Office of the Historian

338. Memorandum of Conversation, Washington, July 10, 1975, 10:30 a.m.1 2

Washington, July 10, 1975, 10:30 a.m.

THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON

MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATION

PARTICIPANTS:

  • William H. Sullivan, United States Ambassador to the Philippines
  • Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
  • John J. Taylor, Staff Member, NSC
  • DATE, TIME, AND PLACE: July 10, 1975, 10:30
  • The White House

SUBJECT: The Philippine s

Ambassador Sullivan said that the Philippine leaders were shocked by U.S. inaction in the face of the collapse of Indochina. At the same time Marcos felt relatively close to President Nixon, and he blames Nixon’s troubles on a hostile press and Congress, which he also sees as being unfriendly to himself.

The Ambassador said that Assistant Secretary Habib had informed him that Secretary Kissinger had now agreed to push for a Presidential visit to Manila and Jakarta on the way home from the Peking trip later this year. The Ambassador said that this was good news and he looked forward to a communiqué or a declaration at the conclusion of the Manila visit which would reflect the direction of our relations with the Philippines. He thought that the visit should be followed up by occasional personal correspondence between President Ford and Marcos.

During his tour in Manila, the Ambassador said, he has been preoccupied with two substantive matters. The first deals with economic and commercial questions. He believes most of these questions have been solved to the satisfaction of both sides. There is still need, however, to complete a treaty on trade and investment.

[Page 2]

The next matter at hand is the renegotiation of our military base rights. While a NSSM would be necessary to set out our policies on this question, the Ambassador hoped that he could receive some preliminary instructions that would allow him to smoke out the Philippine desires. This could make an essential contribution to the preparation of the NSSM.

In the negotiations, the Ambassador said that there would be several Philippine concerns. First of all was the question of sovereignty over the bases. The Philippines would want at least the appearance of sovereignty. They do not want to run the bases but would like Philippine guards at the gate, Philippine base commanders, etc.

The Filipinos also had talked about automaticity in the security commitment on the basis of the NATO model. The Ambassador was uncertain how serious Marcos was on this issue. He agreed with General Scowcroft that any revision of the Defense Treaty along these lines would be very difficult to achieve on the Hill. The Ambassador said an alternative might be an air defense agreement.

It will be important, the Ambassador said, to alert Congress at an early date to our renegotiation of the base agreement. We will have to consider carefully whether we should choose to negotiate a new treaty or a new agreement.

Another issue was the quid pro quo for use of the bases. In receiving MAP, the Philippines see themselves as annual mendicants. The Ambassador said he realized that DOD objects to the idea of rental payments, but he thought there could be some acceptable variation. For example, the Navy could arrange to pay for its use of facilities. Tenure was another issue. The Philippines would like to see the lease period shortened from the present date of 1991. The Ambassador suggested we consider making the tenure co-equal with the Mutual Defense Treaty.

We would also have to agree to return some military acreage to civilian use. Clark Air Base, he pointed out, is four times larger than the District of Columbia.

The Ambassador thought that, despite the risks involved, the next time Mrs. Marcos is in the United States we should make a point of asking Mrs. Ford to invite her to the White House.

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The Ambassador said that he hoped that he could receive some general instructions on the base negotiations no later than August so that substantive talks could begin in October. Preferably an agreement will be concluded before the President’s visit to Manila.

  1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Presidential Country Files for East Asia and the Pacific, Box 15, Philippines (3). Secret; Sensitive. Scowcroft’s talking points, July 9, from Smyser are in the Library of Congress, Henry Kissinger Papers, Chronological File, 1969–1975, TS 10, July 1975.↩
  2. Scowcroft and Sullivan discussed relations between the United States and the Philippines.↩