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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS NOVEMBER 21, 1994 Secretary Christopher, NATO Secretary General Claes NATO: Meeting New Challenges Statements following meeting, Washington, DC, November 21, 1994. Secretary Christopher. Good morning. I am pleased to welcome Willy Claes on his first official visit to Washington as Secretary General of NATO. Mr. Claes, of course, is well known to us due to his distinguished service as the Foreign Minister of Belgium. He takes his new role at a defining moment in the history of NATO and also of Europe. His visit here is particularly timely with respect to the long-term challenges we face in Europe and the immediate challenges we face in Bosnia. Secretary General Claes played an instrumental role in the important events of this weekend. These events culminated, as you know, in UN Security Council Resolution 958, authorizing the use of air power in Croatia. Immediately following the Security Council action, the North Atlantic Council, with the leadership of Mr. Claes, who was on the telephone most of the weekend, held an emergency session that resulted in a rapid agreement to implement this new UN resolution. This morning, pursuant to these decisions, NATO aircraft struck at Udbina--the airfield in Croatia from which the attacks had been launched against Bihac. Those attacks were in violation of the no-fly zone as well as the UN resolutions on the safe areas. We have only preliminary reports so far of this action, but it appears that the NATO aircraft succeeded in cratering the runway and in eliminating six surface-to-air missiles that were around the field. The Serbs fired some hand-held, shoulder-launched missiles, but all the planes returned safely. I want to make it clear to the Serb forces that they should not take any measures that would jeopardize the safety of the UNPROFOR forces. They should cease their violation of the UN resolutions. They should cease their attacks on Bihac. NATO already has ample authority to defend UNPROFOR, and to ensure the integrity of the UN resolutions; NATO will not hesitate to use that authority. These strikes, of course, do not in and of themselves end the crisis around Bihac. We will be continuing to watch the situation closely and to work with our allies on a range of options for additional NATO action to protect the safe areas and to halt the Serb offensive. Mr. Claes' visit here is especially timely because we are approaching an important series of meetings in Europe in the first week of December. This series begins with the North Atlantic Council meeting, followed by a North Atlantic Cooperation Council meeting--both of these meetings in Brussels. Then we move to Budapest for the meeting of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the latter meeting, of course, being the one that President Clinton will attend. These meetings will give us an important opportunity to advance our comprehensive strategy for Europe. NATO is and will remain the centerpiece of America's commitment to European security. But now our challenge is to extend the zone of security and stability that the Alliance has provided--to extend that across the continent to the east. The Alliance is meeting this challenge by reaching out to former adversaries and by developing new tools and new approaches to the threats to European security. NATO's Partnership for Peace is a key element in our strategy, and it has certainly become an impressive success since it was first launched last January. Troops that were once trained to fight one another are now planning and training together. The United States views a fully functioning and active Partnership for Peace as a key part of the modern European security structure. It is an essential link between the members and non-members of NATO. It is the best path for countries seeking to join NATO. I want to conclude by saying that the United States is firmly committed to a steady, transparent, and deliberative process for NATO expansion. Our aim is to extend stability in Europe, not to maintain old divisions or to create new ones. We are looking forward to working closely with Secretary General Claes and with our allies as we develop this important process toward NATO expansion and toward the integration of Europe. Secretary General--Willy--you are most welcome here. It is, I think, very timely and fortunate that you were in the United States at the time of these important decisions over the weekend that you have handled with such skill and precision. Secretary General Claes. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Ladies and gentlemen: Let me say first of all that I am very glad that the operation this morning, led by NATO, can be considered as being a real success. I am very glad that all the pilots came back to the bases safely, and I take this opportunity to congratulate the pilots and the troops on the ground who were responsible for the success of this operation. This operation, ladies and gentlemen, indicates clearly, I think, that NATO is not dead at all. This was a multinational operation--Americans, British, French, and Dutch pilots. Just one week ago, I was in Italy and I visited different bases, so I saw what is going on every day, 24 hours on 24 hours, in the framework of the "Sharp Guard" action in the Adriatic Sea; the "Deny Flight." Those who pretend that America is not willing to go on to cooperate are making a serious mistake, I think. Let me tell you once again that the situation and the mandate we have accepted are perfectly manageable. Not only the President of the U.S.A. and the eminent members of the government, but representatives of both important political parties I have met here confirm their commitment to NATO--NATO who indeed this weekend acted very quickly just two hours after the decision taken by the Security Council, an urgent meeting of the Council in Brussels, gave a clear and positive answer to the request sent to me by the Secretary General of the UN, Boutros-Ghali. I think that this action indicates that we are doing better in our cooperation with the UN. Of course, the UN and NATO are different international organizations with different structures, with different conceptions, and even, if I may say, with a different bureaucratic culture. But after having had a lot of discussions and negotiations with the UN, we have made a new agreement, and I think that the first implementation of this new agreement--the action of this morning--indicates that we are on the right course. Of course, we are not trying to multiply military victories. We are just trying to convince the Serbs that the moment has come to go back to the conference table and to accept the proposals as made by the Contact Group. That is what we are trying to do. Finally, maybe I am a little bit brutal in saying this, but NATO, ladies and gentlemen, is more than Bosnia. As Secretary Christopher said, the day has come to enlarge the peace, the stability, the security in Europe to Central and Eastern Europe. I am very thankful that the U.S. Government is making a proposal which will be discussed during the Ministerial Council of NATO on December 1. I suppose that the Council will be ready to start the internal dialogue on the enlargement of NATO toward the East in trying to give clear answers to complicated questions--how to do this, why to do this. Afterwards we will have the opportunity to discuss who will do it and when we will do it; but, first of all, how and why. I hope that it will be possible to finalize this work in 1995, and that we will have the opportunity that same year to start dialogue with partners. But all this has to be discussed during the Ministerial Council, and I am very glad that I will have the opportunity now to discuss all these different questions, having, of course, a link with other developments in Europe--the Intergovernmental Conference of the European Union in 1996, and the CSCE summit at the beginning of December in Budapest. But once again I am convinced that without NATO it is not possible to bring stability to consolidate those young democracies and to help them in reforming the economic systems. So the challenge we are facing is maybe much more important--much more complicated than we have known in the Cold War period. Once again, I think that the challenge is so that the transatlantic link--the solidarity between the United States of America and Canada, on one end, and the European partners--is an absolute necessity.To the top of this page