Military

DATE=10-18-01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-281946

TITLE= APEC TERROR THURSDAY - L

BYLINE=JIM RANDLE

DATELINE=

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: China's foreign minister says Pacific Rim nations have agreed on ways to fight the evil of terrorism. China is host to the 21 nations of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum meeting in Shanghai -- the first high level gathering

since deadly terror attacks killed thousands in the United States last month. V-O-A's Jim Randle reports from Shanghai.

TEXT: Officials have been working for days to craft a compromise between a very tough U-S anti-terrorism statement and the view of some

Muslim nations that the U-S led bombing raids on terrorist targets in Afghanistan are unjust and overly harsh.

The resulting document does not mention the current American retaliatory attacks, but Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan says it condemns

terrorism in strong terms.

/// TANG ACT IN CHINESE, FADE UNDER ///

Minister Tang says the fight against terrorism is a struggle between good and evil; between civilization and barbarism. He says it is not a

conflict among different races or between different religions.

The terrorism statement drafted by the ministers will be discussed by APEC's heads of state -- including President Bush -- in the next few days.

Mr. Bush, China's Jiang Zemin, Russia's Vladimir Putin and the many other national leaders will talk about terrorism and seek ways to restart the global economy that seems stalled nearly everywhere except China. With this in mind, the 21 APEC nations are expected to urge the World Trade Organization to begin a new round of global trade negotiations next month. (Signed)

NEB/HK/JR/JO