Watching with interest

Title

Language

English

Source

The Republic (2) 31 March 1973

Year

1973

Subject

Agnew, Spiro T. -- 1918-1996

Martial law -- Philippines

Philippines -- Relations -- United States

United States -- Relations -- Philippines

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

The Wordd “We are deeply committed to free dom, to which we have pledged not only our fortunes and our lives, but the most precious of all things, our honor.” With these words, President Marcos allayed the misgivings of skeptics here and abroad regarding recent develop ments in the Philippines. Providing the occasion for the Pres ident’s reaffirmation of his commit ment to freedom was the recent visit here of US Vice President Spiro T. Ag new, the first high-ranking foreign dig nitary to come to the Philippines since the proclamation of martial law. It was Mr. Agnew’s last stop in an eight nation Southeast Asian journey to ex plain America’s post-Vietnam war posture and to assure her allies of her intent to honor all bilateral commit ments. “No matter how short your stay may be here,” the President told Mr. Agnew in a luncheon at Malacanang, “I know that you can feel the new strong fresh wind that blows over the Philippines, a wind of hope and of re solution. That we shall attain the sim ple things that have been in the books but have never been felt by us and these are equal opportunity, justice, dignity for every individual, the sim ple things known to every American 2ut which every Filipino has aspired tor. We dream of these and if in the immediate moment we sacrifice some of our freedoms . . . please be assured this shall be temporary and we shall seek normalcy as fast and as quickly as we can, as security and the safety of our Republic will allow.” It was Mr. Agnew’s second visit to the Philippines. The first was in 1969 when he attended the second inau gural of President Marcos. On his second trip, he saw for himself the dramatic changes that had been efTHE AGNEW VISIT Watching with interest fected in Philippine society, as well as in the rest of Southeast Asia. ‘T see (a) turning toward an inner self-reliance,” Mr. Agnew said. “I see the development of resiliency. I see the effort being made toward realiza tion of the aspirations of the people, recognizing that if people are to be able to resist the forces of insurrection and rebellion they must not only be proud of their country, they must have a stake in their country. And to that end, Mr. President, we are watch ing with interest the programs that you have announced here in the Phil ippines.” The US vice president also praised Philippine efforts in fostering regional cooperation. He said: “Let us hope that the attitudes of regional coop eration into which you have contrib uted so much of your aggressive lead ership in the ASEAN nations will con tinue and be augmented and burgeon into the kind of mutually protective and self-assisting force that will indeed make Southeast Asia a community of secure, free nations where the people have the right of self determination.” Apart from the statements ex changed at the Malacanang reception, the two leaders held talks behind closed doors. The President briefed Mr. Agnew on the situation that led to martial law and the reforms instituted during the last six months. The President also cited several is sues concerning relations between the Philippines and the United States. One such issue is the Laurel-Lang ley agreement which is due to expire next year. The agreement gives Philip pine exports preferential tariff rates and allows American citizens to en gage in public utilities as well as ex ploit natural resources of the Philip pines. Nationalistic elements had de scribed this as a lopsided accord in favor of the United States. Likewise, the President mentioned the need for a renegotiation of the Philippine-US military bases agree ment which had been a burning issue since the mid-50’s. Another issue concerns the longdelayed air treaty between the two countries. The negotiations, which started as early as 1965, have not gone beyond that stage because of US reluctance to grant reciprocal landing rights to Philippine air carriers. But both leaders expressed the hope that, despite these irritants, the close relations between the two coun tries would continue. “Mr. President,” Mr. Agnew said, “without any ques tion the Philippines and the United States have a friendship that will en dure. Working together let us hope that we can cooperate in the future of this part of the world.” AFTER VIETNAM •J Era of negotiation Most everyone in the world these days is in a talking mood. Negotiations, not armed confronta tions, have become the new strategy for peace among big and small na tions. On any given day, in various parts of the world, at least a dozen separate conferences are being held to tackle practically the whole gamut of human concern — from such highly delicate issues as mutual reduction of forces in Europe to seemingly trivial ones like what to do about whales