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Editorials
Monday, February 12, 2001U.S. must make amends
for accidental sinkingThe issue: A U.S. submarine collided with and sank a Japanese fishing vessel/high school training ship off Oahu.
WHILE astronauts high above the Earth were preparing for an intricate maneuver to install a billion-dollar laboratory on the international space station, a U.S. Navy submarine was smashing into a Japanese fishing vessel off Oahu while surfacing. Of the 35 people on board the ship, which was being used to train high school students, 26 were quickly rescued after the collision Friday but nine are still missing and believed dead.
In an era when enormously difficult operations such as the assembly of the space station are accomplished, it is difficult to comprehend how the crew of a state-of-the-art submarine such as the Greeneville, commissioned only five years ago, could have failed to notice the 190-foot Ehime Maru before coming to the surface and crashing into it.
The Navy routinely takes precautions to prevent such accidents. Why this disaster occurred will be the subject of an extensive investigation; it would be pointless to speculate on the cause until the facts are revealed.
Despite all precautions, such collisions when submarines surface have occurred with some frequency. In one six-year period, from 1983-89, U.S. submarines had 42 collisions, many with fishing boats, according to Navy records.
In 1998 a South Korean fishing boat was sunk off the South Korean coast after colliding with the U.S. submarine La Jolla. The crew was rescued. In 1988 a Japanese submarine hit a fishing boat, sinking it. Thirty crewmen drowned.
Despite such precedents, there is no question that Friday's accident was preventable and most regrettable. President Bush has issued an apology. Secretary of State Colin Powell telephoned his Japanese counterpart, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono, to express his regrets.
The U.S. has accepted full responsibility for the incident and appears to be doing everything possible to assist the survivors and comfort relatives of the missing.
Washington still maintains a large military presence in Japan, and that presence continues to be a sensitive issue. The latest incident involving the U.S. military could aggravate tensions between Washington and Tokyo. It is important that the U.S. continue to show sympathy and provide assistance to those affected by the incident.
Despite the friction generated by the U.S. military presence in Japan, particularly in Okinawa, the Japanese government recognizes the need for U.S. defense assistance and supports continuation of the current policy. However, every negative incident involving the U.S. military makes it that much more difficult to justify the policy.
The accident is not likely to create a major rift in U.S.-Japan relations or even to result in an end to visits by such training ships to Hawaii waters. But it requires a sincere effort to make amends plus a thorough investigation to determine what went wrong. Such disasters must not happen again.
Thailand’s new premier
faces legal problems
ADDING to the list of Southeast Asian countries with leadership problems, Thailand's parliament has elected as prime minister a telecommunications magnate with legal difficulties. Thaksin Shinawatra has been indicted by the National Counter-corruption Commission for concealing his assets while serving in a previous government.
Thaksin, whose party won a landslide victory last month, could be ousted from office if the Constitutional Court upholds the indictment. The court is expected to begin hearings in the case shortly.
The new prime minister vowed to make improving the economy his top priority. Thailand was one of the victims of the 1997 Asian economic crisis and has never recovered. But Thaksin's legal problems and reports of vote-buying contribute to doubts that he can succeed.
Meanwhile Thailand's neighbors are having their own political problems. In Indonesia, the ineffective President Abdurrahman Wahid has been censured by his parliament and could be thrown out of office. The longtime president, Suharto, was ousted in 1998 and the country has been in turmoil ever since.
In the Philippines, President Joseph Estrada was forced out last month after an impeachment trial on charges of massive corruption stalled in the Senate. The vice president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was immediately sworn in as Estrada's successor in a second nonviolent "people power" revolt but it was uncertain whether she would succeed in establishing her leadership.
In Malaysia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's reputation has been marred by his vendetta against a former deputy premier who dared to oppose him on economic policy.
The prosperous island state of Singapore remains under tight political control.
And in Myanmar, a military junta maintains its repressive rule and restricts the activities of the leader of the democratic opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.
Southeast Asia's experiences with democracy have fallen short of satisfactory. This may be inevitable in countries with widespread poverty and low educational levels. There is always a danger that failures of democratic governments will lead to military takeovers and repression of dissent -- as in the example of Myanmar.
Thailand has a long history of coups. If Thaksin stumbles, the army may move in again.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
Frank Bridgewater, Acting Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
