. Earth Science News .
TRADE WARS
Japan hosts APEC meet in shadow of rows with China, Russia

by Staff Writers
Yokohama, Japan (AFP) Nov 13, 2010
The presidents of the United States, China and Russia were Saturday due to meet with other Pacific Rim leaders for a summit in Japan that threatens to be overshadowed by regional tensions.

US President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao, who flew in after a Group of 20 summit in South Korea, have sparred over currencies and trade, while Japan is embroiled in territorial spats with both China and Russia.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, being held under tight security in Yokohama near Tokyo, is meant to push forward trade liberalisation in a region that accounts for more than half of global economic activity.

But, aside from general pledges of support for free trade, little progress is expected on forging new pacts at a time when the world economy is limping out of a deep downturn and there are fears protectionism is on the rise.

At the G20 summit, Obama, who is licking his wounds after a mid-term electoral drubbing last week, renewed the US charge that China keeps its yuan undervalued to boost its exports at the expense of American jobs.

China, Germany and other exporting nations have meanwhile charged that the US attempt to reflate its economy with a 600-billion-dollar cash injection is a back-door way to depress the greenback to gain a trading edge.

G20 nations in Seoul pledged to move "toward more market-determined exchange rate systems" and to refrain from "competitive devaluation of currencies", while also agreeing to reform the IMF and tighten banking regulations.

APEC members were due to discuss ways to bring down barriers to free trade across their region, including a US-backed treaty called the Trans Pacific Partnership that is backed by nine countries and gathering more support.

Few concrete outcomes are expected from the 21-member APEC, a regional group which makes only consensus-based and non-binding decisions and functions mainly as a forum for dialogue.

There were no announced plans, however, for formal talks between Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Hu, two months after ties between the Asian giants deteriorated badly over Japan's arrest of a Chinese fishing trawler captain.

China has launched a series of sharp diplomatic protests and punitive economic measures including, industry sources say, stopping the export of rare earth minerals that are vital for Japan's high-tech industry.

The spat has revived simmering historical animosities between Japan and China, which this year snatched the title of the world's second-biggest economy from Japan, and sparked nationalist street protests in both countries.

Japan has deployed more than 20,000 security personnel to lock down the summit venue, as anti-Chinese groups planned rallies.

The APEC host has also been embroiled in a territorial dispute with Russia after President Dmitry Medvedev made the first trip by a Russian leader to one of four disputed Pacific islands.

The China-Japan row has, meanwhile, reaffirmed a 50-year-old US-Japan alliance which has been strained by a dispute over a controversial US airbase.

Obama, in comments to a Japanese newspaper published Friday, stressed the need for stable ties among the United States, Japan and China, and called for the two Asian giants to resolve their "outstanding differences".

"The United States, China and Japan represent the world's three largest economies and, thus, we all share an interest in promoting security and prosperity with each other and throughout the region," he said.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Global Trade News



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


TRADE WARS
Japan says China still blocking rare earth exports
Seoul (AFP) Nov 11, 2010
Shipments of valuable rare earth minerals from China to Japan still appear to be on hold, Japanese officials said Thursday, urging Beijing to resume exports after a diplomatic row. "There is no noticeable progress in this regard," Hidenobu Sobashima, deputy director general at the foreign ministry, told reporters as the G20 group of rich and emerging nations opened a two-day summit in Seoul. ... read more







TRADE WARS
WFP needs to urgently feed 50,000 of Benin flood victims

Pakistan taxes own citizens to raise money for flood relief

Natural disasters in Africa hamper millennium goals

Storm deaths, cholera heap more misery on Haiti

TRADE WARS
Original Apple 1 computer to be auctioned

All Systems Nominal Aboard LM BSAT-3b Satellite

EOS Welcomes Australian-US Partnership To Track Space Junk

NIST Pings Key Material In Sonar, Closes Gap On Structural Mystery

TRADE WARS
Pacific nations look to increase control over tuna fisheries

Environmentalists urge action at tuna talks

Fish stocks dwindle as trawlers empty Asia's seas

Modeling Glacier Fed Water Dependency

TRADE WARS
Russian Drifting Polar Station SP-38 Opens In Chukchi Sea

Increased Arctic Shipping Could Accelerate Climate Change

Is The Ice At The South Pole Melting

End Of Ice Age Holds Clues About Carbon Dioxide Patterns

TRADE WARS
Scientists Launch Global Scheme To Boost Rice Yields While Reducing Damage To Environment

Robust Methods For GMO Detection Ready At Hand

Invasive grass threatens U.S. grazing land

Turtle meat killed six in Micronesia, government says

TRADE WARS
Indonesia volcano still shooting ash

Death toll from Thai floods tops 200

S.Lanka floods force up to 300,000 from their homes

Indonesian volcano death toll jumps to 191

TRADE WARS
Iran FM holds talks in Nigeria after illegal arms shipment

Armies of Sudan north, south do not want war: ministers

China provides Togo 12 million dollars in loans, grants

S.Leone orders British mining company to halt operations

TRADE WARS
The Brains Of Neanderthals And Modern Humans Developed Differently

Talking numbers with children helps math

Differences In Human And Neanderthal Brains Set In Just After Birth

Brain Trumps Hand In Stone Age Tool Study


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement