Pacific Rim Nations

Capping a 12-day tour of the Pacific Rim, President Clinton on Tuesday stressed the United States' commitment to the region while pledging not to impose an American vision of government on any other country. At the same time, however, he singled out Myanmar for a special rebuke, calling it a nation that has failed to move toward democracy and has tolerated a major narcotics trade.

Trade in L.A. Up 12.5% in 1995: Los Angeles remains the nation's busiest customs district, where trade jumped to $164.2 billion in 1995, according to Claremont McKenna College's Tradeweek Regional Trade Report. San Francisco, fourth in total volume behind New York and Detroit, posted the nation's biggest increase, up 27.7% to $102.8 billion. Exports to Japan fueled L.A. trade growth, jumping nearly 30% to $15.7 billion. Pacific Rim nations were L.A.'s top trading partners in 1995.

Under a three-year, $600,000 Ford Foundation grant, the UCLA department of world arts and cultures has launched an intercultural performance program involving 20 artists from Asia and the United States in long-term collaborative projects beginning this summer.

Sharply dressed business executive Yoshimi Maeda does not look like the kind of person to worry about witches and warlocks. But Maeda, insists that Osaka Castle is haunted, and he worries that, when Asia-Pacific leaders meet there today to approve a blueprint to open up trade in the region over the next 25 years, they may fall foul of its resident spirits.

As top leaders of Pacific Rim nations began arriving here Friday for a multilateral summit, their Cabinet ministers engaged in diplomatic minuets to address some of the region's most intractable problems. Secretary of State Warren Christopher and the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea met to discuss how to ensure that North Korea does not back out of a deal freezing its suspected nuclear weapons program.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor's promise to slap nearly $6 billion in punitive tariffs on Japan's luxury car exports unless the country rapidly opens up its automotive markets has hardly been driving the Japanese to distraction. In fact, what's perceived here as America's trade belligerence is spurring some painfully polite conversations about what has been described as "the world's most important economic relationship."

A ustralian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, like Prime Minister Paul Keating a strong proponent of close political and trade relations with Asia Pacific nations, took the policy a step further recently, saying Australia should have a specific identity as part of the "East Asian Hemisphere." Evans discussed the government's position at his Canberra offices with Times correspondent Charles P. Wallace.

When Henry Tsang graduated from his university in the 1960s with a degree in architecture, he applied for an entry-level job with the Sydney City Council. He was turned down, he later learned, because his name is Chinese. Tsang, who fled Communist China, can now afford to joke about this painful incident because the tables have turned.

Pacific Rim Conference: The region will take center stage in Los Angeles this week as delegates from Japan, Korea and Mexico meet to discuss trade and technology issues at the 20th annual Century of the Pacific Conference. The four-day meeting begins Tuesday and is hosted by the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce. It will feature presentations by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and California Secretary of Trade and Commerce Julie Wright.