Pacific Basin

I believe Williams is unduly pessimistic about the role the U.S. will play in the Pacific. The interdependence of all nations requires initiatives and policies that will maintain an economic equilibrium--an equilibrium which dampens the boom and bust cycles of the past and accommodates the economic and social aspirations of people everywhere. Success in achieving this goal is dependent not on military force or presence, but on our ability to understand and work within the delicate web of international relations which link all nations.

Strong aftershocks and a second sizable earthquake rattled Japan through the night after the island nation's worst quake in recorded history, but the tsunami waves that drowned hundreds in northeast Japan mostly spared other countries around the Pacific Rim. Tsunami warnings had been issued for the entire Pacific basin after the 8.9-magnitude earthquake that toppled thousands of buildings and sent a 30-foot wall of water across the coastal area...

Look beyond current U.S.-Japan trade tensions to see the extraordinary rise of Pacific trade and investment over the past two decades, perhaps the greatest economic success story of this century. Starting with Japan's "economic miracle" of the '60s, the extraordinary growth figures of Korea, Taiwan and the countries in Southeast Asia symbolized a triumph of technology, modernization and hard work over traditional ideas of geography and some historical European assumptions.

Having trouble distinguishing between the Pacific Rim, the Pacific Basin and the Asia-Pacific region? Confounded by the opaque vocabulary of acronyms that muddle conversations about trade and economic development in Asia? No ordinary mortal should feel shame at being bewildered by Pacific Rim jargon. The fundamental idea behind the regional concept is somewhat amorphous to begin with, and many participants in the Pacific Rim dialogue seemingly wish to keep it that way.

The Soviet Union is rediscovering the Pacific Basin. As Korean Air Lines found out, Moscow does not take a Chamber of Commerce view of the Asia-Pacific region. But it anticipates an increasing and eventually important role in the area's economic life. That becomes clear when you combine: - The statements of leading economists. "We are a Pacific country, as well as a European one, and there are gaps in Asian trade needs that we can fill," says Prof.

It is now more than 20 years since a distinguished Japanese citizen, Prof. Kiyoshi Kojima, proposed that a Pacific Basin organization be set up. For a generation, a great deal of thought, technical skill and good will have been invested in elaborating the concept. It is proper that we have allowed time to turn the problem around in our hands, identify the interests that such an organization must satisfy if it is to be successful and identify the problems it must overcome.

Baker & McKenzie of Chicago, one of the nation's largest law firms, said Wednesday that is has absorbed the practice of Macdonald, Halsted & Laybourne, a mid-size Los Angeles-based firm with 70 lawyers in Los Angeles and San Diego. Baker & McKenzie is one of the last of the large, national law firms to establish a presence in Los Angeles in quest of the area's growing Pacific Basin business.

A Singapore firm provides some venture capital for Advanced Matrix Technology, a Newbury Park company that produces color printers for computers. Sultan Muda Hassanal Bolkiah of Brunei purchases the Beverly Hills Hotel for a reported $185 million. Taiwanese visitors knock on doors in Temple City, offering to purchase homes for more than the sellers are asking. These seemingly unrelated transactions have a common thread: Money is flowing into Southern California from across the Pacific.

Faith in the end of the Cold War is a simple matter of perspective. Where the student perched atop the Berlin Wall imagines political openings, military withdrawals and the fading away of spheres of superpower influence, the person standing on the seawall of Icebox Park in this Pacific island nation has presentiments of crueler and, for the Third World, more persistent possibilities. The area immediately facing this park, bordered on one side by a center for the captive breeding of endangered sea life, is being coveted for a United States "defense site."

The Pacific Rim is poised for a period of rapid growth and moderate inflation following a two-year downswing, according to a report released by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council. The update covering 17 of the group's member countries predicts annual economic growth in the Pacific Basin will increase to 3.6% in 1992 and accelerate to 4.4% in 1993 and to 4.7% by 1994, despite nagging problems in the United States and Japan.

Pacific Resources '92, a major conference designed to match Pacific Basin investors and institutions with California builders and developers, will be held August 26-28 at La Costa Resort and Spa at La Costa. Sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and the Building Industry Assn., the conference is expected to generate business opportunities for investors and builders, and provide a friendly interactive setting, said Michael Ning of Merrill Lynch International, the event chairperson.

Faith in the end of the Cold War is a simple matter of perspective. Where the student perched atop the Berlin Wall imagines political openings, military withdrawals and the fading away of spheres of superpower influence, the person standing on the seawall of Icebox Park in this Pacific island nation has presentiments of crueler and, for the Third World, more persistent possibilities. The area immediately facing this park, bordered on one side by a center for the captive breeding of endangered sea life, is being coveted for a United States "defense site."

It's almost midnight. I've just returned from a power dinner at Vincent Ingram's. It was stag, still an acceptable form of gathering among Kiwis. Present were the Catholic bishop, the prime minister, the leading tradesman, the New Zealand representative, member of Parliament Vincent and me. I'm writing not to tell you of the rapport but to relay the after-dinner tales of local Prime Minister Jeff Henry.

In what may be a historic event, Secretary of State James Baker, U.S. Trade Representative Carla Hills and Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher will join this week in Canberra, Australia, with foreign and economic ministers of 11 Asian and Pacific nations--Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. They will discuss opportunities for regional economic cooperation in the Pacific Basin.

The time is ripe for California's small and medium-sized companies to export food and electronics equipment to Pacific Rim countries, Bank of America economists said Tuesday. The companies have an opportunity to cash in on a predicted 85% increase in California exports to the region in the next three years, according to a report released by the bank. Total world exports to the region are expected to rise by $270 billion by the end of 1991, and California's share could reach nearly $33 billion by the end of the period, the report said.

Public school education in the United States is a "disgrace," IBM Chairman John Akers told the Bay Area Council Outlook Conference in San Francisco in a speech recently. Students today must be prepared to compete with children "growing up in the Pacific Basin and around the world--and they are not."

In increasing numbers they have been coming from places such as Hong Kong, the Philippines and China. California--a long-time favorite of Japanese tourists--is fast becoming the preferred destination of travelers throughout Asia. Buoyed by their burgeoning economies, more and more residents of the Pacific Basin can afford overseas travel. Anticipating the growth of "California fever," officials at the California Office of Tourism are now developing plans to establish promotions in various Asian markets while at the same time developing new programs to entice an even larger portion of the Japanese travel market.

The departure of a major tenant could create problems at some ports. When executives at Overseas Shipping Co. announced plans to abandon a large operation at the Port of Los Angeles, however, a difficult situation was actually resolved. The predicament arose when port officials decided to ask one tenant to vacate its site to make room for Overseas. The tenant, which was to be moved when its lease expired this summer, challenged the plan. The dispute over space was settled only when Overseas decided to discontinue its operations at the port.