Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen
"Peace and Stability: The Cornerstone of Prosperity"
Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC)
Santiago, Chile
25 May 1998

Thank you Bill, for your very gracious introduction. Gary Tooker and members of the Council, fellow ministers, distinguished guests, for over 30 years, the Pacific Basin Economic Council has distinguished itself as both a valued constant and a visionary catalyst. You have served as a constant force for sound and far-sighted economic policies that support growth and keep the pipelines of investment and trade flowing. And you have served as a dynamic catalyst for future prosperity lending your powerful voice of expertise and experience to governments from Santiago to Sidney to Seoul.

You need only glance through the list of attendees to see that this year's meeting perpetuates that fine tradition. Government officials, distinguished academics, business leaders your collective presence is evidence of the close relationship between economics and security. This reality has not always been recognized. Indeed, the idea of a Secretary of Defense speaking to an economic forum such as your would have once struck many people as improbable.

But within the span of our lifetimes, millions of the world over - especially the people of the Pacific Basin and Latin America - have experienced first hand the integral link between the freedom of democracy and the freedom of markets; between security from instability and security for investment.

So the title of this session could not be more appropriated. Peace and stability are the cornerstones of prosperity. Without them it is hard to imagine the vast investments in productive capacity and supporting infrastructure, much of it across international borders, which has fueled the Pacific Basin's economic growth of recent decades.

It is equally important to remember that stability is not merely stasis or status quo resistance to change or progress. Real stability is predictability - predictability that borders are secure and that threats will not unexpectedly emerge, and predictability that conflicting interests will be resolved through peaceful means.

The combined efforts of our diplomats and military forces to create security in a region thus lead to greater stability. That stability then attracts investment. That investment generates prosperity. And that prosperity strengthens democracy, which reinforces stability and security. It is what I like to call a virtuous circle of security and prosperity.

The journey to a brighter Asia-Pacific is important to us all. Freedom for us means less confrontation and more cooperation - military, political, diplomatic and economic. It means more security, more democracy and thus fewer threats to our collective interests in regional peace and stability. And it means a future where the Asia-Pacific region and the countries of Latin America reach the new century not through confrontation, but through cooperation.

The goals are highly desirable and easily defined, but the means of achieving them less so. The Asia-Pacific region remains a concentration of powerful states with huge economies and sizable militaries, some nuclear armed. And it is an area with numerous navigational choke points, sea-lanes that are the economic arteries carrying the lifeblood of many economies.

Indeed, events of recent weeks and months are a stark reminder that instability in the Asia-Pacific can send out ripples across the globe. This audience needs no reminder that what happens in Indonesia touches the lives of those who live in Seattle or Santiago.

The American diplomat John Hay at the turn of this century said that: "The Mediterranean is the ocean of the past, the Atlantic of the present and the Pacific is the ocean of the future." Notwithstanding the very real economic troubles of the moment, the Pacific is still the ocean of the future. For us, the question is how to build a Pacific that is even more prosperous for all of our citizens. What are the cornerstones of Pacific peace and stability?

First and foremost is America's active engagement of the region. For half a century, America's military presence and engagement in the Asia-Pacific has helped support the region's peace and stability. One of my first efforts as Secretary of Defense was to direct a comprehensive review of American defense strategy and military posture. The strategy that we developed can be summed up in three words: shape, respond and prepare.

We must shape the security environment with an active presence and engagement. So at the core of our new strategy was a strategic decision that has remained and will remain constant: America's commitment to protecting and promoting our interests in Asia-Pacific by remaining forward-deployed in the Western Pacific. This was not simply inertia. We explicitly considered options to reduce our forward-deployed military capability, and we explicitly rejected such options.

At the same time, the United States has becomes more actively engaged with more, actively engaged with more countries in the regions than ever before. We have sustained and enhanced our engagement because we recognize it is in our national interest. Our regional partners have responded because they recognized it is in their national and collective interests.

The second element of our strategy, responding, requires that the American military be able to meet the full spectrum of crises:
· Humanitarian missions, such as relief to typhoon victims in Vietnam and earthquake victims in China;
· Potential major regional conflicts such as the Korean Peninsula or Iraq
· And peacekeeping missions such as Bosnia where U.S. soldiers worked with personnel from PBEC countries from Malaysia to Chile and Argentina.

Being able to respond to uncertain world means having forces that can quickly descend on and dominate any situation. So the third part of our strategy involves preparing for the future. We are working with our pacific and hemispheric friends and allies to exploit the revolution in military affairs. We are using the most advanced technologies to build the most advanced forces in history.

So if the first cornerstone of Pacific peace and security is America's active engagement, the second cornerstone is the building and maintaining of strong bilateral relationships. And I am speaking not only of those the United States maintains, but increasingly those between nations such as Korea and Japan, Japan and China, Russia and Japan, and Argentina and Brazil. So we have tried to help orient our bilateral relationships to the requirements of a new era and a new century, to make them more open and more pro-active, rather than reactive.

