Hillary Clinton’s mark on foreign policy, international relations

World Today

Hillary Clinton's mark on foreign policy, international relations

It’s the fourth and final day of the Democratic National Convention, the theme is: “Stronger Together,” and Hillary Clinton is set to formally accept the Democratic nomination. 

CCTV America’s Sean Callebs explains her stance on and experience in foreign policy. 

U.S. President Barack Obama delivered his strongest endorsement to date for Hillary Clinton, saying her experience working in the Oval Office makes her uniquely qualified to be president.

“Until you’ve sat at that desk, you don’t know what it’s like to manage a global crisis or send young people to war,” Obama said. “But Hillary’s been in the room, she’s been part of those decisions.”

As a former U.S. Secretary of State and a U.S. Senator from New York for eight years, Clinton has left her mark on U.S. foreign policy.

She has called Vladimir Putin a “bully,” and with ongoing tension in Ukraine, Clinton said U.S.-Russian relations hit a low ebb. But foreign affairs experts said it’s important for the two nations to work together.

“She also understands that with Russia, we have multiple overlapping interests: nuclear issues, the Middle East, Iran, the fight against the Islamic State, Syria — good news and bad news all of it,” Joel Rubin, president of Washington Strategy Group, said. “But you have to be engaged, and this is someone who can engage.”

While ISIL’s footprint in the region is contracting, Clinton wants to focus more on the group’s effort to unleash terror outside Syria and Iraq.

Clinton said she also wants to expand U.S. airstrikes against ISIL, see more Muslim nations get involved in the fight and have the U.S. take a greater role in coping with the massive humanitarian crisis the ongoing strife in the region has fostered.

But the attack in Libya in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings, continues to haunt Clinton. A U.S. ambassador and three other Americans were killed in an attack in September 2012.

Clinton and the White House at first, wrongly blamed the assault on a protest over an anti-Islam video gone awry.

In the end, many investigations revealed that security was inadequate at the post in Benghazi.

In Asia, Clinton calls the U.S.-China dynamic one of the most challenging relationships the U.S. has. But also said the two share a “positive, comprehensive relationship” — a far cry from the bashing from GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump has given China.

“We’re not interested in demonizing the Chinese,” Rubin said. “That’s not how you get things done for the american people. So that’s not what you’re going to hear from Hillary Clinton. What you will hear is someone who understands what our interests are.”

But Clinton has also frustrated Chinese officials, since she has spoken openly about human rights. She also took the lead in making the South China Sea issue a global affair.

At the 2010 Southeast Asia Security summit, it was Clinton who said the U.S. demanded open access and legal solutions to territorial disputes, saying they were in U.S. “national interest”


Joel Rubin on Hillary Clinton’s DNC Speech

For more on Clinton’s speech at DNC and her foreign policy, CCTV America’s Mike Walter spoke to Joel Rubin, former assistant deputy to the secretary of state and president of Washingson Strategy Group.