Washington — The United States is pursuing a wide-ranging diplomatic agenda that is based on strengthening alliances, cultivating partnerships with key regional powers and building constructive relationships with China and Russia, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says.

“In today’s world, we face new challenges that have no respect for borders. Not one of them can be dealt with by the United States alone,” Clinton said April 22 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “None, however, can be solved without us leading.”

Committee Chairman Howard Berman said Congress is eager to examine the foreign policy priorities of the Obama administration, which is approaching the end of its first 100 days in office. Future hearings, he said, will focus on the State Department’s 2010 fiscal year budget and on foreign assistance programs and funding.

Clinton said the diplomatic agenda emerging in the past three months is premised on three actions:

• Strengthening U.S. alliances with democratic partners in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Western Hemisphere.

• Cultivating partnerships with key regional powers.

• Building constructive relationships with China and Russia.

At the same time, the United States is working with its partners Japan and South Korea to address not just Northeast Asian security concerns, but other global issues such as the current economic crisis and climate change, the secretary said. And she said the United States is working with India on an array of security concerns. These activities illustrate an important aspect of U.S. foreign policy: The United States is not just a trans-Atlantic power, but a trans-Pacific power as well.

“Asia will be an indispensable partner in years to come,” Clinton said.

While working with NATO allies and friends in the European Union to resolve issues that require close working partnerships, Clinton said, the United States is also working in the Western Hemisphere to pursue a new energy partnership, to fight illicit drug trafficking and to consolidate democratic gains. President Obama attended the fifth Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago April 17–19.

“We are building closer ties with regional anchors, including Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey. These are not only as partners, but they can be leaders on issues ranging from deforestation to democracy,” Clinton said. “We will work with China and Russia wherever we can, and we’ll be candid about our areas of disagreement.”

She said the United States is committed to working with Russia on finding a successor agreement to the START pact on cutting nuclear arsenals, which expires in December. Both President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have stated a desire to complete negotiations as soon as practical. Talks are scheduled to begin April 24 in Rome. START was originally signed between leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War era and focuses on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms.

In the Middle East, the United States has engaged to help bring the Israelis and Palestinians together to resume peace talks. “We’re maintaining our bedrock core commitment to Israel’s security, providing economic support, security assistance, and we are also doing what we can to bolster the Palestinian Authority, and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” she said.

Clinton said the United States would not deal with or fund a Palestinian government that included Hamas, a designated terrorist group, unless it meets three international conditions. “We will not deal with nor in any way fund a Palestinian government that includes Hamas unless and until Hamas has renounced violence, recognized Israel and agrees to follow the previous obligations of the Palestinian Authority,” she said.

On Iran’s nuclear weapons development program, Clinton said the United States is pursuing a new approach to prevent Iran from weapons development. This approach includes participating in negotiations as a full partner along with Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

“We actually believe that by following the diplomatic path we are on, we gain credibility and influence with a number of nations who would have to participate in order to make the sanctions regime as tight and as crippling as we would want it to be,” Clinton testified. Iran has denied it is developing a weapons program, but it has continued to enrich uranium, which is an essential component of atom bomb development.

Clinton said diplomacy among governments is not the only means of engagement. Diplomacy by citizens, nongovernmental organizations, businesses, universities and others is also essential to advancing U.S. goals and objectives.

“And so finally, we will work to expand opportunity and protect human rights, strengthen civil society, live up to the ideals that define our nation, work to advance education and health care, the rule of law and good governance, fight against corruption, expand opportunities for women and girls and those on the margins of society,” Clinton said.

See National Security Through Diplomacy for the complete text of Secretary Clinton's remarks.

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