APEC members will cut them to 5 percent or less. By making green products more affordable and creating jobs wherever they are manufactured, including in the United States, we hope this decision will inspire other trading groups to emulate APEC’s record of trade innovation.

Second, as leaders meet here in Russia, our negotiating partners are engaged in intense diplomacy to advance the Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as the TPP. This free trade agreement is central to America’s economic vision in Asia. By reducing market distortions and leveling the playing field, the TPP will raise the bar for competition in a way that benefits every economy in the region, whether it is an active partner in the TPP or not.

Third, APEC members took important steps to promote food security. Record-breaking droughts are driving up the price of corn, wheat, and other grains, with the fear that people will be left without enough to eat. The APEC leaders recognized we won’t solve this problem by banning or restricting food exports; we need to ensure greater agricultural productivity, and that food supplies reach the people who need them most, no matter where they live.

Fourth, we continued our progress on an area that bears directly on this region’s economic competitiveness, as a growing body of evidence proves investing in women is great for the bottom line. The APEC region is losing as much as $47 billion every year because of barriers that keep women from fully participating in the economic and political lives of their countries.

Now, I could list many more areas where we have advanced our work. I’m especially pleased that APEC leaders pledged to enhance our efforts to combat trafficking in illegal wildlife. You’ve have seen the posters of tigers, and it is an issue I discussed with President Putin, because it’s tigers and leopards, it’s rhinos and elephants, and APEC leaders recognize we have to do so much more in stopping poachers and stopping demand and consumption. We’ve covered a lot of ground, and we look forward to working with our Indonesian colleagues on these and other issues as they host APEC next year.

I had the opportunity to meet with both President Putin and Minister Lavrov yesterday. We discussed matters ranging from deepening our economic ties to addressing the crisis in Syria. The Obama Administration has been committed to strengthening our relationship with Russia, and we are moving ahead in many areas. Yesterday we announced joint initiatives on scientific research in Antarctica, cooperation between our national parks, and partnerships among our state and local governments. And today, our new visa agreement goes into force, freeing up Russian and American businesses to spend less time doing paperwork and more time trading, investing, and creating jobs.

However, I have also said we would be frank about our differences. As I told both the President and the Prime Minister – I mean, excuse me, the President and the Foreign Minister, the United States disagrees with the approach on Syria. We are concerned by new laws that could restrict civil society, and by recent measures targeting people who have spoken out about Russia’s democratic future. Domestic entrepreneurs and foreign investors alike understand that in the 21^st century, political modernization can and does drive economic growth, and it can create stronger societies and strengthen partnerships in pursuit of shared goals.

So I very much appreciate the opportunity that I’ve had to be here, and I look forward to your questions.

MODERATOR: We’ll take three today. We’ll start with Matt Lee. Happy birthday, Matt Lee.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, happy birthday, Matt.

QUESTION: Thank you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Wow. A red letter day.

QUESTION: A long birthday.

SECRETARY CLINTON: (Laughter.) Yes, we are going to take you over many time zones. You can keep celebrating.

QUESTION: It might be another year by the time we –

SECRETARY CLINTON: Exactly.

QUESTION: Madam Secretary, understanding that you didn’t make this trip with the expectation that you were going to get either the Russians or the Chinese to do a 180 and change their positions on Syria, Iran, or, in fact, the South China Sea, after your discussions both here and in Beijing, do you get the sense that there is any kind of traction or movement, as we had toward the UN General Assembly, on Syria in particular? And then – but also with – between ASEAN and China in the South China Sea.

And then, also with the Russians, did you explore with President Putin what his ambitions or aims and intents are in this Look East policy? And do you think that the Russians can help? But – it is all the same question. (Laughter.)

Do you think – I mean, do you get the sense that the Russians are willing to play a positive role in the territory in these disputes? It could be a calming influence in the East China Sea. Thanks.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, with respect to Syria, I made the international community’s case again yesterday to both the Foreign Minister and the President that we have to bring more pressure to bear on the Assad regime to end the bloodshed and begin a political democratic transition. I will continue to work with Foreign Minister Lavrov to see if we can revisit the idea of putting the Syria transition plan that we agreed to in Geneva earlier this summer into a Security Council resolution.

