A Letter From the Publisher

By John A. Meyers

The Asia-Pacific region faces change and political uncertainty, but it also offers enormous opportunity. During the past five years, America's trade with East Asia has outstripped its commerce with Europe. By the year 2000, more than half of the world's population will live on the western rim of the Pacific.

With that in mind, 33 U.S. corporate, civic and university leaders joined 21 editors, correspondents and executives from Time Inc. for a 17-day tour of China, Viet Nam, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Hong Kong. Time planned the expedition in the spirit of its nine previous Newstours: to give each of its guests a journalist's-eye view of a vital part of the world. Since the first Newstour in 1963, Time groups have been to 37 countries, but never the People's Republic of China. This initial visit occurred at a propitious time: China has introduced sweeping economic reforms that place greater emphasis on free-market forces. Time's guest journalists got a firsthand look at Chinese-style capitalism in Peking, Shanghai, Canton and in the special economic zone of Shenzhen. The high point of the visit was a 70- minute conversation with China's leader, Deng Xiaoping. While it was clear that China has a long and difficult march ahead on the capitalist road, the Time contingent came away impressed. As Time Inc. Editor in Chief Henry Grunwald told his hosts in Canton, "I have observed three strengths for China: energy, optimism and practicality."

The Newstour was the largest group of U.S. business leaders to visit Viet Nam since the end of the war. A two-day stopover in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) provided the travelers with poignant reminders of the conflict. At one point, the group was escorted to the crash site of a B-52 bomber that had been shot down over Hanoi in December 1972. A U.S. insignia was still visible on the wreckage. The Newstour met with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach and aging Premier Pham Van Dong. In an interview that is excerpted in the World section, an intransigent Pham seemed unwilling to compromise on any aspect of his country's aggressive policy toward Kampuchea or its backward socialist economy.

In the Philippines, the Newstour went to Clark Air Base, where Major- General Gordon (Gordy) Williams and his counterpart at nearby Subic Bay Naval Base, Rear-Admiral Edwin Kohn, described the strategic importance of the two U.S. facilities. The guest journalists met with a broad range of political figures, including Jaime Cardinal Sin and the widow of assassinated Opposition Leader Benigno Aquino. They spent a total of five hours with President Ferdinand Marcos, first in a rigorous question-and-answer session (see WORLD) and then at a banquet that evening.

In South Korea, the Newstour was greeted at United Nations Command in Seoul by Lieut. General Jack Gregory, deputy commander of U.N. forces in the area. With charts, maps and photos, Gregory and his aides painted a chilling picture of North Korea's troop strength. After the briefing, the tour members boarded twin-rotor Boeing CH-47 helicopters and flew over woods, hills and rice paddies to the demilitarized zone. At Panmunjom, site of the armistice- commission room where meetings are held almost daily between delegations from North and South Korea, the group was under constant surveillance by armed North Korean guards, just yards away on the other side of the border. The next day, after meeting with Opposition Leaders Kim Dae Jung, Kim Young Sam and Lee Min-Woo, the visitors took a quick tour of the nearly complete facilities for the 1988 Olympics. Later they met with President Chun Doo Hwan in the ornate % reception hall of Seoul's Blue House, the Korean equivalent of the White House. Chun, like leaders throughout the region, expressed alarm over the rise of protectionist sentiment in the U.S.

To round out the journey, the Newstour visited diplomatically isolated Taiwan, where government leaders reiterated their mistrust of mainland China; Hong Kong, which is preparing for its transfer in 1997 from British to Chinese hands; and Thailand, whose bustling capital Bangkok offered a glaring contrast with the austerity of Communist Viet Nam. At a wrap-up session in Bangkok, Newstour participants agreed that while there were risks in the region, especially in the Philippines, there were also some exciting prospects. Many of the business leaders felt that China's opening to the West could be a watershed. All came away convinced that protectionism would be a disaster and that the U.S. should become more, not less, involved in the region.