April 11, 1996

Failure to address vital interests creates vacuum in U.S. foreign policy
Administration efforts abroad focus on peripheral issues, Cato paper says

"The Clinton administration is taking credit for progress on marginal issues
while neglecting vital national security concerns," according to Jonathan
Clarke, a research fellow in foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute.

In a new Cato study, "Instinct for the Capillary: The Clinton
Administration's Foreign Policy `Successes,'" Clarke argues that even if the
administration's claims of achievement are accepted, most involve countries
with little relevance to U.S. interests.

"The United States can boast only of peripheral foreign policy successes,"
writes Clarke.  "Conspicuous by their absence from the state of the union
message were any significant references to Russia, China, Western Europe or
Japan.  That omission is remarkable.  The first two countries have the
potential to become strategic adversaries if relations are bungled.  Japan
and the nations of Western Europe constitute important American security and
economic interests."

The lack of a coherent policy toward the nations that matter most, Clarke
argues, creates "a massive vacuum at what should be the epicenter of foreign
policy."  Noting that the United States has deteriorating relationships with
China and Russia and confused relationships with West European and East
Asian countries, he says that "the central question is not whether
conditions are better in Haiti, Bosnia, or Ulster, but whether the United
States is closer to war or peace with the great powers."

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