World Notes: Jan. 13, 1986

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MEXICO Borderline Relationship

Ronald Reagan realized that a half-day summit with Mexican President Miguel de la Madrid last week could not begin to resolve differences between their two countries. So he used his four-hour stopover in Mexicali to drive home U.S. concern over Mexico's $96 billion foreign debt. The U.S. has been urging Mexico to cut government spending and increase private investment. De la Madrid told Reagan that Mexico was making "increasingly strenuous efforts," but was hampered by factors like the dropping world price of oil. The Mexican President seemed close to endorsing a plan by U.S. Treasury Secretary James Baker that offers debtor nations new low-interest loans in exchange for implementation of free-market policies.

But there was little progress on other bilateral issues. Reagan reiterated his concern over cross-border drug trafficking and his frustration with Mexico's backing of anti-U.S. resolutions at the United Nations and its support for Nicaragua's lefist Sandinista regime. De la Madrid reminded Reagan that the U.S. and Mexico must sometimes take separate paths. Said he: "Our political and economic reality cannot be identical."

THE PHILIPPINES No More Mrs. Nice Guy

With just a month to go before the presidential elections, scheduled for Feb. 7, President Ferdinand Marcos and Opposition Candidate Corazon Aquino last week abandoned all pretense of civility. Marcos denounced Aquino as an "oligarch" and hinted that she has money stashed in foreign bank accounts. Scoffing at Aquino's vague plans for U.S. military installations at Subic Bay and Clark Air Base after 1991, Marcos accused his rival of playing "political football." He also charged that Aquino is backed by "pinkos and Communists."

Aquino responded heatedly. Marcos, she said, was "maliciously slandering" the memory of her husband, slain Opposition Leader Benigno Aquino. She also charged the President with "political harassment," claiming that for years Marcos has tried to confiscate a sugar plantation owned by her family. Aquino revealed that on Dec. 3, the day she announced her candidacy, a regional court ordered the government to seize the property. As for the "pinko" charge, Aquino had a cool response. If elected, she said, she would allow Communists to join a coalition government if they renounced violence.

NEW ZEALAND He Did It for Love

After France admitted that its intelligence agents had blown up the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior in Auckland's harbor last July, relations between Paris and Wellington seemed to hit rock bottom. They were exacerbated even further last week when New Zealand customs officials announced that "enough ammunition to start a small war" had been found on the French-owned cargo vessellie de Lumière when it docked in Auckland. Aboard were some 5,300 high-caliber pistol rounds, automatic weapons parts and two military walkie-talkies.