Apec's colourful new faces

The Apec debutants are all battling beleagured economies

By BBC Southeast Asia correspondent Johnathan Head in Shanghai

Alongside President Bush, six other leaders are making their debuts at the Apec summit.

East Asia, once a region known for its autocratic rulers, has seen a series of political upheavals in recent years which have swept new leaders to power.

Many of them have come in on the back of popular disenchantment with the previous regimes.

This year's debutants include the charismatic new Prime Minister of Japan, Junichiro Koizumi.

He was ushered into office in April by the Liberal Democrat Party, whose popularity had plunged after a succession of colourless leaders had failed to reverse years of economic stagnation, despite spending tens of billions of dollars on public infrastructure.

Japan's pin-up

With his dashing good looks and crowd-stirring speeches, the 59-year-old Mr Koizumi is unlike any other Japanese leader since World War II. He has ignited a virtual personality cult in Japan.

Koizumi: Dashing good looks but his nationalism has made neighbours uneasy

But the new prime minister is finding is tough to deliver on his promise to revive the economy, which remains stubbornly in recession, and is dragging down economic confidence in the rest of Asia. Japan's banking system in particular is extremely fragile, burdened by massive debts.

His Asian neighbours are uneasy about Mr Koizumi's nationalist views, and his offer to make a greater military contribution to President Bush's campaign against terrorism risks provoking historic fears of Japanese militarism in East Asia.

Mexican populist

Another charismatic 59-year-old is the Mexican President Vicente Fox. Unlike Mr Koizumi, who was selected by the LDP party to help maintain its hold on power, Mr Fox overthrew a party which had monopolised power for more than 70 years.

He too has an appealing popular image, with his trade-mark moustache and cowboy boots.

He enjoys an easy relationship with fellow rancher George Bush, and has done much to raise Mexico's profile overseas.

Mexico's Fox is making slow progress on reform

But Mr Fox's attempts to reform his country are making slow progress. He has been unable to pass legislation which might improve the condition of indigenous Indians, many of whom support the Zapatista rebel movement in the south of the country.

The Mexican economy, too, is being hit by falling demand in the United States.

Two women have taken the helm this year, in two of Asia's most troubled countries.

Megawati's challenges

Megawati Sukarnoputri, the 52-year-old daughter of Indonesia's founding father Sukarno, was installed in July to replace the crippled presidency of her one-time friend Abdurrahman Wahid.

She has the largest popular support base of any Indonesian political leader, but she has often displayed poor leadership skills, and she faces formidable challenges.

Indonesia's economy is still in disarray, four years after the shock of the Asian financial meltdown.

More seriously, the country's legal, judicial and banking systems have virtually ceased to function, allowing social conflicts long suppressed by the dictatorship under former President Suharto to erupt, killing thousands.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, and there is fierce opposition by militant Islamic groups there to the US operation in Afghanistan.

Arroyo: Tough on terrorism

She is almost the same age, but President Glora Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines cuts a very different figure from her Indonesian counterpart.

Toledo and Arroyo are both economists struggling with creaking economies

With a PhD in economics, she is diminutive, energetic and takes an intellectual approach to the leadership of her country, which she won in January after a mass protest movement, backed by the army, forced out disgraced President Joseph Estrada.

She too is the daughter of a former president.

She has moved quickly to curb fighting between the army and the main Muslim rebel group in the south, but has taken a tough stand against the extremist Abu Sayyaf group, which has links to Osama Bin Laden, and is currently holding two US citizens hostage.

The other challenges facing Mrs Arroyo are improving the competitiveness of her country's economy, and winning the support of the poor, many of whom still support Mr Estrada.

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, also 52, won a landslide victory in January, after running an American-style election campaign.

He is one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, and has promised to run Thailand like a CEO.

He started a programme of populist policies to assist poor farmers and improve healthcare, and he remains popular, despite the continued poor performance of the Thai economy.

In August he was narrowly acquitted of violating asset declaration rules, which could have cost him his job.

Peru's shoeshine boy

Another populist leader, Alejandro Toledo, 55, took office in Peru in July, promising to put his country's troubled past behind him.

Deeply disillusioned after the corrupt and autocratic presidency of Alberto Fujimori, the people of Peru voted in a political novice, and the country's first leader from the indigenous Indian community.

A former shoeshine boy who became a World Bank economist, Mr Toledo put together his Peru Possible party to challenge Mr Fujimori, who was ousted last November.

But he holds only a minority of seats in the Congress, and faces huge expectations from a population hit hard by rising unemployment.

Like every other leader attending the Apec summit, what Mr Toledo needs more than anything else is a worldwide economic recovery.