Maj. Gen. Alexander Sergeyevitch Sinaiskiy, Russian Federation Army

Now that the Cold War is over, the threat of a worldwide war has diminished. Generally speaking, the world is now moving towards a more secure, more stable future. At the same time, we are too far away from what Francis Fukuyama, a contemporary American philosopher, has mistakenly called "the end of the history."

Indeed, the whole system of international relations is now undergoing a deep and profound change. The bipolar system, based on ideological hatred and military-political tension, is now dead, but a new multipolar system has not yet been formed.

The end of the Cold War let loose ethnic, territorial and religious conflicts, regional rivalry and other negative processes, which had been previously suppressed for years because of the fear of a large scale war between East and West.

These negative processes are directly related to the Asia-Pacific region. In this area, tension has been eased in many areas. However, in this region different people and countries have very different ideas about national interests and regional security. The region is one of the world's fastest growing arms markets, and there are unsolved territorial, ideological, economic and other differences.

Russia is primarily concerned with the situation in the North Pacific and Northeast Asia subregions. This is one of the most rapidly developing areas of the world. It is in this area where we have three nuclear powers - China, Russia and the U.S. - and an economic superpower, Japan. This is the region where we have an armed stand-off on the Korean peninsula, and the unsettled Northern Territories issue.

Our region urgently needs security dialogue and the cooperation of all of the states in buildingup a subregional security system. It would also be useful to establish an international crisis prevention center, seated, let us say, in Seoul.

Of course, not all of the countries are ready to cooperate in the creation of a subregional security system. We must be patient and, carefully but steadily, stepbystep, move toward this great goal. We share President Clinton's idea about building a "New Community" in the region and sincerely hope that Russia will be an equal among equals in it. In the past few years, Russia has done quite a lot to improve the international security environment in the region.

First of all, we've stopped confrontation with the U.S. and joined together our efforts to promote peace, security, and democracy in the world, thus opening a new page in world history. We have joined with the U.S. in a "Partnership for Peace" in Europe, and we are now working hard trying to establish a "Partnership for Peace" for Asia.

Secondly, we have normalized our relations with our great neighbor - China, and then further developed these relations into a constructive partnership. We positively evaluate China's independent foreign policy and believe that China's normal and steady relations with its neighboring nations is one of the cornerstones of regional stability.

In the past few years, Russia and China have been engaged in very useful and very successful talks concerning the mutual reduction of conventional armed forces along their common borders. In fact, this is the first example of this kind of arms reduction talks in the whole region. So, it can be considered not only as a substantial input to regional security, but also as an example and a clear signal to the other nations of the region.

Thirdly, Russia stands for establishing new friendly relations with Japan, based on mutual trust and constructive partnership. We don't think that the problem of the Northern Territories should be an obstacle for the development of good relations and normal political, economic and military cooperation. In fact, this is a very delicate and highly sensitive question. It has long become a factor of internal policy not only in Japan, but also in Russia. Such a question cannot be solved by means of a great leap forward. We prefer a stepbystep policy.

It is also necessary to mention our normalized and quickly developing relations with the Republic of Korea and improving cooperation in security matters with all the ASEAN and Australasian countries. The Korean peninsula is still a source of instability and a threat to peace in the whole region. Thanks to the U.S.'s consistent efforts in Geneva, a Framework Agreement has been signed with North Korea agreeing to freeze its nuclear program. We are working closely on this matter with the U.S., China, and other interested countries. But the main problem of this divided nation the problem of the military standoff on the Korean peninsula still remains unsolved. We think there is a need to call an international conference on the Korean problem under UN supervision, with both Koreas, the U.S., Japan, Russia, China, and the International Atomic Energy Agency participating.

We stand for the continuation of the present, well-coordinated policy of the world community aimed at keeping North Korea in the Nonproliferation Treaty. At the same time, we are against any attempts to isolate North Korea, which may provoke its leaders to conduct a more rigid policy. Russia, together with other nuclear states bearing responsibility for strategic stability in the region, can provide both Koreas with guarantees of their nuclear security.

In general, Russia's position on security issues in the AsiaPacific region is as follows:

• building a collective security system;

• stopping the arms race;

• reducing conventional forces;

• creating nuclear-free zones;

• eliminating the sources of regional tension by political means;

• limiting military activities and confidence-building measures in the military sphere;

• opening of various lines for dialogue: official, semiofficial, nonofficial, bilateral, multilateral, subregional and regional; and

• developing further economic cooperation between the nations of the region.

What is the Russian Armed Forces' role in international peace and security? Russia, as a big country and a nuclear state, naturally has a voice in the world's policy. By their very existence, our armed forces play an important role in providing international peace and regional stability. Largely by reducing our strategic nuclear forces, conventional ground forces, and the Pacific Fleet, we support positive trends in the regional situation. At the same time, we are trying to improve international cooperation on security matters both on the global and regional scale.

Our steps on arms reduction are well known. Yet, I'd like to remind you that:

• Russia together with the U.S., in accordance with the START I and START II treaties, is gradually reducing its strategic missiles;

• we've signed agreements with both the United States and China on not aiming nuclear missiles at each other;

• Russia has eliminated intermediate-range missiles with 500kilometer or longer ranges, in accordance with the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty;

• Russia has eliminated tactical nuclear weapons from each naval fleet and stores them in ground shelters, and land-based tactical nuclear weapons are also stored in centralized ground shelters;

• we have already reduced our conventional forces deployed in the Far East region almost by half, compared with the late 1980's. We have also reduced large numbers of both surface ships and submarines of our Pacific Fleet and we have decommissioned the only two aircraft carriers which we previously had here, the Minsk and the Novorossiysk; and

• we have largely reduced our military activity in the region.

I could continue giving examples, but I feel it is more useful to discuss existing and possible future measures for improving the security environment for participating countries.

First, we have already concluded a number of agreements aimed at improving regional stability. I can only mention agreements concerning the prevention of dangerous military activities which we've signed with the United States and China, which we will sign with the Republic of Korea, and which we also would like to sign with Japan. We've already signed an agreement with Japan on the prevention of incidents at sea. We've also signed a number of memorandums of understanding with the defense ministries of AsiaPacific nations.

Secondly, we actively participate in all regional forums where security issues are discussed. For example, we participated in the first ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) held in Bangkok in May 1994. We believe this forum will gradually develop into an effective region-wide forum for the discussion of regional security issues and confidence-building measures. We actively participate in the North Asia Cooperation Dialogue and the Trilateral Forum on North Pacific Security, the last session of which was held in Moscow. I am pleased to say that both the United States and Japan paid great attention to Moscow's Forum, sending teams of high ranking diplomats and military officials.

Thirdly, we succeeded in starting practical cooperation with the countries of the region on security issues. For example, we've held joint search and rescue exercises with U.S. troops in Alaska and Russia, and held other joint exercises with the U.S. Marines near Vladivostok and in Hawaii. What is even more important, we've established working contacts between our Far Eastern Military Command, the U.S. Pacific Command, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet. A RussianU.S. O-6 level (Colonel-level) working group meets on a regular basis, working on plans to strengthen our cooperation. We also have a number of direct military-to-military contacts with China, the Republic of Korea, and with Japan.

Still, we think that what is already done is not sufficient. Sporadic contacts and bilateral efforts must give way to a comprehensive security system, uniting and protecting all nations of the region. We are ready to cooperate with all countries to meet the possible challenges of the times, and to secure a better future for all of our children.