and seals. How did it all start? With the pos sible exception of Paris peace negotia tions, which, although ultimately suc cessful, proved a longklrawn-out af fair, it was the historic trips of US President Nixon to Peking and Mos cow last year and his meetings with leaders of the two other superpowers that seemed to have broken the ice and brought on a greater earnestness, if not cordiality, around the world’s negotiating tables. Those trips could even be assumed to have helped, to no little extent, in bringing the Paris peace talks to a suc cessful conclusion. Soon after the summit talks in Peking and Moscow, the pieces of the Indochinese jigsaw puzzle began to fall into place, cul minating in the Vietnam peace agree ment. Unless something crops up to unscramble it again, the problem that has defied solution for over a decade, divided America and prompted the decision of an American President not to run again for public office, and cost more than a million lives, may yet re main permanently solved. As the world emerges from an era of brinkmanship, missile-rattling and often bloody confrontation to the era of negotiation, the months ahead will confront the world’s diplomats with even bigger challenges at the negotiat ing table. The challenges are as varied and as complex as the fast-changing com plexion of what had become a multi polar world. Many problems are knot ty and defy easy solutions, but even partial answers will go a long way to ward easing tensions and achieving the goal of peaceful coexistence and coop eration. The Paris talks that led to the Viet nam ceasefire did not end there. Since the signing of the complicated peace agreement last January, the parties in the Indochina conflict had been hold ing further meetings to untangle the remaining problems affecting Vietnam and the rest of Indochina. Last month, a separate peace agreement was forged among warring factions in Laos, the second country in the In dochinese trilogy. Efforts toward the same objective are being exerted in Cambodia. In Paris, representatives of 12 na tions and the United Nations have signed an agreement guaranteeing the hard-won peace in Vietnam. This was done in the hope of preventing the ceasefire from exploding again into all-out war. In South Vietnam itself, representatives of the administration of President Nguyen Van Thieu are meeting with Vietcong delegates on a possible political settlement in that country. The US, for its part, is holding talks with Hanoi officials on the matter of rehabilitation. As part of the ceasefire agreement, the US will give some $7.5 billion for the reconstruction of both North and South Vietnam. Other conferences are being con ducted in other world capitals, some of them by regional alliances, to assess the situation in Southeast Asia and draw up plans for the future. Among the conferences scheduled are those of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok, the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), and the Asian-Pacific Council (ASPAC). The last one faces an uncertain future because of the loss of interest, if not the planned with drawal, of at least three members. On another plane, Russia and the United States met again in Geneva to resume their Strategic Arms Limita tion Talks (SALT), a follow-up to last year’s agreement on the limitation' of nuclear weapons. The North Atlantic Treaty Or ganization (NATO) and the Soviet Union met recently to discuss the pro posed Mutual and Balanced Force Re ductions (MBFR) in Central Europe. And the groundwork is being laid for a conference on European coopera tion and security, which will run pa rallel to the MBFR talks. In yet another part of the world, efforts of the United States and Russia to bring the Israelis and Arabs together may bear fruit. After Viet nam, the need for a settlement of the Middle East problem occupies high priority on the world agenda. Equally important conferences on other world issues are going on or are on the drawing boards. The conference on the future of the world’s seabeds opened this month at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The Philippines, together with other archipelago-states, are fightihg hard to retain sovereignty over the seas around and between their islands. Other meetings include bilateral or multilateral negotiations on such sub jects as the environment, ocean pollu tion, exchange of meteorological knowledge, rules against air piracy, war on narcotics, enforcement of co py rights, international fishing grounds, and conservation of wild life. Finally, there are the on-going or proposed conferences on economic and related matters: the current monetary crisis that resulted in the de valuation of the dollar and the float ing of certain currencies; economic aid to developing nations; and the tapping of sources of energy and other natural resources to make life more comfort able and manageable for a fast-growing world population. THE REPUBLIC 31 March 1973 Page 9

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