Last Updated: May 26, 1999
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Thursday luncheon
Albright reaffirms U.S. role in world leadership
In far-ranging speech, secretary of state presses for
chemical weapons treaty, reconciliation in Middle East and cordial China
relations; press freedoms, she says, are part of the effort
By Max Jennings
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told ASNE members that Israelis
and Palestinians have lost faith in each other and their working partnership
has broken down, creating an "unpredictable and dangerous situation."
Israelis have lost confidence in the Palestinian commitment to prevent
terror and violence, she said. The Palestinians, in return, believe Israel’s
construction of new housing in contested areas has preempted future negotiations.
"The starting point must be a recognition that there is no room in the
process for terrorism or violence as a tool of negotiation," she said.
"It should be obvious that there is no moral equivalency between bulldozers
and bombs, and no justification for terror under any circumstances."
Albright told the editors there were many other international issues
demanding the attention of the Clinton administration and the American
people.
As President Clinton would do the next day, she urged Senate approval
of the chemical weapons treaty scheduled to go into effect the following
week, with or without U.S. ratification.
"Chemical weapons are inhumane. They kill horribly, massively, and once
deployed, are no more controllable than the wind," she said.
She argued, in support of Senate ratification, that the treaty had many
benefits. "It will enhance American leadership, protect American soldiers
and make all of us safer than we would be in a world where chemical weapons
remain as legal as lawn chairs."
The secretary urged the editors to support funding of international
affairs programs, pointing out that a vast range of programs ranging from
aid to partners in the Middle East, the peace-building effort in Bosnia
and other programs equals about 1 percent of the total federal budget.
"But that 1 percent may determine 50 percent of the history that is written
about our era, and it will affect the lives of 100 percent of the American
people," she said.
The greatest danger to America, she said, lies in the possibility that
it could succumb to the temptation of isolation and forget the fundamental
lesson that problems left unattended elsewhere in the world will come home.
"We have a responsibility in our time, as others have had in theirs,
not to be prisoners of history, but to shape history."
In response to a question about Hong Kong press freedoms, Albright assured
editors that both she and the president, in their talks with world leaders,
are quick to stress the importance of a free press and would do so with
regard to Hong Kong.
"I think we all understand that the very basis of a free society is
a free press," she said.
Asked for a forecast on relations with China in the next few years,
Albright said, "China and our relationship with China is clearly
the most important and significant relationship that we have to deal with
as we move into the 21st century." She pointed out her first trip as secretary
of state included China.
"What we have to learn to do is engage with the Chinese, but not endorse
everything that they do, and understand that we are going to have a multifaceted
relationship with them where we will tell it like it is on issues that
are fundamental to the United States, and at the same time understand the
strategic importance of having a relationship with a nation of such vast
geographical and population size."
Asked about the strategy for peace in the Middle East, she said she
was to open talks on a variety of fronts, which is being done. But she
sounded a word of caution: "We will continue to play a central role. The
issue, though, is what the parties themselves are willing to do at this
point. Even as central as we are, we cannot play a role if the two sides
do not have the confidence to meet with each other."
Jennings is editor of the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News.
