In Honolulu, U.S. Asia-Phobia Stings : Hawaii’s governor minces no words about Washington’s myopic focus on Europe.

HONOLULU — Does America’s first Asian American governor feel a need to chat with President Clinton about the European bias of U.S. foreign policy while at the Democratic National Convention this week? Benjamin J. Cayetano smiles and struggles to put on his best diplomatic face: “Asians do complain to me that they don’t think Clinton gets it. But the president is driven by politics--by the Israeli lobby, plus long ties to England and France. We understand. I’m an optimist about Clinton. In the first term Clinton basically responded to what interested the majority of Americans. In the second term, I hope he’ll blossom out to the PacRim.”

Perhaps, but if Ben Cayetano--Filipino American, up from the mean streets of Honolulu, proud graduate of UCLA and Loyola Law School--is any indication, Hawaii doesn’t think all that much of Clinton’s approach to the world. And by now Hawaii has earned the right to be listened to. Perched on the east coast of the PacRim, with Asian Americans making up nearly half its population (indeed, 70% of all Hawaiians have non-European roots) Hawaii is about as close as our nation of immigrants gets to looking like Asia.

And if you think of Asians as stereotypically reserved, understated and nonconfrontational, you’re in for a surprise with Cayetano. He’s so outspoken, he can make mere candor look like shyness.

Cayetano, interviewed in his modern office more closely resembling South Korea’s presidential palace, the Blue House, than America’s White House, told me: “Clinton pays too much attention to Europe. Mr. President: Did you know that China’s Guangdong province all by itself has 61 million people--more than Italy or France or Great Britain?” For starters, he suggests, China is going to be the 800-pound gorilla that will plop itself down anywhere it wants. America will have to learn to accept that.

China notwithstanding, a very good bilateral relationship with Japan is vital for U.S. policy in the Pacific. Cayetano also thinks that America needs to appreciate who our true friends in the region are, and listen to them: “They’re in Seoul and Manila--they’re our greatest allies.” We must also listen carefully, he feels strongly, to the sometimes unpleasant perspectives of influential Asian statesmen like Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and former Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Says Cayetano, echoing their sentiments: “Too many Westerners like to tell Asians what to do. The problem is, we in the West need to understand their ways--it’s not like they’re going to go away.”

The Kathie Lee Giffords of the world--well-meaning liberals critical of Third World labor practices--strike him as insensitive and naive about the struggle for survival in the Third World: “Understand that [some nations] are going to use prison and child labor. Now, as an American, I don’t like it. So don’t buy their clothes! But don’t say anything publicly about it. It’s the Asian way, not the wrong way. You can’t scold these people publicly. If you do, they won’t say anything, but they really won’t stand for it. Please make an effort to understand different people: In places like Sri Lanka, if a kid doesn’t work, the family may not get to eat.”

He also believes that the failure to manage our domestic diversity could poison our foreign policy. “When John F. Kennedy came here in 1960--I’ll never forget it--he said that Hawaii is what the rest of the world is trying to be. For all our problems--and not everyone here has the aloha spirit--Hawaii is doing better than anyone on earth. The only reason I’m governor is that I have a lot of support from Koreans and Japanese. It’s different here. If a Hawaiian politician tries to exploit tensions, he’ll catch hell.”

When Cayetano, a career politician, slips in that he may have more Asian frequent-flyer mileage than Secretary of State Warren Christopher, he’s not just joking. Recent visits include Korea, Japan and Okinawa, as well as the Philippines. Next stop: China--a place Clinton never did manage to get to during his first term. In the sense of our increasingly interdependent world, Cayetano explains, these “foreign” lands are really contributing partners to Hawaii, and thus to America. He points out that Japanese investment has practically fueled Hawaii’s boom since Hawaii became a state in 1959. And without the current tidal wave of Asian tourism, the local economy, which has been in recession for the last three to four years, would sink like a rock. Economic need and demographic reality can do wonders for one’s foreign policy outlook.

So here’s a wild, catch-a-wave Hawaiian idea: Maybe Clinton, in his presumptive second term, should consider Cayetano for secretary of state when Christopher, as is widely rumored, steps down? The governor laughs almost riotously: “They’re not ready for a Filipino boy yet!” He’s got a point, of course. And what does that say about us?