【明報專訊】TODAY and tomorrow world attention is focused on Beijing because an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leader summit takes place in the ancient capital. The first annual APEC summit was held in Seattle, the US, in 1993. The one that begins today in Beijing is the 22nd. This year China is to host an APEC summit for the second time. The 2001 summit was held in Shanghai. Over the past thirteen years, the world has changed a lot. The APEC summit that took place in Shanghai was clouded by the September 11 terrorist attacks. Now the US has pulled out from Iraq and Afghanistan. That year China's GDP was about US$1 trillion. It is now ten times as much. When APEC came into being, the economic hub of the Pacific Rim was the US (on the western rim of the Pacific). It is now China (on the eastern rim of it). That is the most significant strategic change.