[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 69 (Tuesday, June 2, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5527-S5528]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            GLOBAL RELATIONS

  Mr. HAGEL. Mr. President, I returned Sunday night from a 9-day trip 
to Turkey and central Asia. I would like to share with this body and my 
colleagues some observations from that trip and of the last year and a 
half.
  There are dangerous and serious events and conflicts occurring all 
over the globe today. The most urgent and most immediate has occurred 
in Pakistan and India, but beyond Pakistan and India, beyond the 
subcontinent of Asia, we find a continuing problem with the Asian 
financial crisis throughout Southeast Asia, IMF funding, China MFN 
status, China technology sales, Russia-Japan economic trouble. We are 
in terrible trouble in the Middle East peace process, probably at its 
lowest ebb since the process began; Bosnia-Kosovo, east Africa, central 
Asia where there is fighting now in the northwest

[[Page S5528]]

corner of Georgia; Azerbaijan and Armenia are at war over Nagorno-
Karabakh, and other areas of the world that are of great concern to the 
stability and concern of the world.
  These situations are all connected. We must develop a foreign policy 
that captures the completeness of this interconnect. We also must tone 
down our rhetoric and speak and act responsibly. Actions have 
consequences. Words have consequences. Words have consequences 
especially overseas. We are seeing a geopolitical, military, and 
economic structure shift like the world has never seen. With diffusion 
of power across the globe, stability and security and peace with new 
alliances and new alignments become critical to our future, the future 
of the world.
  One element of our foreign policy--sanctions--needs to be reviewed. 
Sanctions without our allies' support do not work. We are living in a 
different world. Sanctions are of limited value. Withholding MFN status 
from China accomplishes what. Withholding additional IMF funding 
accomplishes what. We will soon be debating in this body religious 
persecution legislation to accomplish what. We are playing a very 
dangerous game here. Isolating ourselves where we have very little 
leverage over other countries and isolating other nations by driving 
them further away makes no sense to our national interests and the 
interests of the world.
  This may be the most important time since World War II when a strong 
bipartisan, a strong bipartisan American foreign policy is required. 
The world has changed at a rate unseen and unparalleled in the history 
of man. This complicates how we deal with crises and problems and 
relationships. Technology and communications have changed the dynamics 
of the world. We must bring together the world's interests--not at the 
expense of national sovereignty. America's strategic triad for the next 
century is a strong national defense, a strong trade and foreign 
policy, and a strong economy. And I will have more to say about that 
later.
  Congress must be very careful in what we say and what we do as we 
proceed along a very dangerous path. We must be careful not to weaken 
or neuter the President in front of the world. The world is very 
dangerous and unpredictable. Congress must not micromanage foreign 
policy. I have been as outspoken as any Senator on this floor about the 
concerns and the differences I have with this administration on foreign 
policy. It is the responsibility of the Senate to question that, to 
probe that. But we have to understand that whatever we say and do has 
consequences, reverberations, ramifications. America must speak to the 
world with some sense and some semblance of unity. We cannot allow our 
foreign policy to unravel before the eyes of the world during a very 
dangerous time. The world needs American leadership, consistency, 
presence and engagement. Without it, without American leadership, the 
world becomes an even more dangerous place.
  America must show the world that it is resolute about its basic 
beliefs and freedoms and human rights and God-given rights. But we must 
do it smartly, effectively, and with the objective of realistically and 
truly changing the world for the better. Not headlines, not 
resolutions, not campaign promises, but understanding what this arch is 
about: to get on the other side of true change, to alter the behavior 
of totalitarian, authoritarian governments. America will find itself 
isolated in the word if we continue to moralize to others and force 
every aspect of our lifestyle and our way of life on others as a 
blueprint for their lives and societies.
  Again, Congress must be very careful as we proceed. Nations, like 
individuals, lead by example and force of character.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Santorum). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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