[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book I)]
[May 19, 1997]
[Pages 618-619]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Prior to Discussions With NATO Secretary General Javier Solana 
and an Exchange With Reporters
May 19, 1997

    President Clinton. Let me say that the United States is very, very 
appreciative of the leadership that Secretary General Solana has shown 
in negotiating this NATO-Russia Founding Act. We are excited about the 
partnership. It is consistent with what we believe NATO should be doing. 
It is consistent with our plans to expand NATO. And I think the 
Secretary General has done a marvelous job, and I'm looking forward to 
having this chance to talk with him about our meeting, I guess a week 
from today in Paris, to celebrate the NATO-Russia partnership and then, 
of course, the Madrid summit this summer.
    Secretary General Solana. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for 
your kind words. What you did is a prudent thing. [Laughter]
    President Clinton. Go ahead.

NATO

    Q. Mr. President, not to put too much of a damper on your 
enthusiasm, but some people are quite critical of the--questioning this 
NATO expansion. They're saying it will create more tension and cost more 
money and give us less security in the long run. Can you give assurances 
that this is not the case?
    President Clinton. Well, it's a question of what you believe. I 
believe that we have had a long cold war and two world wars in the 20th 
century and a 19th century full of heartache and bloodshed because 
people were arguing over territory in Europe. And we now have a chance 
to create a European Continent where nation-states, for the first time, 
say they're going to respect each other's borders and work together on 
common security problems, as we are all doing together in Bosnia. And it 
seems to me, to find a framework which accomplishes that and which also 
keeps the United States and, I might add, Canada tied to the security 
and the freedom and the territorial integrity of Europe is an 
extraordinary achievement and gives us a chance to write a whole new 
chapter in the 21st century different from the one we have just written.
    So I just simply disagree with those; it's a difference of opinion. 
I think that we're right and I believe history will prove us right and 
I'm prepared to take the decisions and live with the consequences.

Base Closings

    Q. Mr. President, do you feel, as the Secretary of Defense does, 
that more bases need to be closed, more military bases? That is a 
politically, of course, unpopular idea.
    President Clinton. I believe that the Secretary of Defense has done 
a good job on this quadrennial review. And what he has shown is the 
following: If we're going to keep a defense budget that is modest and 
take care of the men and women in uniform and continue to modernize our 
weapons system so we will maintain the kind of technological superiority 
we enjoyed in the Gulf war--and hopefully, never even have to fight a 
Gulf war again in the near future--to do that within the dollars 
available, we're going to have to continue to reorganize the military. 
And he's going to present that to the Congress and we will debate it and 
discuss it, but I think there are going to have to be some difficult 
decisions in the future. We can't balance the budget and continue to 
invest in the things that we need, whether it's new weapons systems or 
education, without continuing to restructure the underlying governmental 
support system.
    Let me remind you that on the civilian side we've reduced the size 
of the Federal Government by 300,000 since 1993, and as a percentage of 
the civilian work force, it's now as small as it was in 1933 when 
President Roosevelt took office before the New Deal. So this is a 
restructuring that you see going on all over the world; it has to be 
done in America in the Government, and the Defense Department can't be 
fully exempt from it. They've managed it brilliantly, and I think 
they've done a good job. And it's not just the Secretary of Defense; 
it's also the Joint Chiefs. They've all worked on this. They believe 
it's in our national security interests, and I'm going to do my best to 
be supportive.

[[Page 619]]

Most-Favored-Nation Trade Status for China

    Q. Mr. President, supporting MFN for China, how will you reconcile 
that support with the human rights record of China?
    President Clinton. I think we're more likely--as I've said 
repeatedly, I think we're more likely to have a positive influence on 
China by engaging them than we are by trying to isolate them. I think 
it's a simple judgment.

Russia-NATO Agreement

    Q. Boris Yeltsin said today that he would reconsider his agreement 
with NATO if former republics like the Baltic States were to join NATO. 
Is it of concern to you?
    President Clinton. I think--look, let's just take this--we're moving 
in the right direction. We've got an agreement that speaks for itself 
with Russia. And if we can continue to work with a democratic free 
Russia led by a man like Boris Yeltsin, I think you'll see a more 
peaceful world. And I think we'll harmonize these things as we go along. 
You can't resolve every issue at every moment. We're moving in the right 
direction, and I'm quite comfortable that we're going to get there.

Note: The President spoke at 1:15 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to President Boris Yeltsin of Russia. 
A tape was not available for verification of the content of these 
remarks.