Aloha Comrade!

Soviets bring Glasnost to Hawaii.

By Ed Rampell

WITH A warm “Aloha, Tovar ich!”, Hawaii has welcomed four Soviet scholars who came to spread the island version of the Glasnost gospel according to Gorbachev. During their 10 days in Hawaii the academics dis cussed Moscow’s program for “Pacific Perestroika” at the University of Hawaii, the East-West Centre and elsewhere. Their agenda included disarmament, fishing deals, the Law of the Sea, economic aid, Libya, neocolonialism and the US annex ation of Micronesia.

The four young, English-speaking scholars were Doctor Victor Andreevich Vrevsky, senior researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences; Alexander Valentinovich Vo rontsov, a researcher at the same Institute; Artemy Apetovich Saguirian, senior re searcher at the Institute of World Econ omy and Internationa! Relations, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow; and Ni kolai Grigorjevich Scherbina, head of the International Law of the Sea Division of the Institute of Ocean Economics of the USSR Academy of Sciences at Vladivostok.

The arms race is a top priority. Accord ing to Dr Vrevsky: “We have to release military tension in the Asia-Pacific Re gion. There is nothing like the INF (Inter mediate-range Nuclear Forces) Treaty in this region. Military confrontation is more acute and dangerous here; we need to re duce tensions). There is no disarmament mechanism in the Pacific Rim. We have no forward bases in the North Pacific, while the US pursues forward basing at Soviet frontiers. We’re interested in reduc ing tensions and proposing negotiations.

Korea can explode at any time. World War 111 can start with Korea. “We need an INF type treaty in the Pacific.”

Dr Vrevsky says the only arms control initiative in the Pacific theatre has been “Soviet dismantling of SS 20 missiles”, and that Washington deploys “nuclear subs in the Pacific and tactical nuclear weaponry near Korea [while] there are no Soviet subs in the South Pacific. We don’t have and have never had military interests there, and never will. The USSR has no strategic in terests and lines of communication in the South Pacific.”

He goes on to say that Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay is not really a base. “Yes, it of fers port facilities for our fleet, because there are none in the Indian Ocean. How ever, Cam Ranh Bay does not equal the major US military presence at the Clark and Subic bases in the Philippines.”

Dr Vrevsky says the USSR condemns French nuclear testing at Mururoa and that

the Nuclear-Free Pacific movement is viewed by the Soviets as a “valuable con tribution to the cause of disarmament. The USSR signed without any reservations the protocols of the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone treaty. The US, Britain, and France didn’t sign and don’t respect the Raro tonga Treaty .. .We also support the pro posals for Nuclear-Free ASEAN.”

On the unrest in New Caledonia, East

Timor and West Papua, Dr Vrevsky says, “the Soviet Union, of course, has for a very long time supported national liberation move ments. The problem of national minorities is an internal affair of states... in principle, yes, we support them, but we do not send arms.” As for French Polynesia, in addi-

tion to opposing the nuclear tests there, he says Moscow is “for the rights of indige nous people, sovereignty, and freedom.”

On alleged Libyan support for Pacific national liberation movements. Dr Vrev sky says “I have my own opinion on Gad dafi. He’s fishing for trouble. It’s not important where Polynesia, New Ca ledonia, or Africa. He’s trying to impose his own vision of anti-imperialist struggle.”

As for the late 1987 Soviet missile tests with dummy warheads relatively near Ha waii: “We must improve our weaponry unless we attain disarmament. The US has Kwajalein; we just have occasional tests (in the region) .. . The tests were outside of Hawaii’s territorial waters ... It’s hard to say whether Gorbachev personally knew about them. This was a routine exercise, not a political decision; nothing unusual.

There’s nothing very good about these tests, but if we go further down the road of disarmament, it’ll be resolved.”

On the economic front, Dr Vrevsky says, “The USSR is interested in com mercial agreements in the islands. This is the reason we signed the Kiribati and Van uatu fishing treaties. We are seeking ex pansion of the fishing areas ... We want joint ventures in fisheries and forestry.”

Currently, the USSR does not have any major aid, technology transfer or eco nomic development programs in the Pa cific. However, Dr Vrevsky adds that Moscow will be an “observer at the Pacific Economic Co-operation Conference at Ja pan this year. We have projects with other developing countries and cannot see why we should not with island states.” □

Soviet leader Gorbachev.