It is a great honor to represent the United States at this year's ASEAN Post Ministerial Conference. Building on yesterday's meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum, I welcome this opportunity to exchange views with my friends and colleagues, now including those from Russia, China, and India. On behalf of the United States, I thank Foreign Minister Alatas for Indonesia's hospitality and hard work.
The expansion of this dialogue is a tribute to ASEAN's dynamism and development. The achievements of ASEAN's members have helped to triple Asia's percentage of global output in the last three decades. Your launch of the ASEAN Regional Forum has added a valuable dimension to our common effort to maintain peace and stability. Your commitment to integration has been vital to the success of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. Your emphasis on consultation and consensus has helped lay the basis for what President Clinton called a Pacific community "of shared interests, shared goals, and a shared commitment to mutually beneficial cooperations."
ASEAN's contribution to the remarkable transformation of the Asia-Pacific region over the last, half-century reflects the energy and vision of its diverse peoples. It also testifies to the long-standing partnership between ASEAN and the United States, and to the American commitment to defend freedom and promote prosperity across the Pacific. As Foreign Minister Jayakumar of Singapore recently said, "it was the climate of security and stability that United States power provided that enabled economic growth to germinate and flourish in Southeast Asia across East Asia." In turn, the American people have benefited over the last half-century from strong security ties with our allies and partners, growing economic links, and the talent and drive of countless Asian immigrants.
With the end of the Cold War, the Asia-Pacific region is more important to U.S. interests than ever before. Our security rests on maintaining stability where the interests of many powers intersect. Our prosperity depends on sustaining the dynamism and openness of a region that accounts for 40 percent of our trade. The health of our environment and the safety of our citizens rely increasingly on cooperation with the nations of the Asia Pacific. And as technology and trade blur borders and shrink distances, we count on the flow of peoples and ideas across the Pacific to spur what Prime Minister Mahathir of Malaysia calls "mutual enrichment" rather than the clash of civilisations predicted by some.
As President Clinton made clear during his most recent trip to Japan and Korea last April, the United States is and will remain a Pacific power. During the last three years, we have re-invigorated our bilateral alliances and sustained our forward-deployed presence. We confronted the threat posed by North Korea's dangerous nuclear program and concluded an agreement that is leading to its dismantlement. We have worked to establish a relationship with China that will help ensure global and regional stability. We opened an historic new chapter in our relations with Vietnam. We have supported security dialogues such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Northeast Asia Security Dialogue. We gave new momentum to regional economic integration by hosting the first APEC Leaders Meeting. And we have concluded scores of agreements with our trading partners that promise concrete mutual benefits.
These key strategic decisions reflect the strong, emphasis that the Clinton Administration has put on our relations with Asia. Our goal has been two-fold: first, to strengthen the ties that have kept the peace and helped nations born of colonial empires to become vibrant democracies; and second, to devise new approaches to regional cooperation in order to advance a growing range of shared interests in a more interdependent world.
Security
Of these shared interests, maintaining security always comes first. While the Asia-Pacific region is today remarkably free of conflict, the end of the Cold War -is just one period in a long history scarred by old antagonisms. The United States shares the view of almost every country in this region that our strong- security presence remains the bedrock for regional stability and prosperity. We are committed to maintaining approximately 100,000 troops in the Pacific -- roughly equivalent to the level we maintain in Europe.
The cornerstone of our engagement in the Pacific remains our partnership with Japan- The Joint Declaration signed by the President and Prime Minister Hashimoto last April in Tokyo will enable our alliance to meet the challenges of the next century. These strengthened ties, in turn, will benefit all the nations of the Asia-Pacific region.
During the last three years, we have also developed an unprecedented degree of cooperation with our ally South Korea. Building on the partnership that helped forge the U.S-DPRK Agreed Framework, we are striving together to reach a durable peace on the Korean peninsula. We continue to urge North Korea to respond positively to the proposal made by President Kim and President Clinton for four-party tells among the United States, South Korea, North Korea and China.
We have also reaffirmed our three other core alliances in the region. We have bolstered links to our treaty allies the Philippiiies and Thailand and expanded our military access arrangements with other ASEAN members. Two days from now, I will travel to Australia for our annual ministerial meeting, where we will explore ways to expand our excellent cooperation.
