Clinton faces full plate of foreign policy troubles at G-8

WASHINGTON, JULY 18: US president Bill Clinton heads to his last summit with the world's most powerful leaders this week, when he joins th...

WASHINGTON, JULY 18: US president Bill Clinton heads to his last summit with the world’s most powerful leaders this week, when he joins the G-8 fight against poverty and technology gaps and seeks to smooth feathers ruffled over us foreign policy controversies.

Clinton faces increasing heat over the proposed National Missile Defense (NMD) programme from Russia and US allies, who are concerned the plan would spark a new arms’ race and abrogate the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty.

The White House acknowledges it will be a hot item on the agenda of the three-day summit, but an official downplayed a G-8 Ministers’ statement last week stressing support for the ABM Treaty, denying it was a repudiation of NMD.

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“We welcome that call by the foreign ministers,” Deputy National Security Advisor Jim Steinberg said yesterday. “The ABM Treaty, as a cornerstone of strategic stability (but we) always contemplated the need to update it.”

The President is to decide later this year whether to fund the first stage of a controversial NMD system after a second failed technology test and increasing foreign opposition.

Clinton will seek to allay Russian President Vladimir Putin’s concerns when he meets with him privately on Friday in Okinawa, said Steinberg. “He will indicate that he’s going to take into account the concerns that have been addressed.”

But foremost on Clinton’s mind will be the down-to-the-wire West Asian peace negotiations at Camp David from which the President says he will break away on July 19 whether they reach agreement or not.

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