McCain Details Foreign Policy Views

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, outlining his foreign policy platform Wednesday, called for a more cogent and hard-nosed U.S. approach to international relations, faulting the Clinton administration for a pattern of “strategic incoherence and self-doubt.”

He called for a tougher stance toward Russia and China and more assertive efforts to “roll back” rogue states from the Balkans to the Korean peninsula.

Addressing a group of Jewish Republicans gathered in Washington, McCain made a veiled reference to presidential scandals at home when he accused President Clinton of pursuing feckless policies abroad. “Character counts,” McCain said, “at home and abroad.”

The GOP presidential hopeful made his remarks to about 250 members of the Republican Jewish Coalition, joining five other contestants in a series of appearances spread throughout the day. Tonight, the GOP candidates will gather for a 90-minute debate in New Hampshire, including--for the first time--Texas Gov. George W. Bush.

Bush was among a chorus of candidates Wednesday stressing their strong support for Israel and the country’s position in peace talks with the Palestinians. “Our vision of security must not be imposed on Israel’s vision of security in order to gain peace just for standings in the polls,” said Bush, in one of the day’s countless swipes at Clinton.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch of Utah accused the administration of forcing the peace process on Israel to burnish the president’s “self-serving legacy.” Publisher Steve Forbes vowed: “As president, I’ll never do anything . . . that will undermine the basic security of Israel.”

Conservative activist Gary Bauer declared: “I am pro-Israel. I have been pro-Israel my entire life.” Fellow activist Alan L. Keyes drew sustained applause by intimating support for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a position backed by all six Republican hopefuls.

For his part, McCain promised he would “never ask Israel to sign onto any peace agreement that endangers the lives of Israelis for a false promise of peace.” More broadly, he used the occasion to deliver one of the most substantive addresses of his campaign, filling in details of his proposed foreign policy.

He noted his support for the Clinton administration on NATO expansion, trade policy and--most notably--when he broke with many Republicans to back the war against the former Yugoslavia.

“But,” McCain said, “I have frequently disagreed with the administration policies because they more often than not manifest two closely related and central flaws: strategic incoherence and self-doubt.”

McCain outlined four main principles of his foreign policy agenda: protecting “our homeland and hemisphere” from external threats; preventing the domination of Europe by a single power; strengthening relations with U.S. allies; and “sustaining stability” in the Pacific Rim.

He echoed his fellow GOP candidates in calling for deployment of a missile defense system, even if it means abrogating a 1972 anti-nuclear weapons treaty with the former Soviet Union. He also took a hard line on relations with China, though he endorsed the country’s proposed membership in the World Trade Organization.

Said McCain: “I am hopeful, but not blindly so, that China’s further integration into the world economy will weaken Beijing’s restraints on the free flow of information,” eventually “wash[ing] away the last defense of tyranny.”

On U.S.-Russia relations, McCain said the Clinton administration has tolerated “systemic dishonesty . . . in the false hope that time is all that’s needed for Russia’s leaders to change their country’s destiny. It’s past time for a new policy.”

As president, McCain said he would seek to strengthen relations with the former Soviet republics, demand Russian action on the stalled START arms-control treaty and withhold any financial assistance “as long as Russian bombs rain down on Chechen villages. No aid. No credits. Not one ruble.”