Vancouver, Canada

25 November 1997

The Rt. Hon. Prune Minister Chretien,

Fellow Colleagues,

It is a great pleasure for me to come to this picturesque land of maples. First of all, please allow me to extend my heartfelt thanks to you, Mr. Prime Minister and the Canadian Government for your considerate arrangements.

As mankind is approaching the 2lst century, it is necessary for us to develop a concept as well as a modality for cooperation that are in conformity with the trend of the times by summarizing the past experience and looking into the future.

APEC is the most influential economic forum in our region and one of the most dynamic organizations for economic cooperation in the world. It has its own basic features in its approach, that is, giving full consideration to the diversity of its members and acknowledging their divergence in the level and stage of development as well as the consequent differing interests and needs; laying emphasis on flexibility, step-by-step progress and openness, adhering to such principles as equality and mutual benefit, consensus, seeking common ground while putting aside differences as well as voluntarism; and, combining individual with collective actions.

Practice has proved all the more clearly that the APEC Approach, which responds to the reality in the region, is conducive to achieving a balance of rights, interests and needs of various members. It will also help its member economies to give full play to their capability for common development. Adherence to this approach affords an important guarantee for strengthened cooperation among APEC members.

The sole mission of APEC is to promote economic cooperation. It should refrain from extending the scope of its discussion to social, political, security and other non-economic fields. It is necessary to concentrate our efforts on advancing economic cooperation in a spirit of doing certain things and refraining from doing other things.

Trade and investment liberalization is a relative and conditional concept for any APEC member economy. Diversity among APEC members and their actual circumstances should be fully taken into consideration and the principles of voluntarism, mutual benefit, and consensus be observed. In identifying sectors for early voluntary liberalization ( EVSL), members should be allowed to maintain the freedom of choice in terms of participation. Meanwhile, the differentiation between the two timetables should be acknowledged, and both the interests of a member itself as well as those of other members should be considered so as to facilitate common development. Developed members should be encouraged to use their economic and technological advantages to help developing members on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and complementarity. By no means should the interests of the developing economies be compromised. Only in this way will more opportunities for cooperation be created for both developed and developing members.

Economic and technological cooperation and trade and investment liberalization are closely linked and should support each other. The rapid and dynamic advance of science and technology today has become the decisive factor behind the development of productive forces and exerted profound impacts on world economy and social life. Strengthened scientific and technological exchanges as well as technological cooperation and transfer will not only help augment the economic and technological strength of developing members, but also enhance the sustainability of economic development of the developed members. This will not only narrow the gap of development among its members but also greatly facilitate the process of trade and investment liberalization. To this end, I would like to put forward the following four points.

I. Fully open the market for technology trade so as to facilitate the technological cooperation and transfer among APEC members, remove man-made barriers and abolish discriminative policies and practices.

II. Adopt necessary measures to encourage and speed up the transfer of hi-technologies and other latest technologies to all members and developing members in particular with a view to promoting economic and technological progress of developing members.

III. All members should pay due attention to the protection of intellectual property rights and work to rationalize the IRP regime. Protective period of technical patents should be appropriate and terms of their transfer fair.

IV. I would like to propose that APEC adopts an Agenda for Science and Technology Industry Cooperation into the 21 Century. The Agenda should include objectives and principles on the one hand and concrete measures and steps on the other, combining market orientation with governmental regulation and control, R&D with the application of the results, and comprehensiveness with specificity in defining priority cooperative projects, with a view to activating the process of Ecotech in real earnest.

The recent financial instability in Southeast Asia has affected many regions in the world and aroused wide-spread concern from the international community. From the recent and previous financial instability around the world, we may draw some useful lessons.

Normal and safe operation of the financial system is crucial to the overall economic stability and development. To maintain a normal financial order and ward off financial risks, we should not only formulate correct economic development strategies and preserve a rational economic structure, but also improve the financial system through strengthened financial supervision and regulation. Meanwhile, we should maintain an appropriate structure and size for external debt and gradually open the capital market and financial services market in light of our specific conditions.

It is beneficial to all countries to enhance regional and international financial cooperation, maintain normal international financial order, jointly ward off the impact of excessive speculation of hot money in the world and create a favourable financial environment. We adopt a positive attitude towards strengthening financial cooperation in Asia and is ready to participate in discussions on relevant mechanism for cooperation.

Southeast Asia has suffered temporary economic difficulties due to the recent instability in financial market. Nevertheless, we are confidential that this region will further demonstrate its vitality for development and hold out a promising prospect if useful lessons can be drawn and appropriate adjustment made.

Since 1993, China has lowered its tariff on a basis of several times, a drop of about 60% in five year. Beginning from 1 October this year, China's average tariff level is reduced to 17%. The Chinese Government has decided to lower its average tariff on industrial products to10% by 2005. In addition, China has decided to accede to the Information Technology Agreement and started negotiations on relevant issues. We believe that such practical moves on our part will promote the development of economic and technological cooperation as well as trade and investment liberalization in the Asia-Pacific region.

In conclusion, I would like to warmly welcome the convocation of the 9th Informal APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shanghai, China in 2001. We will make full preparations for this meeting.

Thank you.