Democratic Movements Across the Middle East & North Africa | Afghanistan & Iraq | Iran | North Korea |
People’s Republic of China and Taiwan | Russia | Israel | United Nations Reform
United States foreign policy should promote the core American values of democracy, protection of individual rights and freedoms, and respect for the rule of law. Nations adhering to those principles not only are better allies, but contribute to greater global stability.
Our foreign policy should be designed to:
- defeat terrorism;
- limit the spread of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and the means to deliver them;
- check the ambitions of potentially aggressive nations;
- maintain good relationships with key allies, such as Israel and Taiwan, in strategic regions; and
- protect American sovereignty.
I also support a foreign policy that promotes:
- a missile defense system capable of defending our country and our allies against the threat of ballistic missile launch by terrorists or rogue nations, like North Korea and Iran, and Chinese and Russian deployed nuclear arsenals;
- expansion of the NATO alliance to include those nations that want its protection, are committed to democracy, and are willing to assume the alliance’s obligations; and
- reform of the United Nations as a condition of continuing America’s sizable financial support of that organization.
I support free and fair trade with other nations because it benefits both American consumers and producers, and promotes economic and political stability abroad that serves our national interests. The mutual benefits of free trade will only be fully realized, though, if our trading partners adhere to the rule of law, including the protection of intellectual property rights, and adversaries are denied sensitive technologies with military applications that may be turned against us.
I oppose efforts by the United Nations and other international bodies that would infringe on our nation’s sovereignty or threaten national interests.
I believe the American people are generous and are willing to support those in need around the world with foreign aid; however, their generosity is not limitless, especially in tough economic times.
People across the Middle East and North Africa have taken to the streets to demand greater freedom and participation in their governments. Longtime rulers in Egypt and Tunisia have stepped down as a result. As the world’s strongest advocate for freedom and democracy, the United States must support the democratic aspirations of people and work to pressure leaders to institute democratic reforms demanded by their citizens. I am hopeful that the aspirations and reforms will open new doors for freedom and human rights in one of the world’s most repressed regions.
In contrast to the relatively peaceful transitions in Tunisia and Egypt, protests in Libya, Bahrain, and Iran have been brutally repressed. In the case of Libya, the Obama administration’s response has been particularly insufficient. Libyan citizens have revolted against the Qadhafi regime but face annihilation at the hands of his military. Despite Qadhafi’s being a tyrant, the administration’s support for Libyan freedom fighters has been mostly rhetorical. Instead of waiting for the United Nations to act, the President should demonstrate leadership by establishing a no-fly zone over Libya and aiding opposition groups by supplying certain weapons. The Libyan people should not have to ask whether the U.S. is on their side in the struggle against this dictator.
For in-depth information about the commitment of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, please visit the National Security page of my website or click here.
Iran is ruled by a radical regime that is hostile to the United States and our allies, particularly the state of Israel, which it has threatened on numerous occasions to “wipe off the face of the map.” Its zealous and illegal pursuit of nuclear weapons – and its leaders’ propensity to violence – threatens the very security of the Middle East, and could put U.S. troops and our European allies within range of a nuclear strike.
The ruthlessness of the Iranian regime can be seen even in its treatment of its own citizens, who were met with violence after they took to the streets to peacefully protest the validity of Iran’s presidential election in June 2009. The oppression continues and the regime continues to target opposition leaders, democracy advocates, and human rights activists.
The United States must oppose the brutal repression by Iranian government, and support democratic voices in that country.
After President Obama took office, he gave the Iranian regime one year to negotiate directly with the United States. Iran gave no meaningful response to that overture, and multilateral talks at the U.N. and with Russian and European representatives have also proved fruitless. It continues its belligerent behavior and pursuit of nuclear weapons in violation of numerous U.N. Security Council Resolutions.