Our alliances and forward-deployed presence provide a firm foundation for deepening our engagement with other nations in the region. Of course, no nation will play a larger role in shaping, the future of Asia than China. Its continuing modernization an development are essential to the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region. So, too, is a stable environment for the peaceful resolution of issues between the PRC and Taiwan, and a smooth and successful transition of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
The United States seeks a constructive relationship with China that will enable us to advance an array of important interests. We recognise that we continue to face areas of difference, which we must seek to manage constructively. We have made steady progress in recent months, including resolving disagreements over nuclear exports and intellectual property rights and renewing China's Most Favored Nation trading status.
I took forward to meeting with Vice Premier Qian Qichen here in Jakarta to discuss how we can achieve common goals such as the conclusion of a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and peace on the Korean Peninsula. We also hope to build on the highly productive talks that National Security Advisor Lake held two weeks ago in Beijing and to lay the groundwork for regular high-level contacts between our governments.
Since opening formal diplomatic relations with Vietnam last summer, the United States has also sought to advance our relations with ASEAN's newest member. Our decision to normalise ties has furthered our efforts to secure the fullest possible accounting of our prisoners of war and missing in action. It has also enabled us to broaden trade and investment, to expand cooperation on counter- narcotics, and to work with Southeast Asian nations to bring the Comprehensive Plan of Action for Vietnamese boat people to a humane conclusion. As Vietnam continues to develop and become more open, the United States looks forward to expanding our economic ties, as well as deepening our dialogue on human rights and other shared interests.
The United States and Russia also share a strong interest in ensuring regional security. We welcome Russia's participation in this dialogue and regional security talks. Russia's recent presidential election is a tribute to the enormous progress that Russia has made. President Yeltsin's victory is a mandate for continued political and economic reform. As these reforms deepen, Russia's influence as a force for security and stability in the region will grow. We also believe that India's growing interest and involvement in the Asia-Pacific region will enhance regional security.
Mechanisms such as the ASEAN' Regional Forum and this Post-Ministerial Conference complement our bilateral efforts to promote stability and prosperity. The ARF is already encouraging meaningful discussion of security issues, confidence-building measures, and other forms of cooperation. It is playing a valuable role in defusing tensions surrounding territorial claims in the South China Sea and the Spratly Islands. It can be particularly useful in supporting nonproliferation and the transparency of conventional arms transfers. U.S. engagement in the ARF will deepen as we make further concrete progress on our work program, and on moving from confidence-building to preventive diplomacy. We will seek to ensure the ARF's ability to discuss irnponant regional security issues in a meaningful way.
Yesterday's meeting gave us the chance to exchange views about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. President Clinton is committed to strong U.S. support for the Agreed Framework that has put the North Korean nuclear problem on the road to resolution. While the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) established to -implement the Framework is moving forward, it faces a significant funding shortfall. Many of the nations here are already assisting KEDO significant and sustained Support. Since all of us in the Asia-Pacific will gain from a stable and prosperous Korean Peninsula, I also urge you to encourage resumption of the dialogue between North and South that is essential to closing the Cold War's last remaining division.
Beyond North Korea, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction continues to pose the most pressing threat to global security in the post-Cold War world. That is why more than 170 nations agreed last year to the indefinite extension of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Now we have the chance to fulfill the goals of the NPT Review Conference by reaching a Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty for signature in September. The United States welcomes yesterday's statement by the ARF chairman supporting completion of a CTBT - an achievement that would greatly benefit the peoples of this region in particular.
We welcome the increasingly strong support of ASEAN members and other Asia-Pacific nations for global nonproliferation regimes. We remain committed to examine -ways to resolve our differences over the proposed Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free Zone. We will continue to work with you to help build export control systems to prevent destabilizing transfers of sensitive and technologies.
The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is Just one of a set of security challenges that have attained a new and dangerous scope as the world has grown closer. Terrorism, crime, narcotics, pollution and disease transcend borders and defy ideologies. They threaten the region's remarkable gains. Each of us must vigorously fight these enemies on our, own. But we will never be truly secure until we effectively fight them together. An effective United Nations is essential to meeting these challenges to our security. That is one reason why the United States s aggressively promoting UN reform.
As nations that are assuming growing responsible, ASEAN members also have a critical role to play in the global effort to confront transnational threats. The. United States asked to put global issues on the agenda of this meeting because our PMC dialogue can be a valuable forum for intensifying our international cooperation.
First and foremost, we must unite our forces against the terrorists who have killed and maimed innocent civilians from Tokyo to New York. Those who support such heinous crimes must likewise face the full weight of sanctions that the international community can bring to bear.
