Most Nations Vote Against U.S.: Walters : Israel ‘Our Staunchest Ally’ at U.N.; Mexico, Egypt Mostly Opposed

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations told Congress today that it should consider the fact that most of the world voted most of the time against the United States in the 1985 General Assembly session when legislators vote on foreign aid requests.

Ambassador Vernon Walters, noting the annual report to Congress of U.N. voting trends, said a number of countries have assumed that it is safe to denounce the United States in public as long as they apologize in private.

“I refuse to accept that,” Walters said.

Sen. Bob Kasten (R-Wis.) said he will work to cut aid to countries with U.N. voting records hostile to the United States.

Israel ‘Staunchest Ally’

Kasten, chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee, released preliminary details of the report on voting records at a hearing of the panel. Kasten wrote the legislation in 1983 that requires the State Department to make a yearly tabulation of General Assembly votes for and against positions taken by the United States.

“Again in 1985, Israel was our staunchest ally, siding with the U.S. 91.5% of the time,” Kasten said.

The 159-nation U.N. membership as a whole “voted against U.S. interests . . . nearly 80% of the time,” he said.

This voting trend, a product of bloc solidarity, especially in the Third World’s numerically dominant “nonaligned” group, has drawn frequent criticism in Congress. It has led to U.S. moves to withhold part of the official 25% American share of the U.N. budget and prompted talk of a U.N. financial crisis.

Mexico and Egypt at Top

Kasten’s figures showed that some major recipients of American aid or foreign policy attention voted against the United States more than 80% of the time. Among them were Mexico 85.5%, Egypt 84.7%, India 91.1%, China 84.1%, Brazil 84%, Argentina 83.6%, Jordan 85.8% and Saudi Arabia 86.4%, all of whose top leaders were all received at the White House during 1985.

Egypt “opposed our position a shocking 85% of the time,” Kasten said, adding that many other nations who seek U.S. protection and assistance “are nowhere in sight when we need them at the U.N.”

Among the countries voting with the United States most of the time were Britain 86.6%, West Germany 84.4%, France 82.7%, Italy 81.9%, the Netherlands 76.3%, Canada 69.8% and Japan 66.3%.