In June 2010, the United Nations Security Council passed the seventh resolution condemning Iran’s nuclear program, and imposed sanctions on that country. While I welcomed the international community’s involvement, Russia and China (which have the power to veto resolutions in the Security Council) prevented the tough sanctions necessary to pressure Iran from being included in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1929.
Several weeks after the U.N. Security Council agreed to Resolution 1929, Congress passed unilateral sanctions against Iran. The Comprehensive Iran Sanctions and Divestment Act (CISADA) included language similar to legislation I introduced with Senator Lieberman and former Senator Bayh that proposed sanctions on companies that export gasoline to Iran or invest in that country’s energy sector. In effect, the legislation would present those who supply energy to Iran with a choice: either do business with Iran’s $250 billion a year economy or our $13 trillion economy, but not both.
Unfortunately, the President has not fully implemented these sanctions and other measures Congress approved in CISADA. While many companies have halted their business in Iran, a number of entities, especially state-owned Chinese corporations, continue to do business there. The President must enforce sanctions against all entities that defy our law. Selective enforcement of these measures risks undoing our entire sanctions effort as more companies begin to doubt our resolve.
The increasingly belligerent and unpredictable behavior of the North Korean regime threatens peace on the Korean peninsula, the security of other nations in the region, and indeed the very security of the United States. In recent years, the situation has continued to worsen. In 2009, the North Koreans pulled out of the Six-Party negotiations, restarted their nuclear program, test-launched several ballistic missiles, and conducted two suspected underground nuclear tests. The regime of Kim Jong Il also declared in 2009 that it was abandoning the armistice that brought a cease fire to the Korean War. In 2010, North Korea continued its illegal nuclear program, unveiling newly built enrichment facilities, and torpedoed and sank a South Korean military ship, killing 46 sailors. Several months after this attack, North Korean artillery bombarded the South Korean island of Yeonpyeong, hitting military and civilian facilities and killing four South Koreans. Nineteen others were injured in the attack.
The international community can be helpful in persuading North Korea to change its behavior, but we should not rely solely on other countries or the United Nations to protect our national interests or the security of our citizens. Russia and China, for example, have consistently shielded North Korea from strong measures in the U.N. Security Council, and North Korea has generally disregarded United Nations resolutions in the past, in any event.
With that in mind, I have encouraged President Obama to take unilateral steps to increase pressure on North Korea, including: returning North Korea to the state sponsor of terrorism list; reimposing financial sanctions on both high-level North Korean officials and banks affiliated with the North Korean government; and expanding defense and nonproliferation initiatives, such as interdicting illegal North Korean arms shipments to the Middle East and Africa.
The United States must also recommit to the development and deployment of an effective missile defense system as soon as possible. In January, Secretary Gates predicted North Korea could possess a missile capable of striking the United States within five years. “With the North Koreans’ continuing development of nuclear weapons and their development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, North Korea is becoming a direct threat to the United States,” Gates said. Clearly, the United States must be prepared for this threat, and continue to test and deploy a robust missile defense system that can protect American citizens from any attack.
Engagement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is inevitable, especially in regional matters such as those involving North Korea’s nuclear program. Unfortunately, though, China has not been particularly helpful in preventing nuclear proliferation, as it continues to block efforts in the U.N. Security Council to sanction Iran and North Korea. Moreover, state-owned Chinese firms have invested significantly in Iran’s energy sector, signing contracts worth billions of dollars with the Iranian and North Korean governments. And, of course, China’s human rights record is dismal.
China continues to expand its military capabilities. A 2010 Defense Department report about China's military power indicates that China is continuing to build its forces at a growing rate in an effort to achieve a more powerful position in the region. The report, along with others on the China’s military expansion, documents that nation’s relentless pursuit of military capabilities designed specifically to counter American military superiority. For example, it found that China has successfully designed and tested anti-satellite weapons that could disrupt U.S. military capabilities, and there is evidence of a significant and concerted program of cyber warfare run by the People’s Liberation Army that is trying to gain access to American military, industrial and government systems. China has also developed an anti-ship ballistic missile specifically designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers at long distances.
