Statement by Senator Chuck Hagel
(Senate - June 02, 1998)
[Page: S5527]
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 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.
[Page: S5528]
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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