Clinton Faces Obstacles in Quest for S. Asia Peace

On the eve of an international summit in Geneva, President Clinton appealed Wednesday to U.S. allies, along with India and Pakistan, to work together to “build a more peaceful, stable region” in South Asia.

But the administration’s effort to defuse the nuclear crisis in the region immediately encountered obstacles, abroad and at home.

In India, the government publicly rejected “any third-party mediation” involving the disputed territory of Kashmir or other perennial problems in Indian-Pakistani relations. The pronouncement appears to complicate strategies that the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council may devise today in Geneva.

At home, the administration confronted difficult fights on two related fronts: U.S. ratification of a global nuclear test-ban treaty and extension of most-favored-nation trading status for China.

Addressing the first battle, Clinton said America must do its part in the global nuclear disarmament effort by ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, now stalled in the Senate. “If we’re calling on other nations to act responsibly, America must set the example,” he told reporters in the White House Rose Garden.

The president simultaneously announced his decision to grant an extension of favored trading status to China, a move that he described as “crucial” to the two nations’ budding “strategic relationship.”

“Our cooperation for world peace and security is especially important in light of the recent events in South Asia,” Clinton said.

In the past, China has provided significant assistance to Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programs. But its aid to Islamabad has diminished as its relationship with Washington has developed, U.S. officials say.

Beijing, which will chair today’s summit of foreign ministers from China, the U.S., France, Britain and Russia, has worked closely with the United States in recent weeks on the South Asia crisis and in orchestrating the hastily arranged meeting in Geneva.

Clinton said the most-favored-nation trade status is an essential part of U.S.-China policy. “Trade is a force for change in China, exposing China to our ideas and our ideals and integrating China into the global economy,” he said. “This policy clearly is in our nation’s interest.”

But House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said congressional approval of the trade status is far from certain. “It will be in fact now a tougher vote than it was a year ago,” Armey said, attributing the problem in part to allegations of illegal Chinese campaign contributions to the Democratic Party. A Senate investigative panel is exploring whether campaign funds played a role in the White House decision to permit U.S. companies to launch satellites from Chinese rockets.

Clinton also faces opposition to the trade status from within his own party. House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), for example, accused Beijing of engaging in “political tyranny and repression.”

Most-favored-nation status, which Washington routinely grants to most countries around the world, lets goods enter the U.S. at low tariff rates. China has had the status since 1980.

The connections between U.S.-China trade and the South Asia nuclear arms race underscore the complexities of foreign policy in the post-Cold War era of globalization.

Before departing for Geneva, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright suggested that one approach to defusing the South Asia crisis might be to provide security assurances to Pakistan and India if they agree to curb their nuclear programs.

At the same time, Albright emphasized that neither country should be rewarded for “unacceptable behavior.”

Washington’s immediate goal is to block any further military or politically provocative steps that might push the escalating arms race into open warfare. The administration is specifically seeking a moratorium on nuclear tests and on fitting nuclear warheads on missiles and deploying them for future use.

“Right now, the most important thing both sides can do is to cool it and take a deep breath and to begin to climb out of the hole they have dug themselves into,” Albright told reporters after meeting with Clinton at the White House.

But New Delhi’s rejection of an offer by Japan to host talks between India and Pakistan over disputed Kashmir does not bode well for the international effort. A statement from the Indian Foreign Ministry said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee told visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi that there is “no place for any third-party mediation in India-Pakistan relations.” Pakistan has signaled its willingness to address the Kashmir dispute.

The Geneva conference is to be followed by a meeting attended by the foreign ministers of the Group of 7 industrialized nations and Russia in London on June 12. Other meetings are possible in the near future to draw in a wider group of countries, Albright said.

Times staff writer Edwin Chen contributed to this report.