DATE=2/1/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CLINTON-SOUTH ASIA (L)
NUMBER=2-258690
BYLINE=DAVID GOLLUST
DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: The White House says President Clinton will
make a long-delayed trip to South Asia the week of
March 20th. He will stop in India and Bangladesh, but
officials say no decision has been made yet on whether
he will visit Pakistan. V-O-A's David Gollust reports
from the White House.
TEXT: The President was to have visited Pakistan and
India along with Bangladesh in 1998, but he scrapped
the plans after the two South Asian powers conducted
underground nuclear weapons tests.
Planning for the trip resumed last year, but was
derailed again in October when Pakistan's elected
government was ousted by a military coup led by
General Pervez Musharraf.
In announcing the more limited itinerary for the
president next month, White House National Security
Council spokesman David Leavy did not completely
foreclose the possibility of a stop in Pakistan.
But he said the United States would first have to see
what he termed "significant movement" in Pakistan on
combating terrorism, nuclear non-proliferation and the
restoration of democracy.
Mr. Leavy said there were no similar benchmarks placed
on Mr. Clinton's visit to India, though he said the
president will press Indian leaders to sign and adhere
to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
It will be the first visit to India by a serving U-S
President since then-President Jimmy Carter went there
in 1978.
In a talk with reporters at a meeting with
congressional leaders, Mr. Clinton said he thinks it
is "unfortunate" that U-S relations with India have
been somewhat distant in recent years, and that he
aimed to change that with a visit that will span
several days:
/// Clinton Act ///
I'm going because it's the biggest democracy in
the world and I think we haven't been working
with them enough. Just as I believe we have to
engage China, that has a political system very
different from ours, we have to engage India,
that makes decisions that sometimes that we
don't agree with, but is a great democracy that
has preserved their democracy - I must say
against enormous odds. And we have an enormous
common interest in shaping the future with them
and I'm looking forward to it.
/// End Act ///
The advisability of a visit to Pakistan has been a
matter of debate among senior officials here, with
some Clinton advisers understood to be advocating at
least a brief airport meeting with General Musharraf,
during which Mr. Clinton could personally lay out U-S
concerns about terrorism and other issues.
The situation was further clouded last month by
reports that Pakistan's military had ties to a
Kashmiri militant group blamed for the hijacking of an
Indian jetliner in last December.
The State Department last week told Pakistan it could
be branded as a sponsor of state terrorism if it gives
direct support to militants operating in disputed
Kashmir - a warning Pakistan dismissed as unwarranted.
Mr. Clinton's visit to Bangladesh will be the first
ever by a U-S President to that country, which
declared independence in 1971 after the former East
Pakistan broke away from the larger western segment of
the country. (Signed)
NEB/DAG/JP
01-Feb-2000 12:31 PM EDT (01-Feb-2000 1731 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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