[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 127 (Tuesday, September 13, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 13, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              ADMINISTRATION CODDLING OF FOREIGN DICTATORS

 Mr. D'AMATO. Mr. President, I rise today to again address some 
very disturbing practices of the Clinton administration in the realm of 
foreign policy.
  In President Clinton and Vice President Gore's campaign book, 
``Putting People First, How We can all Change America,'' they write, 
``A Clinton-Gore administration will never forge strategic 
relationships with dangerous, despotic regimes.'' Yet, one need only 
look back through the first 2 years of this administration's foreign 
policy to see the beginning of a contrary policy. With six countries 
which by most standards are recognized as ``dangerous, despotic 
regimes,'' the administration has held dialogs, contradicted its 
previous hands-off policy in regard to, or taken preliminary steps 
toward establishing relations with in some form or another.
  With regard to Cuba, at the beginning of the recent refugee crisis, 
the President said that he would not negotiate with Fidel Castro. Over 
this past weekend, the United States did just that and allowed Castro 
to dictate our immigration policy by forcing us to greatly increase the 
number of Cubans allowed to enter the country, despite claims by the 
President and the Attorney General that they would not allow Castro to 
do so.
  With regard to Vietnam, the President, over the objections of a great 
many Vietnam veterans, lifted United States trade sanctions against 
that country and established liaison offices in both capitals. 
Vietnam's human rights record is certainly nothing to brag about, and 
for an administration that claims to be very concerned about the 
progress of human rights, they seem to be off the mark.
  In China, another human rights disaster, the President, when he was a 
candidate, criticized the Bush administration for its dealings with 
China. Despite China's human rights record, the Clinton administration 
has now done just the same. In publicly decoupling human rights 
practice from trade relations, the President chose to ignore the 
thousands, perhaps millions of Chinese political prisoners languishing 
in the Chinese gulags. This is a dangerous step. The linking of human 
rights with trade has been a well established tenet of American foreign 
policy for over 20 years. This linkage worked with the former Soviet 
Union and while China is not the same, China certainly should not be 
rewarded for its horrible record of abuses.
  North Korea, another despotic regime, has been courted by this 
administration. While the circumstances are different, instead of 
dealing tough with the Communist thugs in Pyongyang, the administration 
at first offered economic aid, then trade relations, and now is 
negotiating with this dictatorship on some form of diplomatic 
relations. So much for rhetoric on acting tough with Communist tyrants.
  Candidate Clinton attacked President Bush for coddling Syria. Well, 
the President's December 1993 meeting with Hafez al-Asad did little to 
convince this Senator that the President meant what he said when he 
vowed to not ``cast a blind eye on Syria's human rights abuses and its 
support for terrorism.''
  Finally, in Serbia, the administration is talking about partially 
lifting sanctions on that country, in return for the placement of 
foreign monitors on its borders. The administration is forgetting that 
it has been Serbia that has been providing comfort and support to the 
genocidal murderers in Bosnia.
  All told, President Clinton's main foreign policy dealings have been 
concessions to dangerous, despotic regimes. This is unfortunate 
considering the fact that his main attacks against President Bush 
during the campaign were accusations of coddling dictators.
  Apparently, this President feels that coddling dictators is more 
important than condemning them.

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