We must continue to ensure that these relationships stand not against anyone, but for shared objectives such as trust and transparency, and confidence and cooperation that are the basis of their regions' peace and prosperity. Indeed, transparency between our military institutions no less than between our financial institutions, makes for more reliable security which benefits all our countries. This is true throughout both Latin American and across all the nations that touch the Pacific Rim.

The revised US-Japan security guidelines, for example, will ensure that we are prepared for challengers and from peacekeeping and humanitarian relief to responding to crises that affect Japan's security and the regions stability. The American-South Korean alliance that has been on guard against imminent danger for five decades will remain unshakable, both in the near term and after the question of unification is resolved, as both we and the South Korean government have made clear. We have revitalized our alliance with Australia by focusing on common regional security challengers and pursuing new areas of cooperation. In Southeast Asia, we have been expanding our military cooperation and developing strategic dialogues on regional issues with the ASEAN countries. And Latin American, we have turned a new page in the history in the inter American relations, where with many countries our soldiers are training and exercising together and learning from each other through military exchanges.

A third cornerstone of Pacific peace and stability is the overlapping network of multilateral channels in which the United States is also engaged. This includes the ASEAN regional forum, as well as the conference on practical security cooperation and groups formed to address specific problem, such as the Four-Party talks on the Korean Peninsula. I include the defense ministerial of the Americas in this category and they look forward to our session in Columbia in December.

The United States views these multilateral mechanisms as increasingly important. Yet they can only succeed if built upon the foundation of strong bilateral relationships and US engagement. They cannot substitute for either. Given the high stakes involved, security structures, no less than financial structures, must be built on a solid foundation, not shifting sands.

Indeed, it is these cornerstones-America's active engagement, strong bilateral relation and a growing network of multilateral channels-that will enable us to endure the gale force winds of change in the region. Among the greatest of theses changes is the emergence of China. Today China is an Asian power, and rightfully so. The United States does not fear this, nor do we view China as an adversary. Rather, we seek to encourage China to step forward a responsible and cooperative nation. That is why we have engaged China, already talking several exchanging military personnel, conducting reciprocal ship visits and have agreed to share information on humanitarian exercises.


Last year's summit between Presidents Clinton and Jiang Zemin gave great hope that our two nations can deepen our engagement and work together towards our common goals of stability, security, and prosperity. Since then, I have visited China, becoming the first western official allowed into their Air Command control center in Beijing. I addressed their future military leadership at their Academy of Military Science. President Clinton's upcoming visit to China holds the possibility of even more progress. We seek a partnership where China adheres to international norms, including peaceful resolution of disputes, the control of weapons of mass destruction and freedom of the seas-a partnership that recognizes the common interests we all share.


We are fortunate that as the Pacific Rim weathers such changes, it is bolstered by responsible,. forward-looking nations such as our host, Chile. Chile has strengthened democratic control of its armed forces, recognizing that the military indeed has a role in preserving peace and stability, but a role under the rule of law. And Chile has been a trailblazer-setting the standard for openness and trust as the first nation in all Latin American to publish a Defense White Paper that outlines its military strategy, budget and policies.

Today, Chile and all the democratic nations, of Latin America are demonstrating their commitment to a prosperous peaceful future by increasing our ties of trade and consultation. Indeed, when the leaders of this hemisphere came together last month to address common challenges, they came to Santiago...for the second summit of the Americas. Our increased ties extend to the security arena. We look forward to infusing the spirit of Santiago into the third Defense Ministerial in Cartagena.

The seeds planted at the first two defense ministerial are already bearing fruit . There is now widespread recognition of a fundamental truth - that democracy is fundamental to promoting regional peace and security. And that professional military forces, under civilian control and respectful of human rights, are essential to preserving democracy. Today, instead of this unity distrust and discord, we also see a growing integration and harmony of interests-working together we have helped bring Peru and Ecuador within reach of a lasting peace . Where the United States wants saw security problems, we now see security partners- Argentina and Chile have resolved nearly all of their long-standing border disputes. Where we once saw secrecy and surprise, we now see more openness and honesty. In short, over a broad spectrum of fields from economics to security, the nations of Latin America are building a hemisphere of hope and of free people with free reign to change, to chose a better destiny.

But as Simon Bolivar, who brought freedom to so many people of this continent once said: "let us not be dazzled by the victory fate has given us. Nothing is accomplished when there is something left to do. And we have much still to do".

Indeed, from Chile to China, the Pacific is a sea of change and we have much to do. We have to anticipate and manage this change by relying on the cornerstone that I have mentioned today, especially to those that provide certainty and confidence. We have fate in the future of all the Pacific Basin, notwithstanding any present difficulties. The energy, creativity and discipline of the people of the region continue undiminished. And with continued self confidence in these strengths and determination to pursue the economically sound path, the nations of the Asian Pacific can emerge from the crucible of current crisis fundamentally stronger.

And finally, we have to acknowledge that the dazzling future we seek for the Pacific Basin will not fall fortuitously into our laps. But through hard work and heavy lifting we can and will build a pacific future as great as the ocean that links our shores, and whose waves reverberate well beyond- from Vancouver to Vietnam, from Lima to Kuala Lumpur, and from Mexico to Manila. For in the new era and the new century, the security and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is central to the security and prosperity of the world.

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