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US won't stay on top, says Clinton
canberra au ^ | 2/23/02

Posted on 02/23/2002 4:29 PM EST by knak

Sydney

ACKNOWLEDGING the United States would not be the world's most powerful nation forever might lead to a better approach in its current international relations, former US president Bill Clinton said today.

Speaking at the 2002 World Congress on the Peaceful Reunification of China and World Peace in Sydney, Mr Clinton said this "brief moment in history" when the US had pre-eminent military, economic and political power, would not last.

"This is just a period, a few decades this will last, and I think that all of us who are Americans should think about this and ask ourselves how do we wish this moment to be judged 50 years from now," he said.

"And how would we like to be treated when we no longer have this pre-eminent position and we have to work in a cooperative fashion with others to a far greater extent than we have to do today.

"It seems to me if we would think about it like that it would be much more likely to lead all Americans, without regard of their party, to making the right decisions about how we should approach a lot of these problems that we face."

The former president said he did not want to be critical of the current US Administration.

"I feel that I should be careful in what I say [but] I believe that the [current US] President has been much more interested in international cooperation since September 11th, and I take that to be a very positive sign," Mr Clinton said.

He also said he hoped President George W. Bush's recent visit to Korea would have a positive outcome.

"I certainly have no illusions about the North Korean Government," he said.

". . . But the fact is they ended their nuclear program in 94, in 98 they ended testing of long-range missiles and in 2000 we had the elements of an agreement with them to end their entire missile program."

Mr Clinton's comments come after Mr Bush named North Korea as one country in its "axis of evil" along with Iraq and Iran last month.

Mr Bush visited South Korea for the first time last week. AAP