    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [October 20, 2001]
    [Pages 1273-1277]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Chief Executive Officers Summit in Shanghai
    October 20, 2001

        Thank you all very much. Bob, thank you
    so much for your kind words, and thank you for your great service to our
    country. Thank you, Chairman Yu, as well, for
    your good work in organizing this event.
        I want to thank our hosts. I was telling Chairman Yu that I was here in 1975 with my mother. [Laughter]
    Shanghai has finally recovered. [Laughter] I can't tell you what a
    startling difference it is--Shanghai is today than what it was in 1975.
    It's a great testimony to the Chinese people and the leadership of
    Shanghai and the leadership of this great land.
        I also want to say that I'm proud to be accompanied by our great
    Secretary of State, who is doing such a
    fantastic job for the United States of America, Colin Powell.
        We meet today with recent memories of great evil, yet great hope for
    this region and its future. The attacks of September 11th took place in
    my country, but they were really an attack on all civilized countries.
    The roll of the dead and the missing includes citizens from over 80
    nations: 96 Russians, 23 Australians, at least 30 Chinese, 24 Japanese,
    20 Malaysians, 16 Mexicans, 21 Indonesians. This was truly a crime
    against humanity, and it stands condemned by humanity.

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        The American people are grateful for the world's sympathy and
    support following September 11th. We truly are. We won't forget the
    American Stars and Stripes flying in solidarity from every firetruck in
    Montreal, Canada, or children kneeling in silent prayer outside the
    embassy in Seoul, baseball players in Japan observing moments of
    silence, a sign handwritten in English at a candlelight vigil in Beijing
    that read, ``Freedom and justice will not be stopped.''
        I can't tell you how much I appreciate the phone calls from leaders
    from around the world. We're deeply grateful to countries, including all
    the APEC countries, that have now joined in a great coalition against
    terror.
        In our world, there is no isolation from evil. Our enemies are
    murderers with global reach. They seek weapons to kill on a global
    scale. Every nation now must oppose this enemy or be, in turn, its
    target. Those who hate all civilization and culture and progress, those
    who embrace death to cause the death of the innocent, cannot be ignored,
    cannot be appeased. They must be fought. This is my firm resolve and the
    firm resolve of my Nation. This is the urgent task of our time.
        The most visible part of our response is taking place in
    Afghanistan. The Taliban regime has allied itself with murderers. I gave
    Taliban leaders a choice: Turn over the terrorists, or face your ruin.
    They chose unwisely.
        Yet, even as we oppose the Taliban, we seek friendship with the
    Afghan people. Our military actions are accompanied by food drops. We
    have substantially increased aid to Afghanistan. My Government supports
    international efforts to bring help and stability and peace to that
    unfortunate nation.
        There's frustration about the delivery of food and medicine and help
    in Afghanistan. I share that frustration. The guilty ones are the
    Taliban. They disrupt; they steal; they prevent supplies of food from
    delivery. They starve their people, and that is another reason they must
    go.
        Our war on terror has many fronts, and military action is only part
    of our plan. This campaign will take strong diplomacy and intelligence,
    diligent law enforcement and financial cooperation. It will span every
    continent and require varied contributions from many nations.
        Tomorrow APEC leaders will pledge to work together to deny the
    terrorists any sanctuary, any funding, any material or moral support.
    Together, we will patiently and diligently pursue the terrorists from
    place to place until justice is done.
        This conflict is a fight to save the civilized world and values
    common to the West, to Asia, to Islam. Throughout the world, people of
    strong faith, of all faiths, condemn the murder of the innocent.
    Throughout the world, people value their families, and nowhere do
    civilized people rejoice in the murder of children or the creation of
    orphans. By their cruelty, the terrorists have chosen to live on the
    hunted margin of mankind. By their hatred, they have divorced themselves
    from the values that define civilization itself.
        The stakes of this fight for all nations are high: our lives, our
    way of life, and our economic future. By attacking two great economic
    symbols, the terrorists tried to shatter confidence in the world
    economic system, but they failed. The terrorists hoped world markets
    would collapse, but markets have proven their resiliency and fundamental
    strength.
        And this week in these halls, we return to the steady work of
    building the market-based economic system that has brought more
    prosperity more quickly to more people than at any time in human
    history. We know a future of greater trade and growth and human dignity
    is possible, and we will build it.
        When nations allow their citizens to exercise conscience and
    creativity, the result is economic and social progress. When nations
    accept the rules of the modern world,

