BRUSSELS, Belgium – In his NATO debut, President Bush encountered French and German skepticism today about his missile defense plans, but the allies found common ground on another sensitive subject – expanding the alliance’s boundaries.
Bush aides said the president eagerly spelled out his thinking on the need for missile defense, and they claimed he persuaded some doubters. Lord Robertson, the secretary-general of NATO, said Bush didn’t present a specific missile defense plan or ask for the allies’ support.
“What the president asked for and what the president got was an open mind from the other allied countries,” Robertson said.
Without referring explicitly to missile defense, Bush sounded the theme that undergirds his approach to U.S. and trans-Atlantic security. “We must strengthen our alliance, modernize our forces and prepare for new threats,” he said.
Later, Robertson told a news conference that all 19 alliance members now support adding at least one new member when NATO holds its next summit in November 2002. He didn’t say which countries might be invited to join, but it was the first time Robertson made it clear publicly that putting off expansion was no longer an option.
Some of the allies disagreed with Bush’s view that they all face a growing threat of missile attack.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told the NATO summit there are important questions about the technical feasibility of missile defense. Plus, he said, “Russia and China need to be involved.”
In contradiction to Bush’s view, French President Jacques Chirac said the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty, which outlaws national missile defense, is “a pillar” of global security. He called for stepping up efforts to stop the spread of ballistic missiles “irrespective of action taken regarding the anti-missile project.”
The White House didn’t want a summit communique to overshadow Bush’s first NATO visit. In its place, Secretary General Lord Robertson of Britain told reporters that U.S. allies welcomed the “important opportunity” to question Bush on missile defense.
Noting pointedly that the U.S. has no “specific proposal” yet on how it would intercept missiles, Robertson said, “NATO is embarking now on a major thinking process about the challenges we face and the best means of addressing them. These consultations will continue and they will deepen.”
Bush spoke at the opening session of NATO’s first summit meeting since April 1999, when the 19 leaders met in Washington to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the alliance’s founding at the outset of the Cold War.
“Now we have a great opportunity to build a Europe whole, free and at peace, with this grand alliance of liberty at its very core,” Bush said.
The president touched on the sensitive subject of expanding NATO, which just two years ago added new members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. He did not mention any candidate countries by name, but made clear he believes NATO should keep its door open to democracies.
“We must extend our hands and open our hearts to new members to build security for all of Europe,” he said.
Decisions on which, if any, countries to invite to join are expected at NATO’s next summit, set for November 2002 in Prague. Russia is strongly opposed to NATO expanding closer to its own borders. Among the candidate countries are the Baltic nations of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, which had been part of the former Soviet Union, as well as former Warsaw Pact members Romania and Bulgaria.
At NATO headquarters, hundreds of protesters toted signs decrying Bush’s missile defense plan. One protester flew above NATO headquarters in a motorized hang-glider with a sign reading “Stop Star Wars.”
Despite resistance from some allies to Bush’s plans for a missile defense system, NATO expansion and a fledgling European defense force, Bush aides were confident that he would receive backing from nations such as Hungary, Poland, Italy and Spain.
