Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, July 12, 1993                   TAG: 9307120044
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB DEANS COX NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA                                LENGTH: Medium

CLINTON BOOSTS U.S. ROLE IN ASIA

Think about Vietnam becoming a full diplomatic and trade partner with its Asian neighbors and the rest of the world, while China, Russia and Japan move beyond historic suspicions to forge ties based on trust, common needs and shared goals.

Those are just a few of the prospects and movements President Clinton sees reshaping a region of nearly 3 billion people that already may be the most dynamic corner of the world, economically, politically and socially.

Clinton, who wrapped up a six-day tour of Japan and South Korea on Sunday, used his first overseas trip as president to outline his Asia policy in terms of his call for the creation of a new "Pacific Community." The United States, itself a Pacific power, would play central roles in the defense and prosperity of such a group.

While the White House policy on Asia is continuing to evolve, enough details came through during his trip to show that Clinton cares deeply about this part of the world and is concerned that the United States not fall behind as change sweeps through the region.

"The challenge for the Asian-Pacific in this decade," Clinton said Saturday before the National Assembly in Seoul, "is to develop multiple new arrangements to meet multiple threats and opportunities."

Take, for instance, the critical area of dealing with North Korea's alleged efforts to produce a nuclear bomb. The United States is leading emergency international efforts to persuade Pyongyang to abandon any nuclear ambitions it may harbor and open suspected nuclear facilities to independent inspections.

On Sunday, Clinton ventured closer to North Korea than any previous American president had gone as he toured the Demilitarized Zone dividing bitterly opposed North and South Korea. He warned North Koreans that if they ever use nuclear weapons, "it will be the end of their country."

Clinton also vowed to maintain U.S. military readiness in Asia.

Talks on the nuclear issue begin Wednesday in Geneva between U.S. and North Korean officials. According to U.S. intelligence analysts, North Korea is within two years, at most, of being able to produce a nuclear bomb.

Both in Seoul and in Tokyo, Clinton stressed that the anchor of U.S. security policy in the Asia-Pacific region would continue to be the deployment of nearly 80,000 U.S. troops in Japan and Korea, as well as a strong U.S. naval presence.

"The best way for us to deter regional aggression, perpetuate the region's robust economic growth and secure our own maritime and other interests is to be an active presence," Clinton said Saturday. "We must, and we will, continue to lead."

In Clinton's new Pacific Community, U.S. military actions would remain a last resort; a strengthened commitment to diplomacy and democratic development would get added emphasis.

Clinton wants a new regional forum, for example, to address a wide variety of other regional security questions, such as the potential for fighting to break out in the Spratly Islands, a sprawling chain of islets in oil-rich waters claimed by both Vietnam and China.

Building confidence and strengthening ties between such potential adversaries would be the top priority for a new regional security group that could grow into a Pacific version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which has kept the peace across most of Europe for a generation.

"We're trying to get nations that might be antagonists talking to each other," a senior administration official explained. As things stand now, "China suspects Japan, and Japan suspects Korea and everybody suspects Russia."

In the areas of trade and economics, Clinton called last week for an informal economic conference in Seattle, Wash., this fall among the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Council. At the top of that agenda: how to reduce trade barriers and boost open markets.

The White House is hoping that China, home to the world's fastest-growing economy, will take part. That would mark another step on the way toward the normalization of Beijing's influence following the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators near Tiananmen Square four years ago.

The Associated Press and The Washington Post provided additional information for this story.