*EPF513 10/27/00
Gore Advisers Brief on His Foreign Policy
(Answer questions at State Dept.'s Foreign Press Center) (1590)
By Kristianna Smith
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Senior foreign policy advisers to Democratic Presidential contender Al Gore highlighted his experience and foreign policy expertise at an October 24 briefing at the State Department's Foreign Press Center.

"On January 20th of this coming year, the new president of the United States will be faced with a whole host of challenges on the international agenda. We are very clear in our realization of that, and Vice President Gore is prepared to tackle that," Gore Senior Foreign Policy Adviser Bruce Jentelson said.

He stressed Gore's record of support for a strong national defense, and of knowing "when it's important for the United States to play a leadership role, as well as someone who's bold and innovative on the new agenda."

"Al Gore has spent a lot time in this campaign trying to lay out a conception of what his approach is going to be, something that he and Leon Fuerth, his national security adviser, have called forward engagement," Jentelson said.

"And the essence of this is that it's important for the United States not alone but in partnership with others in the world to try to address these issues as early as possible, to act preventively to deal with these issues before they become crises, and to do it in a way that reflects both our interests and values. For the people on the Republican side to refer to deployments like in Bosnia and Kosovo as meaningless is fundamentally at odds with the values that the United States represents in the world," Jentelson said.

Asked about U.S. relations with Russia, and the belief by some Russians that the relationship has deteriorated in recent years, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Senior Foreign Policy Adviser, said that belief is not true.

"Al Gore has been prepared to stand up for our national interest and to engage Russia, to work with its society and with its government to help further the reforms that the Russian people want, to do what is necessary to lend cooperation to help bring about a denuclearization of the threat that we face with Russia, to work with Russia on NATO enlargement, to establish the Partnership for Peace, to help limit the amount of weaponry that would be proliferated by Russia to other countries that are adversaries to the United States, and to engage the Russian people across the board whether it be on corruption, whether it be on cooperation, whether it be on civil liberties and civil society."

Ginsberg said, however, that newly elected Russian President Putin and his administration "remain an untested quantity" in the U.S.-Russian relationship.

"One of the things that has been most of concern to the vice president has been the apparent willingness on the part of the Russian government to crack down unfairly on the freedom of the press in Russia," Ginsberg said.

Ambassador Robert Hunter, Co-Chair of the Gore Defense Advisory Group and former ambassador to NATO, was asked to clarify Gore's policy on NATO enlargement.

"If, indeed, the United States is going to have a productive relationship with the so-called European Security and Defense Policy, it's going to have to be on the basis in which every member of NATO has the opportunity to be engaged in what the European Security and Defense Policy does," Hunter said.

"Those people who languished for so long behind the Iron Curtain have a full right to be full partners and full members in all the Euro-Atlantic institutions, and that includes NATO enlargement," he said.

On Africa, Ernest Wilson, Co-Chair of the Gore/Lieberman Africa Advisory Group, said that "The vice president feels very strongly that our relationship with the continent of Africa is very much in the national interests of the United States of America."

Vice President Gore "emphasizes the new security agenda. He looks at issues of infectious diseases -- HIV-AIDS, the environment, economic issues and economic security," Wilson said, and at the same time, he has a very strong record in understanding the old security issues -- relationships with Russia, issues of nuclear engagement.

"And so the notion of forward engagement, which the vice president has articulated, is especially relevant, I would say, to Africa and other developing areas, and is in strong distinction to what we find in the Republican platform and in the remarks that have been made by the Republican candidate."

Senior Foreign Policy Adviser, Bruce Jentelson, was questioned about the China-Taiwan issue.

"It's very clear what our relations are with Taiwan," he said. "The vice president believes that the overall resolution of this issue, as well as the overall security of the region, is helped by efforts to try to develop the relationship with China."

Jentelson said that "the intent of the United States and the intent of Al Gore and his administration is going to be to try to maximize the areas of cooperation with the People's Republic of China, and at the same time being very clear about where our differences are, and ensuring in those areas that we stand up for American interests and that we stand by our allies in the region."

The importance of Japan in terms of security matters was questioned by a reporter from Fiji Press, a Japanese news agency.

"There's no doubt that one of the most important objectives of a Gore administration will be to strengthen our security commitments with Japan. Japan represents the cornerstone in our security in the Western Pacific and indeed throughout the Pacific," Ambassador Ginsberg said.

"Obviously, the American military presence in Japan as well as in the Pacific is very important. I'm sure that the vice president will continue that commitment based on our mutual recognition between our two governments of what is useful and appropriate to maintain our security."

On India, in response to a question by a reporter from Press Trust of India, Wilson said that Gore "believes in strong relations with the government of India." Wilson also said that the vice president supports the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Wilson added that "the vice president's national security adviser, Leon Fuerth, recently spoke to several groups of U.S.-Indian business people on the importance of developing an economic relationship and strengthening the economic relationship that exists."

A television reporter from Qatar asked if there are differences in Middle East policy between Vice President Gore and the Presidential candidate of the Republican Party, George W. Bush.

Jentelson said regardless of who wins the Presidency, the United States goal will continue to be not only to try to help resolve the issues, "the direct issues between Israel and the Palestinians and Israel and Syria," but also "to continue to work throughout the region through the multilateral talks."

Asked about Gore's policy towards Colombia, Ginsberg said the vice president "has been a champion of Plan Colombia. We recognize the importance of working cooperatively with our friends in Latin America to ensure that the objectives of Plan Colombia are accomplished without causing undue concern among our allies in the region."

U.S. assistance to Plan Colombia "is a perfect illustration of how Al Gore has worked hard to fashion a bipartisan consensus with the major leadership in the Congress on a matter of great concern to us among our friends in the hemisphere," Ginsberg said.

Asked about Gore's views on globalization, Wilson said that Gore is interested in expanding world trade. "He has a vision of the new economy that will be associated and will require a new foreign policy to advance that new economy. At the heart of the new economy is information technology."

Jentelson commented that, "It is important to have a president who knows how to begin to deal with these kinds of very difficult situations -- who puts together an excellent team but also has the capacity, the experience, the expertise to know where he stands on these issues independently."

Ginsberg said that "As we enter the final two weeks of the campaign, the American people have a clear choice: Will they choose a candidate who has 25 years of battle-tested foreign policy experience...The American people deserve a president who will learn the facts and have the judgment and experience to maintain America's responsibilities in the world."

A writer from the newspaper Indian Express asked why Gore, a person "that gives the impression often of being very strong-willed, and all-knowing," needs a foreign policy team at all. Ambassador Ginsberg responded: "No one candidate, whether it be a Republican or Democrat, is able to effectively manage a foreign policy campaign by themselves. I think if that were the case, then all of us would probably not be as busy as we are."

Gore, Ginsberg said, "is a man who has reached out to a broad spectrum of advisers in order to be able to shape the agenda that has permitted him to focus on not only finishing the old business of the Cold War, but looking at these new issues.

"It takes an enormous amount of centered creativity and experience to achieve the achievements that he has achieved, and that's why it's such a great honor for us to work with him."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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