We thank the Philippines for helping to foil a plot to blow up U-S. airliners over The Pacific and for assisting efforts to apprehend Ramzi Yousef, the alleged mastermind the World Trade Center bombing. We call on all the governments in the region to ratify the 11 existing international anti-terrorism agreements by 2000, and to adopt and pursue the practical steps against terrorism endorsed by the P-8 leaders last month in Lyon.
We must also take measures to crack down on the narcotics traffickers and international criminals who threaten citizens and undermine societies on both sides of the Pacific. The cancer of heroin and opium from Burma -- the world's largest producer -- is metastasizing throughout East and Southeast Asia, sapping the vitality of its youth and corrupting its officials. The illicit networks that channel drugs, illegal aliens, and stolen merchandise between Asia and the United States in turn use their ill-gottens gains to prey on legitimate commerce.
President Clinton has intensified our efforts to combat crime and drug addiction at home and called at the 50th UN General Assembly for a sustained campaign against these global predators. The United States hopes to deepen our cooperation with ASEAN and other Asia-Pacific nations against illegal narcotics, especially to stem the flow of heroin from Burma. And we call on all nations -- especially the growing economies of ASEAN - to adopt strict measures to combat money laundering and to deny criminals refuge and access to their assets.
The United States also believes that environmental issues will have an increasingly profound impact on stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. From the lush paddies of the Mekong Delta to the granaries of China and the old-growth forests of America's Pacific Northwest, we cannot sustain economic growth and improve living standards if we do not cooperate to conserve the natural resources upon which our health and future prosperity depend- Indeed, there is no greater symbol of our increasing interdependence than what the writer Herman Melville called "the mysterious divine Pacific," whose rich waters provide sustenance for all our nations.
The recent U-S. proposal to set binding targets for reducing global greenhouse gas emissions reflects our determination to intensity our global efforts against pollution. We are cooperating throughout the Asia-Pacific region to sustain forests, reduce rapid population growth, and stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. We are also deepening our regional efforts to curb marine pollution, develop clean technology, halt destructive logging practices, and meet critical needs for clean water an sanitation. We welcome the support of the ASEAN nations for International Coral Reef Initiative, whose leadership Australia is about to assume. We look forward to furthering the results of the recent APEC Sustainable Development Ministerial, especially our common goal of cleaner oceans and seas in the Pacific Basin.
Prosperity
Nowhere is the mutually reinforcing relationship between our common security an economic interests more apparent than in The Asia-Pacific region. Continued stability is essential if the ASEAN economies in particular are to sustain the dynamism that has fueled explosive growth rates. We also share a powerful interest in maintaining the open global trading system that has enabled our economies to grow and our peoples to prosper.
Dramatic export-led growth has given ASEAN an increasing stake in opening markets not only in this region but around the world. That is why, nearly ten years ago, ASEAN gave important impetus to the negotiation of the GATT Uruguay Round, culminating in the most far-reaching trade agreement in history. Now Singapore is renewing ASEAN's trade leadership by hosting the first ministerial meeting of the new World Trade Organisation (WTO) this December.
The Singapore ministerial can make a critical contribution by promoting the full implementation of our commitments in the Uruguay Round itself In particular, we must reduce tariffs and subsidies if we are to reach the agreement's full potential to spur trade and growth. We must also conclude the Uruguay Round's "unfinished business," especially in services. The United States and ASEAN will both benefit from reaching agreements in 1997 that embrace high standards of openness in two key service sectors, telecommunications and financial services.
At the Singapore ministerial, we should also begin to s et the WTO's priorities for the early 21st century. We should strive to open up key sectors, for instance by considering an Information Technology Agreement to eliminate tariffs in that vital industry. We should give new emphasis to the government procurement sector. With their massive infrastructure needs, the ASEAN economics need fair competition from low-cost, high-quality global suppliers. An agreement to increase transparency in government procurement can be a first step toward more comprehensive liberation of this sector through the WTO.
Another new priority for the United States at the Singapore ministerial is to begin a dialogue on the relationship between trade and core labor standards. Our approach recognizes that different countries have different comparative advantages, including different wage rates. But workers everywhere should have the benefit of internationally recognized basic worker rights that we have all endorsed such as freedom of association and an end to child labor exploitation and forced labor. Ensuring such protections is also essential to maintaining the consensus for further trade liberalization in the United States and around the world.
Just as ASEAN nations were at the forefront of launching the Uruguay Round, they also have given force and focus to APEC since its inception. Building on the bold vision of economic integration framed by President Clinton and his colleagues at the historic Blake Island leaders' meeting, President Soeharto forged an equally bold consensus in Bogor a year later for free and open trade in the Asia-Pacific region by 2020. This year, another ASEAN nation, the Philippines, assumes the responsibility of sustaining the momentum achieved with Japan's leadership in Osaka.
