Rubin was scheduled to meet Saturday and Sunday in Kyoto, Japan, with finance officials from the 18-member countries of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum. While both China and Taiwan are members of APEC, Rubin said he did not expect the current tensions between the two to disrupt the APEC sessions. China has been conducting war games in the waters off Taiwan, which it considers a renegade province in an effort to dampen independence sentiment before Taiwan's presidential elections. In a warning to China, the USS Nimitz is heading toward the Western Pacific, joining another U.S. aircraft carrier battle group off the coast of Taiwan. In his meeting with the Chinese, Rubin said he would raise U.S. concerns about all of the current economic tensions between America and China, including the administration's demands that China do more to halt the piracy of American movies, music and computer programs.
American companies claim they are losing from the piracy.
In addition to the APEC finance ministers meeting on Saturday and Sunday, Rubin is scheduled to hold meetings on Monday and Tuesday with government officials in Hong Kong and then fly to the Philippines on Wednesday for discussions with President Fidel Ramos and economic officials of that country. Asked about Japan, Rubin had praise for the efforts being made by the government of Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to stimulate the Japanese economy, which has been struggling for the past four years.