[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 10 (Thursday, January 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H878-H879]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
FRENCH NUCLEAR TESTINGS
(Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA asked and was given permission to address the House
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks and include
extraneous material.)
Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Mr. Speaker, now that it's almost certain that
President Chirac of France will be making a state visit to our Nation's
Capitol next week to meet with President Clinton and the leadership of
the Congress, this will be a sad occasion for me, Mr. Speaker, and the
millions of peoples throughout the world and through representation of
leaders of some 168 countries throughout the world who have earnestly
pleaded with President Chirac not to break the moratorium on nuclear
testing. And yet despite all
[[Page H879]]
this, President Chirac of France in defiance of global consensus on
raising tensions and suspicion, and even to promote again the extension
and proliferation of nuclear weapons testing and development, France
has already now exploded five nuclear bombs to improve its nuclear
delivery capabilities with its long-distance missiles.
It might interest my colleagues that French Government officials--and
they're masters of these ploys--a few leaks here and some leaks there--
some critical points that President Chirac is going to shove right at
our noses at the joint session of Congress next Thursday.
First, a warning to Republican leaders and the President that closing
our Government down will have serious economic consequences not only to
France but to Europe and other regions of the world.
Second, that the United States contributes too little in foreign aid
to Third World countries.
Third, that the United States should live up to its global
responsibilities, whatever that means.
Fourth, that United States contributions to the crisis in Bosnia is
not enough, but at the same time, France expects to play very
prominent, if not, the leading role as far as Europe is concerned
relative to Bosnia.
And fifth, France does not want any nation of the world to criticize
its current nuclear testing program, because France does not trust the
United States involvement with Europe's security needs for the past 50
years.
Mr. Speaker, I suggest to my colleagues that what we're going to get
from President Chirac next week is not the eloquence of Marquis de
Lafayette, but the ghost of Charles de Gaulle II.
Mr. Speaker, I include the following article from the January 24 New
York Times for the Record:
[From the New York Times, Jan. 24, 1996]
Possibility of Default Starts to Worry Europe, Especially France
(By Craig R. Whitney)
Paris, January 23.--The possibility that the deficit-
cutting impasse between Congress and the Clinton
Administration could start causing the United States
Government to default on its debt next month has begun to
sink in on European leaders, and the French are anxious to
avoid the turmoil that could result.
President Jacques Chirac, who will visit Washington next
week, is prepared to warn in a speech to a joint session of
Congress that default would upset economies around the world
and deeply undermine the American global position, French
officials said today.
Congressional Republicans have threatened to refuse to
raise the national debt limit unless the Clinton
Administration agrees to their agenda for cutting the Federal
deficit. If the Administration refuses to give in and fails
to find other ways of coming up with money, the Government
could start running out of money to pay obligations due on
March 1.
At this point, some European leaders are said to be
beginning to feel like onlookers at a political game whose
players appear little concerned about the chaos a default
would cause in international currency and bond markets.
Some see a situation comparable to that in 1975, when
Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany felt compelled to
warn President Gerald R. Ford that letting New York City go
bankrupt could send economic shock waves around the world,
which was still fragile from the effects of a sudden rise in
oil prices.
Mr. Chirac told the Senate majority leader, Bob Dole, and
Speaker Newt Gingrich during his last visit to Washington in
the summer that the United States gave too little foreign
aid to developing countries, and French officials say that
he plans to deliver the same message to Congress in an
address planned for Feb. 1.
``We hope that Congress will be disposed to let the United
States live up to its global responsibilities,'' one official
here said.
Mr. Chirac will tell Congress, French officials say, that
Europe, with about the same size economy as the United
States, gives three times as much to developing countries--
$31 billion, compared with less than $9 billion last year
from the United States.
``Where is America and its traditional generosity, where is
its desire to help reshape the world?'' asked one French
policy maker.
Mr. Chirac is also likely to use his visit to tell both
Congress and the Administration that France will insist on
reshaping the NATO alliance to reflect changes since the end
of the cold war, according to officials in Brussels and
Paris.
Mr. Chirac has reintegrated France into some NATO military
structures that it left in 1966, but officials say he did so
to push for the creation of a stronger European defense arm
within the alliance. ``We need to be able to deal with crises
like Bosnia even if the United States doesn't want to become
involved,'' an official said.
Mr. Chirac may also tell Washington that American plans to
contribute $600 million to the reconstruction of Bosnia over
the next three years are inadequate. European estimates of
the total cost run to $3.7 billion. ``Don't think that the
Europeans will be the only ones paying for Bosnian
reconstruction,'' Mr. Chirac said in a recent interview,
adding that the Europeans expected the United States to pay
about the same as they will--about one third.
American officials have responded that the United States
committed 20,000 soldiers to the NATO peacekeeping force that
began moving into Bosnia last month, a larger contingent than
any of its allies.
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