Bob Dole: “Secretary of State Christopher has just returned from Asia. The first thing he needs to do is get a handle on what the…”

“Secretary of State Christopher has just returned from Asia. The first thing he needs to do is get a handle on what the United States is agreeing to in the United Nations--once again it appears that lowest-common-denominator U.N. politics are leading the United States down the wrong foreign policy road. The Secretary ought to tell U.N. Ambassador Albright that she has the leverage to negotiate a resolution on the Middle East that does not call Jerusalem part of the occupied territories. That has been U.S. policy, and that has been endorsed by the Senate in 1990. If she cannot do it, the United States should veto the resolution. The Asia trip did not go well. The Secretary met with his Russian counterpart in Valdivostok, after the Russians inserted themselves into the Middle East peace process. It does not look like the latest Russian foreign policy muscle flexing will do anything to put the peace process back on track. But if the Russia stop was a problem, the China stop was worse. Secretary Christopher was, in columnists Jim Hoagland's words, 'Battered in Beijing.' I am not sure why the Secretary went to China, or why he went at this time. Whatever the reason, the results are clear: U.S. foreign policy credibility has taken another body blow. This administration made detailed progress on human rights a condition for the granting of MFN to China. At the same time, this administration claims expanding American exports is a pillar of their foreign policy.”