Beijing Backs Us at Summit

China's president, Hu Jintao, has supported George Bush's push to prioritise the war on terror to help consolidate economic growth and stability.

Mr Hu told yesterday's opening session of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit of 21 Pacific rim leaders in Bangkok, that the nations should cooperate more closely to combat terrorism.

"For some time, terrorist attacks have gone on unabated in the Asia-Pacific region, undermining the economic and social development of a number of countries," the Chinese leader said at the informal gathering. "We should respond... with closer cooperation and stronger measures to address both the symptoms and root causes of the problem."

Mr Hu's stance would have cheered Mr Bush who has been angling to put his war on terror at the top of the mainly economic forum's agenda.

Most of yesterday's 75-minutes of talks focused on the need to "reinvigorate" the World Trade Organisation.

The main security issue at the conference concerns North Korea's nuclear arms programme. Yesterday, it fired a missile into the Japan Sea, prompting Tokyo to comment that such an act was far from positive.