Bellicosity from Beijing and continued military expansion threatens the security of our strategic and democratic partners in Asia, such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. The United States will need to work closely with these countries and other friends in the region to ensure that China’s increased influence does not jeopardize stability in Asia.
With regard to Taiwan, I strongly support efforts to maintain and strengthen the relationship between the United States and that nation that is codified in the Taiwan Relations Act. I also support the longstanding policy that commits the U.S. to provide Taiwan with the military resources essential to its defense.
When President Obama took office in January 2009, he pledged to “reset” relations with Russia. That year he abandoned commitments to our European allies to build missile defenses in Poland and the Czech Republic in an apparent concession to Russia – which objected to military cooperation between the U.S. and Eastern European countries. This action sent a clear message to our allies that their interests were less important than appeasing Russia. It also dealt a severe setback to U.S. efforts to build a missile defense shield capable of protecting Europe and U.S. troops stationed there.
In April 2010, President Obama and Russian President Medvedev signed the New START Treaty, in which the U.S. made several concessions without winning corresponding sacrifices from Russia. (For more information on New START and the modernization of our nuclear complex, please click here.)
If these actions were undertaken in an effort to persuade Russia to take a more responsible role in the world, they failed. Russia is still providing Iran’s nuclear program with vital support, Russian entities continue to cooperate with Iran’s ballistic missile program, and the nation still sells sophisticated military systems to the regime in Tehran. Also, Russia, along with China, continues to prevent meaningful U.N. action to address the threat posed by North Korea.
Clearly the President’s strategy of appeasement with Russia has not yielded sufficient results, and a firmer policy towards Russia is needed.
In a world where most international relationships are forged for strategic or political reasons, the United States and Israel enjoy a true friendship. The reason is not hard to understand. Israel, like the United States, represents something that our enemies cannot tolerate: a thriving democracy, which, in Israel’s case, is right in their midst.
Israel, in fact, is the most well-established democracy in the Middle East. It accords rights to women and elects its leaders by a true democratic vote. Schools in Israel do not teach children to support the destruction of Arab countries, or compare the United States to Satan. The Israeli media are free to write and report what they want. Israeli citizens can say what they think, denounce their government’s policies, stage protests, and read and write whatever they please.
I believe it is imperative that the United States continue to support Israel, not only because our two nations share common values and political interests, but also because we are facing a common threat from international terrorists. With Hamas in control of the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah operating in southern Lebanon, Israel’s citizens face continuing attacks by terrorist groups dedicated to its destruction. Hostile nations, such as Iran, also continue to threaten Israel’s existence and undermine the Middle East peace process.
I believe the Obama administration has taken a shortsighted approach to the Israel-Palestinian peace process. Its calls on Israel to extend its 10-month freeze on settlement construction only undermined peace negotiations when Palestinian negotiators, emboldened by the administration, demanded a settlement freeze as a precondition to peace talks. A freeze on settlement construction had never been a precondition to peace talks before, and as a result, negotiations foundered.
The road to peace in the region is clearly not an easy one. It demands that both sides make sacrifices. For some time, the United States has stuck to the principles of the Quartet (the United States, Russia, the United Nations, and the European Union), which require that any Palestinian government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel, and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including those embodied in the Middle East Roadmap.
I support this position and hope that a peaceful solution to this longstanding conflict can be reached.
The new majority leadership in the House of Representatives has expressed interest in resuming the effort to reform the United Nations. In recent years, reports of misconduct and fraud have undermined the U.N.’s credibility, and the organization itself does not appear committed to rooting out internal corruption or reforming its operations. U.N. operations in the Middle East and Asia have also been accused of benefiting criminal regimes and terrorist groups. These concerns make clear the need for U.N. reform, and I strongly support efforts of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to review U.S. contributions to that body. As the largest single donor to the U.N., the United States has an obligation to lead the organization in a manner that promotes greater transparency and accountability.
