Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 27 Jul 1992 04:08:26 PDT
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      SEA/PH: Spratlys/Bases
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu

/* Written 10:00 am  Jul 25, 1992 by 71054.266@CompuServe.COM in
 cdp:soc.culture.vi */
/* ---------- "US-Spratly dispute" ---------- */
Reut00:14 07-25
 U.S. SAYS IT COULD MEDIATE IN SPRATLYS DISPUTE
    By Carol Giacomo
    MANILA, Philippines, Reuter - The United States is willing
to help mediate in a territorial dispute between China and its
regional neighbors, according to a senior U.S. official who
arrived here with Secretary of State James Baker Saturday.
    Baker, who has just ended a six-day Middle East peace
mission, flew from Saudi Arabia to the Philippines for a meeting
between Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers
and their major trading partners.
    The senior official said the fact that Baker, tired from
talks with Arabs and Israelis, flew 14 hours to attend the
meeting was proof that the United States ``intends to stay
involved'' in Asia.
    He is due to return to Washington Sunday.
    Discussing the dispute over the Spratly Islands in the South
China Sea, the U.S. official said: ``We don't have a claim in
this fight (but) we're prepared to play a role if all of the
claimants want us to.''
    Asked if China and the other countries wanted such
assistance, he replied: ``Ask me that on Sunday,'' after the
ASEAN meeting ends.
    The Spratlys, believed to be rich in oil and natural gas
reserves, have long been claimed in whole or in part by China,
Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
    They became a potential flashpoint recently when China
contracted with an American company to begin exploring for oil
in the area.
    The dispute was one of the main items on the agenda during
an ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting that preceded the current
talks. The ministers issued a joint statement Wednesday calling
for the peaceful resolution of the conflict.
    The regional body groups the Philippines, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Singapore.
    The United States has urged that the matter be resolved
without violence.
    Baker, on his first visit to the Philippines as secretary of
state, was due to meet the country's new president, Fidel Ramos,
later Saturday.
    They are expected to discuss a new relationship between the
United States and its former colony following the decision of
the Philippine Senate not to renew the lease on U.S. bases
there. The United States is due to leave Subic Bay naval base by
year-end.
    ``We will be out of there by Dec. 1,'' said the senior U.S.
official.
    In an effort to compensate for the loss of the bases, the
United States has worked out access agreements with Singapore,
Brunei and Malaysia.
    Japan and ASEAN members have called on the United States to
continue to maintain a strong military presence in the
Asia-Pacific region despite the closure of the bases.
    The U.S. official said he doubted Ramos would ask for a
resumption of U.S. aid at levels in effect when the United
States had full use of the bases. The Philippines still gets
U.S. aid but at far lower levels than before.
    He described Ramos, a West Point graduate who has just taken
over from President Corazon Aquino, as having ``moved pretty
well to establish himself'' as head of state.
    The official added that ``there doesn't seem to be any real
threat'' against Ramos, who was Aquino's defense chief.
    Rightwing military rebels tried six times to overthrow
Aquino.
 REUTER

Reut13:08 07-24
 U.S. AFFIRMS IT WILL STAY ASIAN MILITARY POWER
    By Rene Pastor
    MANILA, Philippines, Reuter - The United States told a
13-nation conference it would remain a strong military power in
Asia and served notice Friday it would not allow tyrants to
threaten its security interests in the region.
    U.S. Undersecretary of State Robert Zoellick also asked the
help of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
securing Vietnam's cooperation in accounting for the more than
2,000 Americans missing from the Indochinese war.
    But he bitterly criticized ASEAN's policy of quiet diplomacy
toward Burma's military regime and suggested firmer action.
    Zoellick spoke at the opening session of three-day talks
between the six-nation ASEAN and its seven industrial partners:
the United States, Japan, the European Community, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
    ``The United States is committed to maintaining a continuous
operational and deterrent capability in Asia,'' Zoellick said.
    ``This means troops, fleets and air power deployed
forward,'' he said, adding the United States was the only power
in the post-Cold War era that had a ``truly global reach.''
    ``As the United States demonstrated in the Gulf War, we will
not stand by when new tyrants threaten our national security
interests. We have national security interests in the Pacific
too,'' Zoellick said.
    Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, South Korean
Foreign Minister Lee Sang-ock and Japanese Parliamentary Vice
Minister for Foreign Affairs Koji Kakizawa welcomed the U.S.
pledge, saying it was vital to the region's stability.
    Zoellick said he hoped the accession of Vietnam and Laos to
the ASEAN treaty of amity would help defuse regional tensions.
    ``As this process unfolds, however, we urge that you
remember our POWs (prisoners of war) and MIAs (missing in
action). There is no more important issue to my government and
my people,'' he said.
    Washington has made a full accounting of Americans missing
in the Vietnam War a condition for normalizing ties with Hanoi.
    The talks highlighted differences between ASEAN and its
partners on how to deal with Burma because of its human rights
record.
    Saying that the Burmese military's ``brutal action'' against
dissenters was a source of instability, Zoellick asked: ``Isn't
it time to say 'enough is enough'?
    ASEAN - linking Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,
Brunei and the Philippines - has refused to condemn Burma's
military rulers, saying its policy of ``constructive
engagement'' will encourage Rangoon to reform.
 REUTER
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