Admiral Says U.S. Might Move Bases in Philippines to Guam

Adm. David E. Jeremiah, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, said here Saturday that the United States would move its bases from the Philippines to Guam if the government of President Corazon Aquino demands too steep a payment for keeping them there.

“Everything has its price,” said Jeremiah, speaking to American correspondents during a visit here. “At some stage in the game, you can only go so far.”

“It is obvious . . . that the United States is dealing with a (budget) deficit and a trade deficit and that we’re taking aggressive steps to (combat) these problems,” he said. “The likelihood that we can pay huge amounts of money to support a base that is supporting a number of allies in the region--that’s not going to work out very well.”

Asked if the United States has a fallback location in mind for the Subic Bay Naval Base and Clark Air Base in the Philippines, Jeremiah said that “there are alternatives we would have to examine, and probably would, depending on how difficult the negotiations got.” He named Guam as one of them.

Guam, an American territory about 1,700 miles east of Manila, has naval repair facilities and air bases and air facilities, he said. In addition, other nations in Southeast Asia “have port facilities and the ability to provide some repair and some support” and could provide substitutes for U.S. bases “in a distributed way.”

“But I think we’d probably examine primarily those assets that are available already--places like Guam,” the admiral said.

He also mentioned Japan, where the U.S. 7th Fleet and the 5th Air Force are headquartered, as a “very hospitable place.”

Jeremiah also criticized a Philippine demand that the United States seek Manila’s approval before intercepting any Soviet flights over Philippine territory--a point he said is included in the negotiations for a new agreement over bases to replace the current one that expires in 1991.

“That would inhibit the U.S. ability to exercise the right of self-defense,” he said.