By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 12 1998; Page A24

As the United States relies increasingly on military-to-military ties to advance its diplomatic goals, port visits by the Navy and exercises on the high seas have offered a way to start or improve sensitive relations without attracting much notice.

"We sailors think one of the reasons we're so accepted is that the water fills in immediately when we leave and you can't tell we've been there," said Vice Adm. Herbert A. Browne, commander of the 3rd Fleet, which operates in the eastern Pacific and has been cultivating a relationship with the navy of Mexico, a country deeply suspicious of bilateral military contacts with the United States.

Naval commanders have held several high-level staff talks with Mexican counterparts in the last 18 months, Browne said. U.S. warships spent 30 days on port visits in Mexico this year.

In Chile, where U.S. government support for a military dictatorship left subsequent democratic governments and much of the public wary of reestablishing ties with the U.S. military, the U.S. Navy has forged a significant working relationship. U.S. ships conduct two exercises a year with the Chilean navy. Chile's diesel-powered submarines give U.S. crews a rare chance to get to know the sounds and operations of diesel engines, which power the submarines of North Korea, one the Navy's formidable potential enemies.

Early this year, the U.S. Navy brought Israeli and Turkish forces together for the first time during a small search-and-rescue exercise, dubbed Reliant Mermaid. The Navy brought Russian and Ukrainian naval commanders together for the first time during an exercise in the Black Sea.

Although the United States curtailed relations with Yemen after it did not support the U.S.-led coalition during the Persian Gulf War, a Navy port visit to the country, strategically located at the southern tip of the Arabian peninsula, opened the door to more significant military exchanges.

This year Yemen allowed a small team of special forces troops to conduct a training mission, called Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET). Two JCETS are set for next year, when Yemen is to participate in an exercise with 2,100 Marines, U.S. military officials said.

The Navy has also helped cement a new era in U.S.-Chinese relations after the chill that followed the 1989 killings of pro-democracy demonstrators. After several ship exchanges and high-level visits, China sent two naval officers this year for the first time to observe a U.S.-hosted, multinational exercise in Hawaii. Two Navy ships made a port visit to Qingdao this year and a U.S. guided missile frigate is scheduled to visit there Dec. 3.

Port calls are the Navy's traditional ice-breaker, and are increasingly used to establish ties with countries that want to start with a low-key U.S. presence.

The crews of four Navy ships that docked this year in Seychelles in the Indian Ocean brought medical supplies, painted orphanages and repaired hospitals, said Harold W. Geisel, the U.S. ambassador there. He estimated that a five-day stay by a guided missile cruiser, which carries 400 sailors, brings about $1 million into the local economy through refueling, garbage cleanup and what the sailors spend on rest and relaxation.

"The lovely thing about ship visits is they win us friends and they pump money into the economy that is joyfully spent by sailors and Marines," Geisel said. "It subtly projects our power too. You've got a big ship with guns and helicopters sitting in front of you."