APEC Conference Wraps Up                  

在發表完「河內宣言」後，今年ＡＰＥＣ年會算是正式落幕了！只不過，做為ＡＰＥＣ的正式成員國之一，對於這個每年都必須參與的國際盛會，台灣除了「出席」外，似乎該有更多務實的策略思維。當前ＡＰＥＣ年會在經貿議題上，的確只是一個對話重於一切的論壇。但因每屆年會所有的領袖都會出席，並在會外，額外安排雙邊、多邊涉及政治、經濟和安全議題的會議，其重要性甚至遠超過大會主題的本身。

With the release of the Ha Noi Declaration, this year’s APEC summit has come to its formal conclusion. With respect to these annual gatherings, however, and as an official member of APEC, Taiwan should come up with a more practical strategic approach than just ‘showing up’. An APEC conference is built around trade and economic issues, but it is primarily a forum where dialogue is more important than anything else. For the national leaders in attendance every year address political, economic and security issues in bilateral and multilateral meetings on the margins of the conference that are of greater significance than the conference themes themselves.

ＡＰＥＣ年會也許每年都會發表一篇不痛不癢的宣言，但亞太各個國家之間藉由ＡＰＥＣ進行的經貿互動與整合的步伐已經越來越頻繁。譬如說，美國總統布希與中共國家主席胡錦濤即藉著ＡＰＥＣ雙邊會談的機會，就彼此對北韓、伊朗與台灣問題的立場異同交換意見。除了北韓議題外，許多國家領袖也在就簽訂自由貿易協定（ＦＴＡ）、合作開發經濟特區、環保等議題進行不同組合的雙邊會談。

The summits always wrap up with an innocuous declaration of some sort, but every year, Asia-Pacific countries take further steps in the direction of economic interaction and integration. For example, through the opportunity of their meeting at the APEC summit, President George W. Bush of the USA and Hu Jintao of China are able to exchange views on their respective positions regarding North Korea, Iran and Taiwan. Beyond the issue of North Korea, meanwhile, many leaders conducted talks in various bilateral configurations concerning the signing of Free Trade Agreements, the cooperative development of special economic zones, and the environment.

對台灣而言，如果永遠不嘗試在這個層面上做努力，那麼每年還是只能去注意台灣的出席代表「有沒有跟胡錦濤握過手」、「與布希打過招呼沒有」等這些社交議題上打轉，永遠觸碰不到任何實質的議題。亞太的局勢每天都在改寫，目前好像只有台灣對自己的處境還是渾然無所覺。

If Taiwan remains forever incapable of making any efforts at this level, then all we will pay attention to every year is such social topics as whether the Taiwan representative ‘shakes hands with Hu Jintao’ or ‘exchangs greetings with President Bush’, and we will never touch on substantive issues at all. The situation in Asia-Pacific is being rewritten every day and it would appear that at the moment, only Taiwan remains unaware of its own predicament.

Op-Ed = opinion and editorial (報紙的)專欄版署名評論版面的(通常與社論版面相對)

the op/ed page, an op/ed piece      economical經濟效益

substantial與substantive類似      提到實質問題時用substantive issues

不痛不癢,敷衍的,馬虎的 innocuous, perfunctory, benign