But as I underscored yesterday with Foreign Minister Lavrov, that will only be effective if it includes consequences for noncompliance. And there’s no point passing a resolution with no teeth, because we’ve seen time and time again that Assad will ignore it and keep attacking his own people.

So if we can make progress in New York in the run-up to the UN General Assembly, we will certainly try. But we have to be realistic. We haven’t seen eye-to-eye with Russia on Syria. That may continue. And if it does continue, then we will work with likeminded states to support the Syrian opposition to hasten the day when Assad falls, and to help prepare Syria for a democratic future and help it get back on its feet again.

With respect to looking east, of course those are – that question should be posed to the President, the Foreign Minister, or other Russian officials. But we have no problem with Russia playing a responsible role in Asia. In fact, we welcome it. Just as we have told the Russians – and I told President Putin yesterday – the U.S. wants to deepen our economic cooperation with Russia in Asia, in the Far East.

American companies have made a number of significant investments in the Russian Far East which support increasing opportunity and development in this part of Russia. For example, ExxonMobil has a very large oil and gas project that is worth about $10 billion in investment, and it directly employs nearly 600 Russian citizens. With over $7.7 billion in contracts awarded to Russian companies or joint ventures, the project has also created many, many other jobs throughout the region.

We are very committed to working with Russia, particularly on economic growth and enhanced prosperity. In fact, later this month, the Russian American Pacific Partnership Forum will be held in Tacoma, Washington, to connect business and government leaders in an effort to strengthen business ties between our Pacific Coast and the United States and the Russian Far East.

So we’re really supportive, and we want to see more travel between our two countries. And now we anticipate – a recent announcement that was just held, Vladivostok Air, with regular flights between Anchorage and – I think it’s Kamchatka – I don’t know if I said that right. And that’s one of the reasons why we liberalized visas. We want more business-to-business connections, people-to-people connections, and bring our countries closer together, and bring this part of Russia closer together to Alaska and our West Coast.

MODERATOR: Next one from Dmitry Khrustalev with Rossiya 1, please.

QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, (inaudible), United States are about to abolish or cancel the Jackson-Vanik amendment. But at the same time, you are turning now to approve the (inaudible). I ask why. Thank you.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first, let me start by saying the United States worked very hard over the last three presidencies – my husband, George W. Bush, and President Obama – to work to get Russia into the WTO. And in particular, President Obama and this Administration were just tireless in working with Russia and working with others who were already in the WTO to clear the way for Russia to be a – finally, a member of WTO.

We think expanding our trade, as I was just saying to the prior questioner, is one of our top economic priorities. We think it’s good for Russia, we think it’s good for the United States. And we are urging Congress to terminate the application of Jackson-Vanik to Russia so that American businesses can benefit from the WTO accession by Russia. I mean, frankly, it’s somewhat ironic if we did so much work to help Russia get into the WTO and then we are prohibited for our businesses to actually work in Russia. So we have to clear the way on the Jackson-Vanik amendment.

And with respect to the second part of your question, I think it’s fair to say, as I said in my opening remarks, we do believe that it’s important to promote the cause of human rights here in Russia, and that members of Congress believe the same thing, and they are particularly concerned about addressing the case of Mr. Magnitsky’s wrongful death. So we continue to consult with Congress on this as they consider two different drafts of legislation. I would note that the United States Government, the Obama Administration, has already taken important action to ensure that no one that we are told credibly was in any way implicated in Mr. Magnitsky’s death can travel to the United States already.

MODERATOR: Last one today, Shaun Tandon, AFP.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Madam Secretary. In the course of your 11-day trip to the region, you’ve spoken a lot about boosting the U.S. role in Asia. But two of the closest U.S. allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea, have been at loggerheads over a territorial dispute of the disputed islands.

You’ve met over the past couple of days with Prime Minister Noda of Japan and President Lee of South Korea. Do you see any signs of hope in resolving or at least managing this dispute? And what does it mean for U.S. policy in the region to have these two members having so much difficulty?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Shaun, one of the valuable things about this long trip is that I have had a chance to see so many leaders in the region. So whether we’re talking about the South China Sea or the East China Sea, my message has been the same to all of them. And now is the time for everyone to make efforts to reduce the tensions and strengthen diplomatic involvement for resolving these tensions.

