APEC was founded in 1989, when Asia was a place of miracles, but much has changed in the decade since. Japan's stock market is still worth less than half its peak at the end of 1989, and much of the rest of the region is still trying to recover from the financial turmoil that began in the summer of 1997. Even now, with the South Korean and Thai economies expected to grow this year and Japan's economy showing signs of life, the International Monetary Fund warns that Asia's recovery is "precarious".
You'd think that the Asian crisis might have given APEC a sense of mission. But think again. The leaders are likely to avoid ideological lectures redevelopment that have stirred East-West tensions at previous meetings. MIT economist Paul Krugman recently declared APEC "an empty shell", and even APEC's own Business Advisory Council delivered a harsh assessment just last month. "APEC has at times lost sight of its own goals," the business executives charged, noting that member countries had been sluggish in pursuing free trade and investment.
On specific, substantive issues--like liberalization of sectors including food and autos--APEC has foisted responsibility on the WTO. That's partly because the WTO makes binding decisions on trade issues, while APEC "is not an organization really structured for action, says Charles E. Morrison, president of the East-West Center in Hawaii. Unlike the European Union, which makes majority decisions, APEC is a much looser grouping that adopts nonbinding measures.
The need for consensus makes it even harder to expect anything dazzling from Auckland. APEC leaders might endorse financial transparency and more efficient investment, and they'll try to agree on priorities for the upcoming WTO ministerial talks. But if those talks fizzle, what then？ Bored officials can always turn their attention to New Zealand's 36,000 flocks of sheep--and rest up for the meatier WTO conference in November.
From the passage we can see, the author is quite ______ with the prospect of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

A. optimistic
B. pessimistic
C. excited
D. puzzled