[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 33 (Tuesday, March 22, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: March 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     CLINTON TEAM FUMBLES IN CHINA

                                 ______


                         HON. ROBERT K. DORNAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 22, 1994

  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, while the Nation's attention focuses on the 
raging Whitewaters of Arkansas, the world continues to turn and our 
Nation's foreign policy continues to crumble.
  In this still very dangerous world, the Clinton administration's 
foreign policy missteps, misjudgments, and blunders threaten our 
credibility and our ability to influence world events. Unlike President 
George Bush, Bill Clinton and his foreign policy team seem to lack the 
most basic understanding of our role as a world leader. And the fumbles 
continue.
  I urge my colleagues to read the following editorial from the March 
16, 1994, edition of USA Today, which offers some sound advice for the 
President and his foreign policy advisers.

                    [From USA Today, Mar. 16, 1994]

             Clinton Team Fumbles Again, This Time in China

       Looks like it's back to George Bush basics for Clinton's 
     foreign policy team.
       Secretary of State Warren Christopher's embarrassing 
     stumble this week in China--threatening trade sanctions, then 
     backing down when the Chinese called his bluff--leaves little 
     choice. His team is now 0 for 4 in the big leagues.
       Strike 1 was Bosnia, where U.S. bumbling left Serbian 
     aggression unchecked for months. Strike 2 was Haiti, where 
     blustering Clinton policy had to be changed. The Somalia 
     debacle made it a strikeout. So China had little trouble 
     figuring out how to make Clinton whiff on the next pitch.
       In each policy snarl, Clinton learned the hard way that 
     Bush may have had it right. And Clinton the candidate had it 
     wrong.
       In the campaign, Clinton tried to out-Rambo Bush. Stop 
     Serbian aggression. Don't send Haitian refugees home without 
     a hearing. Don't coddle China.
       Clinton retreated on each.
       Fear of thousands of Haitians flooding Florida brought a 
     retraction of broad Clinton promises. On Bosnia, European 
     allies rebuked Christopher when he asked them ever so nicely 
     to follow Clinton's lead.
       Somalia brought an even more tragic turn on Clinton's 
     learning curve. Eighteen U.S. soldiers died when the mission 
     switched from famine relief to a wild-goose chase for a 
     Somali warlord.
       As American soldiers pull out of Somalia, Bush's mission 
     stands accomplished. Clinton's was abandoned.
       These snafus earned Clinton's policy team--Christopher, 
     National Security Adviser Anthony Lake and then-Secretary of 
     Defense Les Aspin--a reputation as the gang that couldn't 
     shoot straight. Christopher's China pratfall clinched the 
     moniker.
       The secretary went to China when he wasn't invited. He 
     threatened to restrict trade unless human rights improved.
       Bluntly and publicly, the Chinese told him to stuff it. And 
     within 24 hours, Christopher wimped.
       The result: China's sorry human rights practices may get 
     worse instead of better.
       What does all this matter? It matters in credibility.
       If the world's big-time thugs like Saddam Hussein and 
     little-league pests like Mohamed Aidid sniff weakness or 
     indecision, they will try to exploit it.
       Inexperience explains some of Clinton's problem, but after 
     14 months in office, it's time he got the message: Don't 
     promise or threaten without accepting the consequences. 
     Develop that so-called vision and get someone on the foreign 
     policy team who can spell it to the rest of the world.
       Remember, this ain't Little Rock, Bill.

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