Our overarching objective this November in Manila must be to begin implementing The Osaka Action Agenda that provides the practical blueprint for turning the Bogor commitments into concrete results. The United States is encouraged by the work that has started on Individual Action Plans presented by all APEC member economies in May. It is essential that APEC member economies implement these plans to further our goal of economic integration and growth -- and that we uphold our commitment to the guiding principles of comprehensiveness and comparability as we move forward.
Our Pacific community will rely increasingly on new communications networks, integrated transportation links and the easier flow of goods, services and people. In Mani1a, we must continue to develop the economic cooperation that will make the APEC region the most advanced and flexible business environment in the world. We need the full engagement of the private sector in giving APEC practical relevance to traders, investors and travelers around the Pacific Rim.
Finally, we must continue to work through APEC to encourage greater transparency in goverment procurement practices. APEC's workshop on infrastructure development, meeting in Seattle this week, is gathering information on the highest standards and best practices already in effect around the region -- standards and practices that can inform the principles that we agreed in the Osaka Action Agenda to adopt. APEC efforts can complement those we are also making bilaterally with the ASEAN nations and globally through the WTO.
Democracy and Human Rights
The United States will also maintain its support for human rights and democratic government. The spread of democracy throughout Asia has been a critical factor in reducing the risk of armed conflict and ensuring the stability required for sustained growth. In the coming century, the most stable and prosperous societies will be those where creative ideas are freely exchanged, where political debates can be resolved peacefully at the ballot box, where the press can expose corruption and courts can root it out, and where contracts arc respected. As every business person knows, the rule of law is a comparative advantage for those nations that guarantee it.
A few decades ago, few people thought that Asia was poised for rapid economic development. Today, there is a growing consensus that the only successful route to prosperity and progress is through open markets and trade irrespective of geography. The new myth is that democracy in Asia must wait for development. That myth would come as news to the people of Mongolia, who clearly believe that a greater political stake in shaping their future is essential to improving their fortunes. In the Philippines, the return of democracy has helped to galvanize economic renewal. Democracy and development must go hand in hand if either is to succeed.
In Burma, the vast majority of people have expressed their desire for a peaceful transition to democratic rule. The longer their legitimate wishes are denied, the greater the chance of instability, bloodshed and migration within Burma and across its borders. The danger is compounded by growing economic distress felt by ordinary Burmese.
As the rule of law deteriorates -in Burma, the threat its hcroin trade poses to our nations is growing. Major drug traffickers receive government contracts and launder money with impunity in state banks. The warlord Khun Sa remains unpunished. The longer the political impasse continues'. the more entrenched the drug trade will become.
The only way to protect our shared interests is to encourage a genuine political dialogue between the government and the chosen representatives of the Burmese people. We want to work with the nations of the region, but we retain the option of taking more forceful action as developments in Burma warrant. We recognize that ASEAN has a different approach -- indeed, President Clinton's decision to dispatch two special envoys to the region last month reflects the importance we attach to hearing your views. We hope that the ASEAN nations will use their engagement in Burma constructively -- during, and most important, after our meetings here -- to promote greater openness and stability. As Burma draws closer to ASEAN, it will be especially important that the process of reconciliation in that country move forward, not backward.
Cambodia has already set out on the path of reconciliation and renewal, thanks to the courage of its people and the engagement of the -international community. It has traveled remarkably for in overcoming a generation of conflict, terror and genocide. Last year, it joined the ASEAN Regional Forum, and we look forward to the day when it becomes a full rncrnber of ASEAN.
The great challenge for Cambodia is to build confidence in its future as a stable democracy that offers greater economic opportunities for its people- In the next two years, local and national elections will give Cambodia a chance to show its commitment to the democratic process and the freedoms that underlie it - in particular freedom of the press and the freedom to organize politically.
Cambodia can also build critical investor confidence by maintaining political stability, fighting corruption, and soundly managing its natural resources. Two weeks ago in Tokyo, at the Consultative Group meetings, the United States and the international community pledged continued assistance as Cambodia's leaders strive to meet these challenges.
Working together, our nations have made great strides in strengthening security and promoting prosperity across the Pacific. The United States looks forward to deepen & our joint efforts in the years to come. Technology and commerce have enabled us to turn the great ocean that separates us into a vast conduit for goods and -ideas. Let our commitment to greater cooperation enable us to turn our broad diversity into a source of unifying strength.
Thank you very much.