Our support of reform must combine patience for the enormity of the task and vigilance for our fundamental interest and values.  We will continue to urge Russia and the other states to press ahead with economic reforms, and we will seek to cooperate with Russia to solve regional problems while insisting that, if Russian troops operate in neighboring states, they do so only when those states agree to their presence and in strict accord with international standards.

But we must also remember as these nations chart their own futures, and they must chart their own futures, how much more secure and more prosperous our own people will be if democratic and market reform succeed all across the former communist bloc.  Our policy has been to support that move and that has been the policy of the Congress.  We should continue it.

Europe

That is why I went to Europe earlier this month, to work with our European partners to help to integrate all the former communist countries into a Europe that has the possibility of becoming unified for the first time in its entire history, it’s entire history, based on the simple commitments of all nations in Europe to democracy, to free markets, and to respect for existing borders.

With our allies, we have created a partnership for peace that invites states from the former Soviet bloc and other non-NATO members to work with NATO in military cooperation.  When I met with Central Europe’s leaders, including Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel, men who put their lives on the line for freedom, I told them that the security of their region is important to our country’s security.

This year, we must also do more to support democratic renewal and human rights and sustainable development all around the world.  We will ask Congress to ratify the new gatt accord, we will continue standing by South Africa as it works its way through its bold and hopeful and difficult transition to democracy.  We will convene a summit of the Western hemisphere’s democratic leaders from Canada to the tip of South America.  And we will continue to press for the restoration of true democracy in Haiti.

And as we build a more constructive relationship with China, we must continue to insist on clear signs of improvement in that nation’s human rights record.

Middle East

We will also work for new progress toward the Middle East peace.  Last year the world watched Yitzhak Rabin and Yasir Arafat at the White House when they had their historic handshake of reconciliation.  But there is a long, hard road ahead.  And on that road I am determined that I and our administration will do all we can to achieve a comprehensive and lasting peace for all the peoples of the region.

Now, there are some in our country who argue that with the Cold War, America should turn its back on the rest of the world.  Many around the world were afraid we would do just that.  But I took this office on a pledge that had no partisan tinge to keep our nation secure by remaining engaged in the rest of the world.  And this year, because of our work together, enacting NAFTA, keeping our military strong and prepared, supporting democracy abroad, we have reaffirmed America’s leadership, America’s engagement, and as a result, the American people are more secure than they were before.