- U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Admiral Samuel J. "Sam"
Locklear III, Commander U.S. Pacific Command, shake hands at the Pacific
Islands Forum in the Cook Islands, August 31, 2012. [State Department
photo/ Public Domain]
Commemorating U.S. Peace and Security Partnerships in the Pacific
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Tamarind House
Rarotonga, Cook Islands
August 31, 2012
Thank
you very much, Admiral Locklear for your strong leadership and your
wise insights and your understanding of the challenges and opportunities
facing this vast region. Also, Rear Admiral Ray, thank you for your
commitment to the security in the region and the very important work
that you are doing with the Coast Guard. I’m delighted to see all of you
here as we discuss peace and security and the role that the United
States has played for many years and the role that we intend to play.
When
we talk about our engagement in the Asia Pacific, we really are looking
at a model of partnerships that reflect our shared values, delivers
practical benefits, and helps create stronger economies and societies.
Our goal is to help the island nations of the Pacific realize their own
aspirations, reach your own goals. And therefore, we are working on
everything from expanding economic opportunity to protecting the
environment to fighting gender-based violence, and we particularly honor
the sacrifice that many of our Pacific partners are making to bring
peace and security to war-torn areas around the globe, including places
like Afghanistan and Sudan.
Now I know there are those who see
America’s renewed engagements over the last three and a half years in
the Pacific perhaps as a hedge against particular countries. But the
fact is, as I said this morning, the United States welcomes cooperation
with a number of partners, including Japan, the European Union, China,
and others. The Pacific is big enough for all of us. We share a common
interest in advancing peace, security, and prosperity in this vital
region.
So we are doubling down in two areas. We already work
closely with our partners on a range of transnational and maritime
security issues, including crime, trafficking in persons, nuclear
nonproliferation, disaster response and preparedness. But the two that I
want to highlight today are – the first is maritime awareness. Under
our Shiprider program, ships and aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard host
law enforcement officers from Pacific island nations to patrol their
own maritime areas. The benefits can be significant. Since just 2009,
for example, this program has helped KiriBati us that more than $4
million in fines for illegal fishing. Now we’re working to expand our
Shiprider partnership to include the United States Navy in addition to
the United States Coast Guard. This will allow countries to take
advantage of U.S. Navy ships that are already in the region or are
transiting through the region to get help enforcing their own laws.
Additionally,
we are working with Australia, New Zealand, and France to strengthen
our Pacific maritime surveillance partnership, which puts a particular
focus on fisheries. All of these steps will help strengthen regional law
enforcement and promote security, with the goal of making sure that the
people of the region benefit from your abundant ocean resources.
And
that brings me to the second area I want to mention. Our work to reduce
the number of unexploded bombs, shells, and other ordnance left over
from World War Two that unfortunately still litter the lands and waters
of the region. I’m aware that no one knows the full extent of the
problem, but we do recognize it is a crucial matter for security and
prosperity. Decaying ordnance leaks chemicals that pollute the water and
soil. That makes it harder for people to develop their land, promote
tourism, and spark economic growth. Ordnance and small arms can be
recovered and used by criminals. And it can take a terrible toll on the
local populations – Children and adults who lose limbs by picking up or
stepping on some of the remaining unexploded ordnance.
In recent
years, the United States Government has committed more than $2 million
to help identify, remove, and destroy unexploded ordnance throughout the
Pacific islands. Today, I’m pleased to announce we will seek to provide
an additional $3.5 million in funding and training for these efforts.
We want to promote a more integrated approach to assessing unexploded
ordnance and training local teams to identify and remove it safely.
The
United States, as you heard from both Admirals, is proud to support
these efforts and our many partnerships and our longstanding friendships
in the region. Seventy years ago our countries stood together to fight
for security and peace in the Pacific. At the end of that terrible world
war, who could have predicted where we would be in 70 years?
The
United States did not leave the Pacific, instead we focused on making
sure that the region continued to be safe and secure so that you could
develop, you could pursue commerce, you could raise your children in
peace, you could become more prosperous. We’re going to work together to
ensure that all the people of the Pacific islands, in the 21st
century, have the chance to fulfill their own God-given potential. That
is the hope that the United States brings to our partnerships and our
friendships. We have put very real initiatives behind these hopes and
these commitments, and we will be with you over the years and decades,
and I would predict centuries to come, as we see these islands continue
to prosper, to go from strength to strength. Thank you all very much.