And the United States is committed to playing a constructive role based on clear principles which we have consistently enunciated. We want to see the issues resolved through diplomatic processes that lower tension, avoid any form of confrontation, and lead to the ultimate resolution of what are very longstanding disputes in a manner that is consistent with international law.

Specifically with respect to our two good friends and allies, Japan and the Republic of Korea, I raised these issues with both of them, urging that their interests really lie in making sure that they lower the temperature and work together in a concerted way, to have a calm and restrained approach. And I think that’s being heard. There does seem to be a recognition on the part of all of the leaders that this region of the world is the economic engine in what is still a fragile global economy. And we can’t let anything happen. It’s not in the interests of any of the Asian countries, it’s certainly not in the interest of the United States or the rest of the world to raise doubts and uncertainties about the stability and peace in the region.

So I’m committed to working closely with all of the countries involved. And the United States will do what we can to try to ensure that these longstanding disputes don’t become a significant problem for our friends or for the broader region.

MODERATOR: Thank you all very much.

SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you all very much. Okay. Thank you all.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia — Having just sent Iran’s diplomats’ packing and having brought its own diplomats home from Iran last week, Canada will keep trying to aid Canadian citizens there — including three on death-row — with the help of its partners and allies, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Sunday.

But Harper did not hold out much hope that much could be accomplished.

“The reality is our influence and that of our partners on Iran is minimal,” the prime minister said in French at the end of an Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation summit in the port city that is Russia’s gateway to the Pacific.

[np-related /]

The federal government announced Friday in Vladivostok that it was closing the Canadian Embassy in Tehran and expelling Iran’s diplomats from Ottawa.

“We have terminated our diplomatic presence there precisely because we are concerned by the behaviour and the capacity for increasingly bad behaviour of the government of Iran,” Harper said, without elaborating on what exactly he meant by that.

Harper’s comments in Russia followed condemnation of his government’s moves and motivations from the Iranian regime this weekend.

We know this is a country that does not stop at anything. That is just the reality of the situation

“The current government of Canada under the leadership of Mr. Stephen Harper is known for extreme policies in the domain of foreign policy,” the Mehr news agency quoted Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying.

“The hostile behaviour of the current racist government in Canada in reality follows the policies dictated by the Zionists (Israel) and the British.”

Canada’s decision to expel Iranian diplomats and cut all official ties in Iran was the result of what Mehmanprast called “hostile behaviour” that had been encouraged, he said, by Israel and Britain.

Iran was harshly condemned by Harper in Vladivostok for developing what he believes is a military nuclear capability, for its anti-Semitic and genocidal threats against Israel and for its arming of the Bashar Assad regime in Syria.

[npooyala src="NkYTJ1NToAkeJwWzpER2B5kRIC2R0unQ" playlist="yes"]

“Do I anticipate specific actions? No, not necessarily,” Harper said, when discussing possible Iranian reprisals against Canada for having cut diplomatic ties. “But we know this is a country that does not stop at anything. That is just the reality of the situation…Nothing (Iran might do) would surprise me. That is all the more reason why it is essential that our Canadian personnel no longer be present.”

Among the Canadians believed to be facing possible execution in Iran is Hamid Ghassemi-Shall. The 42-year-old was arrested in 2008 while visiting his family, and was later charged with espionage. He was sentenced to death in 2009. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird publicly appealed to the Iranian government to grant clemency to Ghassemi-Shall as recently as April.

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The prime minister denied that Canada’s decision to announce in Vladivostok that it was ending all diplomatic connections with Iran and the prominence that he gave here to Ottawa’s take on Syria’s appalling security situation had drawn attention away from economic and trade issues.

“APEC is principally an economic forum and virtually all of the discussions among the 21 partners in terms of the plenary session (were) closely related to the economy,” Harper said.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

The hostile behaviour of the current racist government in Canada in reality follows the policies dictated by the Zionists (Israel) and the British

Harper met earlier Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao. The two leaders promised to deepen trade ties between their two countries.

