Macleod hopes for US-Asia 'vision'

THE November meeting between US President Bill Clinton and leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation group will be vital in shaping the US relationship with Asia, Financial Secretary Hamish Macleod says.

Mr Macleod, who will represent Hong Kong at the APEC leaders' meeting in Seattle, said: ''We hope what will emerge will be a vision of how the US should relate to Asia.'' The financial secretary, attending the World Bank annual meeting in Washington, said he was very concerned at the possible failure of the Uruguay round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

He hoped that APEC leaders would use the November meeting to help push through an agreement in December.

Whether a deal would be agreed was ''on a knife-edge'', he said.

''Our fear is that if the Uruguay round and NAFTA [the North American Free Trade Agreement] do not go through, the pro-trade groups will suffer a setback and the protectionists will win.'' Mr Macleod said that after the row about China's objection to Hong Kong and Taiwan attending the leaders' meeting, the compromise of sending him rather than Governor Chris Patten was ''a sensible decision''.

''My brief is economics and APEC was not set up to be political and restricted to states.'' Mr Macleod said talking to officials at the World Bank meeting had shown that the issue of Most Favoured Nation status for China was once more of great concern because of America's stance on human rights.