U.S. Loosens Strings on Aid to Cambodia : Asia: Washington now won’t rule out assistance if Khmer Rouge guerrillas are included in an interim government.

The Clinton Administration said Saturday that the United States will not necessarily refuse to provide aid to Cambodia if the interim government now being put together in Phnom Penh ends up including the Marxist-inspired Khmer Rouge guerrillas.

A senior U.S. official traveling with Secretary of State Warren Christopher said the Administration is hoping to “clarify” the U.S. position at a meeting here this weekend of the six-country Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

U.S. officials have been warning for weeks that Washington would not provide aid to a government that includes the Khmer Rouge if the guerrillas have not renounced their violence. Some reports have suggested that the Administration was seeking to bar the Khmer Rouge under any circumstances.

The perception that Washington was adopting a hard-line stance already has had an impact. Last week, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Cambodian leader who is conducting negotiations to form an interim government, canceled talks with the Khmer Rouge, citing “incessant” U.S. pressure.

But the senior U.S. official contended Saturday that the Administration’s position has been “oversimplified” and insisted that Washington does not intend to rule out the possibility of substantial U.S. aid to a government that includes the Khmer Rouge, provided it plays a positive role.

“We want to make sure that that nuance comes across,” both to the public and to Asian leaders, the official told reporters who were traveling with Christopher. “We don’t want to block reconciliation.”

Christopher arrived here Saturday night reiterating President Clinton’s earlier promise to maintain a strong U.S. security presence in Southeast Asia--a matter that has been of some concern to many ASEAN governments in the face of sharp U.S. troop cutbacks in Europe and the Philippines.

“I will make it clear that the Clinton Administration has a determination to remain fully engaged on all issues in Southeast Asia,” Christopher told a news conference on his arrival. “We are not reducing our forces in this region. In fact, we are making them more effective.”

Christopher will participate in a series of meetings early this week between the ASEAN countries and foreign ministers of the organization’s seven “dialogue partners”--the United States, Japan, the European Community, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.

On Saturday, the six Asian members of ASEAN--Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines--completed a two-day session in which they laid the groundwork for a new regional security forum designed to handle border disputes and other problems.

All but Malaysia said they would accept Clinton’s invitation to attend a summit of Asian leaders in Seattle this November to discuss regional economic issues under the aegis of the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Malaysia has said it fears the United States would dominate such a session.

Besides the Cambodia issue, the meeting’s agenda is expected to include the integration of China and Russia into the organization. Christopher is scheduled to meet with the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers today.

The progress of the Cambodian reconciliation process has been a thorny issue for the Administration for months.

The United States and several other nations pledged in June to provide about $880 million in aid to Cambodia once the results of the May elections were implemented.

The Khmer Rouge, which had boycotted the elections and sought initially to disrupt efforts to form a new government, recently has made some conciliatory gestures.

The U.S. official who spoke Saturday made clear that the Administration still has not altered its opinion of the Khmer Rouge, blamed for 1 million deaths during its 1975-1979 reign. Given the guerrillas’ record, he said, “it would be extremely difficult . . . to see (them) as part of a government unless and until it were abiding by the Paris peace accords,” signed in 1991 by Cambodia’s four warring factions.

However, he said, “having come this far . . . it would be very shortsighted indeed not to try to carry through on our commitment” to provide financial support to any interim Cambodian government.