“We appreciate our mutually beneficial relationship,” Hu said in remarks opening the 30-minute long private discussion, recalling that the two had met at a G-20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, in July. The Chinese leader, who is to transfer power to a successor this fall, said China also welcomed the trade agreements it has been negotiating with Canada.

After their meeting, Harper and Hu watched as Canada’s trade minister, Ed Fast, signed the Canada-China Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement with China’s minister of commerce, Chen Deming.

While human rights were not discussed in specific regard to this agreement “in every engagement with our Chinese partners we always raise issues of human rights, democracy and consular cases,” Harper said. “I raised those again today. There were a couple of particular matters.”

Foreign investment protection and promotion agreements were designed to provide a stronger legal framework for foreign investments, the prime minister said. “I am not aware of any such agreements with Canada or any other countries that try to include other and broader issues but those things are part of our relationship and dialogue with the Chinese.”

Wayne Cuddington / Postmedia News

The controversial proposed $15.1-billion sale of the Canadian energy company, which has projects in Alberta’s oil sands, to a Chinese state oil company, CNOOC, was not raised by Hu when the two men met, Harper said.

“I think that they understand that that is subject to a Canadian legal process on which as prime minister I am severely restricted on my ability to comment,” he said.

There had been “a good and robust discussion” on “the significant imbalance that exists in the relative flow of trade and investment between Canada and China,” Harper said, as well as ways to further expand trad.

We got nowhere on this until after the prime minister’s first visit to China in 2009 and Hu’s visit to Canada in 2010. The momentum has really picked up since then

Canada exported nearly $18 billion in products to China in 2011. China exported $48 billion to Canada.

China also invested a record $11 billion in Canada last year. In return, Canada invested $4.6 billion in China.

The FIPA agreement signed Sunday is the second to last step in a process that began 18 years ago. The two governments announced during the Canadian leader’s visit to China earlier this year that negotiations had finally been completed. It is expected to be ratified soon by Canada’s Parliament.

“We got nowhere on this until after the prime minister’s first visit to China in 2009 and Hu’s visit to Canada in 2010,” Harper’s chief spokesman, Andrew MacDougall, said. “The momentum has really picked up since then.”

Since 2006, Canada has concluded or brought into force FIPAs with 12 countries, and is in active negotiations with 13 others, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Direct investment by Canada and China in each other’s economies quintupled between 2005 and 2011, to $15.4 billion. This figure does not include the pending multibillion-dollar investment by a China’s CNOOC in Nexen.

The final statement issued by the APEC leaders Sunday, meanwhile, welcomed Europe’s commitment “to safeguard the integrity and stability of the euro area.” In an allusion to the grave economic problems that have been caused by a serious debt crisis in many countries there and ways to help them to survive a potential debacle, “we remain committed to reducing imbalances by strengthening deficit economies’ public finances with sound and sustainable policies that take into account evolving economic conditions and, in economies with large current account surpluses, by strengthening domestic demand and moving toward greater exchange rate flexibility.”

China’s currency, the remimbi, remains controversial because many believe it has been kept artificially low to benefit Chinese exports.

During Sunday’s meeting, Harper told Hu that Canada appreciated Chinese efforts to bring a more flexibility to the exchange rate for the remimbi.

Harper’s private meeting with Hu on Sunday followed nearly hour-long talks with Vladimir Putin on Saturday. They discussed their sharp differences over what to do about Syria, where an increasingly violent civil war is in its 18th month. Other issues discussed included the Arctic and their common interest in hockey, with kind words from both men on the 40th anniversary of the hockey summit series between Canada and the Soviet Union.

The prime minister departed Vladivostok for Ottawa on Sunday. The next major international gathering that Canada usually attends is the Francophonie summit in October in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The next APEC leaders’ meeting is in Bali, Indonesia next October.

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — As Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders ended their two-day summit Sunday with a pledge to promote integration and innovative growth, they proved again the strength of speaking with one voice.

After an intensive summit week, participants reached consensus with a joint declaration that maintaining long-term growth and prosperity was a pressing task for all economies in the region.

Under the theme of “Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper,” leaders agreed that robust international trade, investment and economic integration were key drivers of strong, sustainable and balanced growth.

