Cheney Predicts Difficult Talks on Philippine Bases

Negotiations with the Philippines over continued U.S. use of six military bases there will be “very difficult” because of growing anti-American sentiment, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney predicted Saturday.

Returning to Washington from a two-week tour of Asian capitals, Cheney said that officials of the beleaguered government of President Corazon Aquino are reluctant to express support for the American bases because of the harsh domestic fallout from such a position.

“I sense that the majority like having the United States in the Philippines,” he said. “(But) I also sense that the political dynamic and environment are such that it’s difficult to find elected leaders willing to stand up publicly and embrace continuation of the current arrangement.”

The United States provides Manila with about $500 million a year in military and economic aid in exchange for use of the bases, which are considered crucial to Washington’s military strategy in the Pacific region.

But Congress reduced the aid package by $96 million this year, enraging the Filipinos, who accused Washington of reneging on an earlier deal.

Aquino snubbed Cheney when he visited Manila last week, saying she had no time to meet with him. And crowds of protesters burned him in effigy and chanted anti-American slogans during his meeting with Philippine Defense Minister Fidel V. Ramos.

Cheney brushed aside Aquino’s snub, saying that she remains greatly admired in the United States for helping lead the Philippines peacefully out of two decades of dictatorship under Ferdinand E. Marcos.

He said that she privately sent a conciliatory message to him “through a third party” and that he considered the matter closed.

On the Pacific tour, Cheney also visited South Korea and Japan, where he told officials that the United States plans to reduce its forces in the region by 10,000 to 13,000 soldiers over the next three years. He asked Seoul and Tokyo to increase their share of the cost of supporting the remaining U.S. personnel.