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This content downloaded from 149.156.89.220 on Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:28:41 UTC
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Fatal Distraction:
Bill Clinton's
Foreign Policy
by Richard N. Haass
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Haass
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Clinton's Foreign Policy
real possibility, and a potential crisis on the Korean peninsula also cannot
be discounted. If the president is to leave a lasting and creative imprint
on foreign affairs, he must focus-and act-now.
A CRUMBLING BASE
If and when Clinton does act, he is likely to find others in his way
absence of a consistent and coherent foreign policy agenda ine
creates a vacuum that other political forces are more than willing
Chief among those political forces is Congress. From the mome
Republicans gained control of Congress in 1994, they put the
House and the entire country on notice that they intended to
activist role in domestic and foreign affairs. The Contract with Am
called for a larger NATO and raised doubts about U.S. support
United Nations. Republican members of Congress have made cle
intention to rake the White House over the coals when it comes to
sive or embarrassing foreign policy issues. Hence, Congress and th
House have engaged in a series of long, bitter debates and hear
issues such as the sale of Iranian arms to Bosnia, the Mexican bailo
most-favored-nation (MFN) trading status for China.
The Republican majority notwithstanding, internal stru
changes within Congress have also made it a more difficult p
Now, authority is less concentrated in the hands of a few infl
members or committees; instead, foreign policy decisions ha
delegated among 535 increasingly independent members who
by their large staffs, can introduce or block change to an extraord
degree. One need only focus for a moment on the prevalence of
tive "earmarks" that dictate how foreign aid (what little there is)
spent, or look at the increase in legislated economic sanctions
Cuba, Iran, Libya, and their respective business partners.
Widespread public apathy has further expanded the foreign
vacuum: The last election was virtually devoid of issues related to i
national affairs. A telling moment occurred during one of the pre
tial debates when moderator Jim Lehrer pleaded for someone
audience to ask about foreign policy and was met only with a
on trade. In just the last few years, the amount of time devoted to
national affairs in the major networks' half-hour evening news
casts has plummeted by nearly 50 percent. This decline in
interest has also manifested itself in the federal budget-total s
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Haass
On vision: ". . . my central criticism is this: George Bush has invoked a new
world order without enunciating a new American purpose.... the presi-
dent has failed to articulate clear goals for American foreign policy." (For-
eign Policy Association, New York, April 1, 1992)
On Iraq: "In the Persian Gulf, first the Bush administration made mis-
guided efforts to purchase Saddam Hussein's goodwill through generous
American assistance. Then, after America's smashing victory over Iraq,
he [President Bush] left Saddam Hussein with enough military force to
remain in power and savagely suppress uprisings by Shiites and the
Kurds-who rose up after the president's promptings to do so." (Foreign
Policy Association, New York, April 1, 1992)
On China: "In China, the president continues to coddle aging rulers with
undisguised contempt for democracy, human rights, and the need to con-
trol the spread of dangerous technologies. Such forbearance on our part
might have been justified during the Cold War as a strategic necessity,
when China was a counterweight to Soviet power. But it makes no sense
to play the China card now, when our opponents have thrown in their
hand." (Foreign Policy Association, New York, April 1, 1992)
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Clinton's Foreign Policy
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Haass
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Clinton's Foreign Policy
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Haass
RETHINKING PRIORITIES
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Clinton's Foreign Policy
will cease to be the focal point of foreign affairs in the twenty-first cen-
tury. Instead, the Asia-Pacific region will dictate events in the
post-Cold War world. More major powers will confront one another in
the Far East than anywhere else. The region's states will be tempted to
translate their enormous and growing wealth into political and military
power, given the existence of numerous disputes, the absence of effec-
tive regional institutions, and the continuing allure of nationalism.
With that in mind, China should be the administration's top priority
in its second term. Whether one chooses to view the Chinese as military
adventurists or as venture cap-
italists, there is little doubt that
Europe and the Atlantic will the People's Republic is a sig-
cease to be the focal point of nificant emerging power. The
Soviet-American relationship
foreign affairs in the twenty- defined the previous half cen-
first century. Instead, the tury; Sino-American ties are
likely to define the next. So far,
Asia-Pacific region will however, the White House has
dictate events in the handled relations with China
rather poorly. Clinton's exces-
post-Cold War world.
sive campaign rhetoric on Chi-
nese dissidents continues to
haunt him--even now, an emerging alliance of Left and Right threatens
to overwhelm the administration and redefine U.S. foreign policy priori-
ties around human rights, trade, or both. While the White House over-
came such opposition during the MFN debate over China, this
strange-bedfellows coalition will probably bedevil the administration's
attempts to expand America's policy of economic and diplomatic engage-
ment with Beijing. Bowing to such domestic pressure would be a strategic
error and a historic blunder. Liberalism in China is most likely to be the
product of economic growth; sanctions would only retard the emergence
of America's goals.
Moreover, the United States has multiple interests at stake, including
deterring any use of force against Taiwan, discouraging Chinese provision
of nuclear technology to Iran, eliciting diplomatic cooperation vis-a-vis
North Korea and within the U.N. Security Council, fostering democracy
and market reform on the mainland and in Hong Kong, and encouraging
China to adopt a sound environmental policy. For the administration to
narrowly focus on human rights is an unjustifiable luxury. One day, the
This content downloaded from 149.156.89.220 on Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:28:41 UTC
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Haass
This content downloaded from 149.156.89.220 on Tue, 25 Apr 2017 15:28:41 UTC
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Clinton's Foreign Policy
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Haass
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