Since its birth in 1989, APEC has grown to encompass 21 members spanning four continents, and represents the most economically dynamic region in the world.

Today, APEC has established itself as a driving force for multi-layer cooperation and regional integration.

However, with a tottering global recovery, a deepening sovereign debt crisis in Europe and the rising threat of protectionism, the APEC mechanism needs to prove its flexibility to make the needed responses to global change.

As Chinese President Hu Jintao said at the summit, though the Asia-Pacific region maintained sound momentum of growth, member economies should not overlook the impact of the ailing world economy on the region and address common challenges together.

China, a firm supporter of regional integration and common growth, has consistently cooperated with other APEC members.

It also promised to upgrade infrastructure and accelerate domestic economic restructuring in the context of promoting stable growth and recovery.

In addition, China would work with other APEC partners to facilitate trade liberalization and connectivity in the region, Hu said.

One thorny issue that has beset the APEC format is the balancing of benefits among member economies that have huge differences in development and demands.

Narrowing those divergences is always the product of sincere negotiations, and APEC has never been a stranger to that approach.

As Russian President and host Vladimir Putin said, the Vladivostok summit not only proved the efficiency of the APEC forum but also “opened new horizons, giving positive signals to business circles in the region.”

At the end of the APEC Economic Leaders’ meeting, member economies approved a list of 54 items of environment-friendly goods for tariff reduction after several months’ work. A similar goal has taken the World Trade Organization more than 10 years of talks without a result.

In addition, the leaders pledged to refrain until the end of 2015 from raising new barriers to trade and investment, and not to impose new export restrictions or implement WTO-inconsistent measures in all areas.

As was inked in the principles and spirit of the regional forum, a prosperous Asia-Pacific favors the common interests of all APEC members and is the ultimate goal for regional cooperation.

To that end, APEC leaders should reinforce cooperation on the basis of voluntarism, reach consensus via negotiations and seek common ground while reserving differences over the long haul.

Related:

APEC economic leaders issue joint declaration on regional development

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Economic leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) members on Sunday issued here a joint declaration that outlines future development of the region.

Under the theme of “Integrate to Grow, Innovate to Prosper,” the leaders agreed that robust international trade, investment and economic integration are key drivers of strong, sustainable and balanced growth. Full story

Chinese president returns home after APEC meeting

VLADIVOSTOK, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) — Chinese President Hu Jintao left here for home Sunday, after attending the annual Economic Leaders’ Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in this Russian Far East city.

At the two-day meeting, Hu and leaders of other APEC members exchanged views on trade and investment liberalization, regional economic integration, food security and the establishment of reliable supply chains, as well as cooperation to foster innovative growth. Full story

Special Report: President Hu attends 20th APEC informal economic leaders’ meeting

Above: China’s President Hu Jintao wearing his APEC pin

For more on APEC and a list of nations see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific_Economic_Cooperation

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China’s Hu Jintao Skips Talks With Philippine President Aquino

The Inquirer (Manila)

APEC TALKS President Aquino arrives, along with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, for a round-table meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Vladivostok. AFP

RUSSKIY ISLAND, Vladivostok—President Benigno Aquino returned to Manila on Sunday without meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao for much-anticipated bilateral talks that would have included their countries’ territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

Mr. Aquino attended the 20th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum and leaders’ summit on Russkiy Island, off the Russian far eastern port city of Vladivostok during the weekend. His plane landed in Manila at 5:35 p.m., 40 minutes early because of a tail wind.

In a five-minute arrival speech, the President said  the Apec goals—make regional investments and trade strategies productive, the supply chains continuous and financial systems able to withstand crisis—remaind on track.

Speaking in Filipino, Mr. Aquino reported his meetings with the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Chile.

“We have successfully imparted the new face of the Philippines: more open to business opportunities, fairer to those who are ready to invest and a lucrative center of commerce and trade not just in the Asia-Pacific but in the whole world,” he said.

Mr. Aquino and Hu had been expected to meet on Sunday before the close of the Apec leaders’ summit.

Question of time

Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on Saturday said that the format for the meeting had been “finalized” and only the time for the two leaders to sit down for the talks remained to be worked out.

Sunday came, the summit wrapped up its business, and the host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, said goodbye to 20 other Asia-Pacific leaders, but Hu remained scarce.

“It just came to a scheduling challenge, but as you can see the scheduling challenge turned out to be a bigger challenge than we anticipated,” Del Rosario said.

Mr. Aquino’s aides had said beforehand that a meeting with Hu was his top priority for the summit.

Rival claims

China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the West Philippine Sea, which is believed to hold vast amounts of oil and gas, is a rich fishing ground, and is home to shipping lanes vital to global trade.

But the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan also claim parts of the sea, some claims overlapping, and Manila and Hanoi accuse Beijing of a campaign of intimidation.

Tensions between the Philippines and China have been particularly pronounced, rising dramatically in April when vessels from the two countries faced off with each other at Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), a rich fishing ground within Manila’s 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone.

The Philippines stepped back from the standoff in June due to stormy weather, but Mr. Aquino said he would order government vessels to return to the shoal unless the Chinese cleared out.

Chinese ships are reportedly still at Panatag Shoal.

Missed opportunity

Mr. Aquino and Hu had been expected to touch on the dispute during their talks, and Del Rosario tried one more time to secure a meeting before the 1 p.m. (3 p.m. Manila time) close of the summit but the Chinese leader’s schedules, which included a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Sunday morning, was loaded.

“Our schedules just didn’t jibe with each other,” Del Rosario said.

“We saw each other earlier, but we didn’t have the chance to talk,” Mr. Aquino told reporters on Saturday night. “The [leaders’] retreat [on Saturday] had already started before we saw each other. I didn’t see him actually at the cocktails before we had dinner. I think he was also busy with his own bilateral meetings,” he said.

The President met Chilean President Sebastian Piñera Echenique and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang on Sunday.

Mr. Aquino’s chartered flight left for Manila at 4 p.m. (1 p.m. Manila time).

Aquino disappointed

Del Rosario said the President was disappointed. “I think that a lot could have been achieved in terms of a meeting between the leaders for them to be able to share the various points of view and I think that this probably is not only a downside for the Philippines but also for China. I think this is obviously a missed opportunity,” Del Rosario said.

The failure of the Aquino-Hu talks contrasted with discussions the Chinese leader had with the leader of Vietnam, which a Chinese government spokesperson described as friendly.

Hu also met with the sultan of Brunei, which is less vocal in asserting its claims, and the representative of Taiwan.

In a briefing for the press Saturday night, Mr. Aquino said he planned to have a “frank exchange of thoughts” with Hu to “divorce the talks from diplomatic niceties”

The President’s last meeting with Hu was during his state visit to China in August last year. Since then, their exchanges have been coursed through Philippine and Chinese ambassadors.

“I can’t say it’s a warmed-up relationship, but at least it’s less cold than what it was,” Mr. Aquino said.

Risky strategy

He said he would rather agree to disagree on things that divided the two countries, specifically the West Philippine Sea dispute, while moving forward on more negotiable matters.

He also said that bringing up the territorial dispute to the United Nations could be more risky than it looked.

“I was told by all the lawyers I talked with that once we enter into litigation, we can win but we can also lose,” Mr. Aquino said.

The President said some Apec leaders offered advice that no political leader in his right mind would abandon something that his predecessors had claimed as theirs.

“Nobody can give up their sovereignty just like that,” Mr. Aquino said. “The political cost will not be bearable by whoever proposes it. If I gave up even one centimeter of our national territory, I’m sure there will be many who will impeach me.”

Neighbors’ support

Speaking at the airport after his arrival on Sunday, Mr. Aquino said the leaders of Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam extended to the Philippines “warm support” on matters pertaining to the West Philippine Sea.

He said Chilean President Piñera invited him to visit Chile for discussions of investments in aquaculture and mining, exchange of geothermal energy technology, and deployment to Chile of Filipino teachers of English.

Mr. Aquino said the international community was abuzz with talk that “the Philippines is now very different, more developed than others.”

He said Filipinos should be ready to contribute to increasing globalization by reconsidering the country’s economic barriers that might hamper further development. With a report from AFP

Originally posted: 1:16 pm | Sunday, September 9th, 2012