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021/4 HICD ANTRY'S
12 FEt 1993
From: Neil Hook
North America Department
Date: 5 February 1993
Cc:
Sir J Coles
Mr Masefield Mr Logan
Mr Hum
Ms Duffield, Eastern Dept Mr Morris, FED
Mr Stewart, SEAD Mr Morris, HKD Mr Holmes, SAD Mr Holmes, SPD Mr Callway, NPDD Mr Wye, RAD
INDL
TALKS WITH THE RUSSIANS ON ASIA PACIFIC ISSUES
1. This is just to confirm NAD's interest in these talks and endorsement of your proposed agenda.
2. Our principal interest is in the ability and motivation of the US to influence matters in the region and, with that and our interests there in mind, the management of the bilateral relationship.
It is
3. The key questions on regional security relate to the Russian perceptions of and response to the reducing role of the US. not yet clear how the new US Administration will develop its policies in the Asia Pacific region. Stability ultimately depends on the US presence. But they are reducing their role for both strategic and financial reasons and are yet to articulate clearly US national objectives which justify maintaining a strong interest in the region. Clinton is more likely than his predecessors to look again at the relevance of strategic implications for US domestic policies.
Recent
4. I assume that Japan will also now be a more general agenda item. Clinton's statements so far on Japan suggest that the relationship will again be dominated by trade disputes. events tend to confirm that the new Administration might well allow events to run this course. One outcome of this could be an even stronger Japan in east Asia.
5.
One
We would also be interested in Russian views on ASEAN. element in the regional security debate is presumably the development and strengthening of regional and international institutions in the area. Unlike Europe, the Asia Pacific Region