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    they discover the benefits of the modern world.
        This vast region and its people, 21 economies on the shores of a
    peaceful ocean, are demonstrating the power and appeal of markets and
    trade. China's per capita GDP has grown by 513 percent since 1975.
    Seventy-three percent of all South Korean households have personal
    computers. Slashing trade barriers has helped Chile raise per capita
    incomes by 53 percent over the past 10 years.
        And the wealth generated by markets and trade brings dramatic
    improvement to human lives. Indonesia has cut its infant mortality rate
    in half since 1980. Malaysia's illiteracy rate is one-third of what it
    was in 1975; Mexico is less than half.
        I'm here in Shanghai to assure our friends and to inform our foes
    that the progress of trade and freedom will continue. The ties of
    culture and commerce will grow stronger. Economic development will grow
    broader.
        The Asia-Pacific region provides the world with a model and a
    choice: Choose openness, trade, and tolerance, and you will find
    prosperity, liberty, and knowledge. Choose isolation, envy, and
    resentment, and you will find poverty, stagnation, and ignorance. Our
    nations have chosen: We have chosen freedom over fear.
        Out of the sorrow of September 11th, I see opportunity, a chance for
    nations and their leaders to strengthen and to rethink and reinvigorate
    our relationships. We share more than a common enemy; we share a common
    goal, to expand our ties of trade and trust. And now we must seize the
    opportunity.
        First, our governments must keep the path of economic progress. That
    progress begins with freer trade. Trade is the engine of economic
    advancement. On every continent, in every culture, trade generates
    opportunity, enhances entrepreneurial growth. And trade applies the
    power of markets to the needs of the poor. It has lifted countless lives
    in this region, from Asia to Australia to the Americas.
        Together, we must meet the Bogor Goals, including free trade for
    every nation in this region by 2020. The Shanghai Accord we'll sign
    tomorrow gives us new and useful tools to enhance trade and investment.
        We must also launch a new global trade round in November in Doha.
    We're committed to the goal of a world that lives and trades in freedom,
    and we must meet any challenge that stands in our way. There's much work
    to be done, and all of us, every nation, must redouble our efforts to
    see that Doha is a success. And every CEO in this room knows the strong
    case for free trade, and I urge all of you to press that case with your
    own governments.
        The United States will do its part to restore economic momentum for
    the world. We'll keep our markets open and our country open for
    business. We've already announced additional spending to assist and
    rebuild New York City, to stabilize the airline industry, and defend our
    country. Tax rebates have been arriving in America's mailboxes. Interest
    rates have been cut to historically low levels. In addition, I'm working
    with Congress to help workers who have lost their jobs and to stimulate
    the American economy with additional tax relief, relief that will
    bolster consumer spending and provide incentives for business
    investment. The economic fundamentals in America are strong, and our
    Nation will recover.
        Even before September 11th, this region faced economic uncertainty.
    The answer is more trade and openness, not less. This region needs
    regulatory systems that attract investors. Banking systems must be more
    transparent. Corporations must be more open and accountable. And as
    called for in the Shanghai Accord, we must dramatically reduce the cost
    of doing business

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    across borders by streamlining customs procedures, by harmonizing
    technology standards, and by cutting redtape.
        Even in the midst of our current slowdown, there are many
    encouraging signs. Reform programs have been put in place in Japan, the
    Philippines, and Indonesia. China and Taiwan have made great strides as
    they prepare for WTO membership. Russia and Mexico are tracking new
    sources of capital. All of this is progress, and we must build on it.
        Our second broad challenge is to fight terrorism within our
    countries without undermining the ties of commerce and friendship
    between our countries. Terrorists want to turn the openness of the
    global economy against itself. We must not let them. We need customs,
    financial, immigration, and transportation systems that make it easier
    for us to do our business and much harder for terrorists to do theirs.
    Pursuing both openness and security is difficult. But it is necessary,
    and it is the aim of the counterterror measures the APEC leaders will
    commit themselves to tomorrow.
        Our third challenge is to see to it that the benefits of prosperity
    and freedom are widely shared. The great alternative to hate is hope.
    And to seize the hopeful opportunities of markets and trade, people must
    be educated and healthy, and governments must be fair and just and
    committed to the rule of law.
        All of our citizens need basic education. The greatest resource of
    any nation is the creative energies of its people. They must gain the
    skills demanded by a new economic world. Only when literacy and learning
    are widespread will the benefits of the global economy be widely shared.
        All our citizens must have the advantage of basic health. Diseases
    such as AIDS destroy countless lives and undermine the success of many
    nations. Prosperous nations must work in partnership with developing
    nations to help remove the cloud of disease from our world's future.
        Our governments must continue to fight official corruption in every
    form. Good economies can be suffocated by bureaucrats that serve
    themselves and not the public. Corrupt officials can destroy people's
    faith in fairness and in progress.
        All nations must also realize that, in the long run, the habits of
    economic freedom will create expectations of greater democracy. All
    people, of every religious or ethnic group, have a right to participate
    in their nation's political life. No government should use our war
    against terrorism as an excuse to persecute minorities within their
    borders. Ethnic minorities must know that their rights will be
    safeguarded, that their churches and temples and mosques belong to them.
    We must respect legitimate political aspirations and, at the same time,
    oppose all who spread terror in the name of politics or religion.
        Our times present many challenges. Yet I'm confident about our
    shared future. I know that our region and our world can trade in
    freedom. I know we can bring health and education and prosperity to our
    people. And I know we can defeat terror so our children and
    grandchildren can live in peace and security.
        In the struggle of freedom against fear, the outcome is certain. We
    speak for the common hopes of mankind, to live as we choose, to follow
    our faith, to build better lives for all who follow us. These hopes have
    carried us a long way, bringing progress and prosperity to millions. And
    they carry us forward to even greater achievement.
        Now is the time to act boldly, to build and defend an age of
    liberty.
        Thank you for having me.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:20 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom at the
    Pudong Shangri-La Hotel. In his remarks, he referred to Robert E. Rubin,
    chairman, executive committee, board of directors, Citigroup; and Yu

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    Xiaosong, chairman and chief executive officer, APEC CEO Summit 2001
    Organizing Committee.