*EPF403 04/26/01
Text: Assistant Secretary-Designate Stresses Flexibility in Asia
(Kelly's April 26 confirmation hearing remarks) (1740)

The United States will seek to achieve its goals in the Asia-Pacific region by being flexible in its tactics, according to the man nominated by President George Bush to be the next assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs.

America needs to be "firm in goals but flexible in tactics," James Andrew Kelly said in prepared remarks at an April 26 confirmation hearing.

The Asia-Pacific region "remains a place in which armed conflict could occur with little warning," he told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Reiterating long-held U.S. policy, Kelly told the senators that the United States will remain engaged in the region. He also spoke of the U.S. interest in the region's economic well-being and the continued growth of democratic, rule-based societies.

Kelly said that the United States "seeks no territorial advantage," adding that the United States has sought a stable region "where each state is free to pursue its economic development and prosperity in a secure, open environment."

U.S. policies support "internationally accepted standards of behavior," Kelly said. The United States wants to see a situation where an individual state seeks its own security and development in a transparent way through "cooperation with its neighbors, and not at their expense," he continued.

The difficulties in returning a U.S. air crew and plane after a mid-air collision near Hainan Island April 1 "show very clearly that there are troubling aspects" to the relationship between the United States and the People's Republic of China, the Bush nominee said.

"All states suffer when common standards are ignored or violated at sea or in the air," Kelly said.

The incident with the U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft and crew and "other contradictions in China's approach to the world beyond its borders makes it difficult to predict the future course of our relationship," he said.

Following is the text of Kelly's statement, as prepared for delivery:

(begin text)

Statement of James A. Kelly
Assistant Secretary of State-Nominee
(East Asian and Pacific Affairs)
Before the
Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate
April 26, 2001

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, it is a deep honor for me to appear before you today. I am privileged and humbled by the trust placed in me by President Bush and Secretary Powell in nominating me to serve as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. If confirmed by the Senate, I look forward to working very closely with this Committee and others in the Congress in support of our country's interests in a most vital region of the world.

Because it is so long since I last appeared before this Committee, I will introduce myself as one whose past service in international matters has been working with -- but outside -- the U.S. Department of State, at President Reagan's White House/National Security Council Staff and at the Pentagon. For six years in government and for twelve years as a private citizen, I have had involvement in fostering American interests in the world's most dynamic -- but still potentially dangerous -- region, the Asia-Pacific. In scores of visits and thousands of conversations I have listened to Americans and Asians discuss both opportunities and problems. My work has often been at the junctions of political, economic and security issues.

My experience has also enabled me to develop long associations with many policymakers in East Asia and I have had the opportunity in Washington to work with and under Secretary Powell and others who carry serious responsibilities for President Bush.

I come to my nomination with deep respect for the State Department and its proud history and for the exceptionally talented and brave women and men of the Foreign Service. I am mindful of the active role -- to be the focal point for policy matters relating to Japan, Korea, China and the rest of East Asia -- that the Secretary has outlined for the Assistant Secretary. If confirmed, I will be drawing on and supporting the first-rate team that our country has at its East Asian and Pacific posts and in the Department.

From my travels, it is clear to me that the Asia/Pacific region is a place of enormous opportunity. The rapid economic development that has brought hundreds of millions of people from abject poverty to the middle class continues to be the region's hallmark. Today, the region accounts for a quarter of the world's GDP. Millions of American workers benefit from jobs sustained by trade with Asia as do small and large American investors.

The opportunities in East Asia are not restricted solely to the economic. One after another, the countries of the region have moved toward democratic governance -- from South Korea to the Philippines, to Taiwan, Thailand, and Indonesia. Even Cambodia may be moving that way. These are changes of profound importance.

But, while the trend lines appear generally positive, we can take nothing for granted. Should I be confirmed and assume the responsibilities for which I have been nominated, I will be well aware that East Asia, despite its changes, remains a place in which armed conflict could occur with little warning. Fortunately, this can no longer be said of Europe.

Over the past year, the pace of change seems, if anything, to have quickened. The geopolitical landscape in Asia has changed dramatically as a result of two landmark events. The first is last June's remarkable Korean summit. Our South Korean ally's President Kim Dae Jung traveled to Pyongyang bringing contact with the world to North Korea's supreme leader, Chairman Kim Jong Il. And on Taiwan, a Chinese electorate in free elections chose an opposition president.

This month, the attention of the world was drawn to the collision of an American EP-3 aircraft and a Chinese fighter over the international waters of the South China Sea. The protracted difficulties in returning our servicemen and women and in returning our aircraft show very clearly that there are troubling aspects to our very complex relationship with China.

Despite our current difficulties, the overall Sino-U.S. relationship features few blacks and whites and a considerable range of grey. For example, while on one hand the Chinese leadership appears to be embracing globalism, on the other it has encouraged more intense nationalism. This and other contradictions in China's approach to the world beyond its borders makes it difficult to predict the future course of our relationship. I very much look forward, if confirmed, to consulting further with the Committee on China policy and other issues.

Similarly, economic growth and prosperity are not things we should take for granted. Not long ago, much of East Asia was seized and shaken by a financial crisis. Most countries in the region have recovered at least partially from the devastating 1997-98 financial crisis, yet the healing process is not yet complete. Far more work needs to be done on structural reform to ensure that sustainable growth is achievable. The recovery is due in part to reforms such as liberalization of investment, which helped make regional economies more dynamic. But the major force driving the Asian recovery was the phenomenal growth of the American economy. If growth slows in the United States (as economic data from the first quarter suggests), it will in Asia as well. That makes it all the more essential that the pace of reform accelerate in the region this year.

American economic participation in Asia's development is intertwined with our security interests. One of the reasons the United States is considered essential to stability in the region is that our long-term goals and objectives -- the ends of US policy in East Asia and the Pacific -- are not subject to change. One manifestation of our commitment to regional stability is our forward-deployed military presence, long welcomed and supported by most nations in the region. As an example of how welcome, and how supported, our military presence is, Singapore, a longtime friend that is not a treaty ally, recently completed new port facilities specifically designed to accommodate visits by US aircraft carriers.

This welcome underscores our unchanging national interests in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia -- among both friends and allies. America is present and will continue to be. Our country seeks no territorial advantage. For many years the United States has sought a stable region where each state is free to pursue its economic development and prosperity in a secure, open environment. American policies support internationally accepted standards of behavior. They help ensure that the pursuit of security and development by any state is accomplished transparently, through cooperation with its neighbors, and not at their expense. For example, the United States stands for freedom of navigation. This is no narrow American interest. All states suffer when common standards are ignored or violated at sea or in the air.

Also not subject to change is America's commitment to, and cooperation with, its allies in the region -- the friends who have worked with us most closely as we pursue our goals and objectives in East Asia and the Pacific. They are not our mirror images, but they share with us certain fundamental beliefs and values, including commitment to human rights, to free trade and investment, to the rule of law, and to democratic principles of governance. States that share these values tend to share a general outlook on the world and the events that fill it.

Secretary Powell's confirmation statement and testimony suggest an effective mix of policies much better than I could. We are at the beginning of an administration and of a decade. The Asia-Pacific is loaded with successes, failures and the complexities brought by technology, prosperity and political development. Effective American policies have to support our interests; they must be firm in goals but flexible in tactics.

If confirmed, I look forward to presenting the President's Asia-Pacific policies as clearly as I can. So what I hope, if you see fit to confirm me, is that these remarks be seen as the beginning of an ongoing discussion and dialogue with Congress.

Now it is my honor to respond to the Committee's questions on whatever may be of interest or concern.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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