Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.metro From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: World stops to watch changing of guard in U.S. Date: Fri, 6 Nov 92 11:28:29 EST Message-ID: \SE B;METROPOLITAN;WORLD \SS (WS) \HD World stops to watch changing of guard in U.S. \BY Charles J. Hanley \CR ASSOCIATED PRESS They stopped doing deals on the Manila exchange. They quit arguing at a political congress in Zaire and listened to bulletins from America. In the new Ukraine, they tuned in to see how an old democracy works. The world's millions watched the United States remake its political face overnight and pinned a lot of their hopes - for good economic times, for peace, for a worldful of special causes - on a youthful U.S. president-elect. "Youth is progress," concluded Ukraine's prime minister, Leonid Kuchma. And the old world is a troubled place. Bill Clinton, if he wanted, could have gotten a morning-after preview of the kind of global headaches that await him: While worn-out Democrats slept late in Little Rock, U.S. envoys were taking steps in Geneva to slap punitive tariffs on European farm goods, an omen of possible trade wars. For the moment, though, Mr. Clinton's international well wishers mostly accentuated the positive. "There's widespread optimism. Look at the various markets around the world," noted an analyst in Singapore, Derek da Cunha. In Asia, where traders on the Philippine exchange put down their order sheets to watch U.S. returns on television, stocks rose. In Europe, stock indexes held steady and the dollar's value was mixed - a surprisingly mild reaction to the election of the 46-year-old Mr. Clinton, who was painted as a "tax-and-spend" Democrat by President Bush. In their post-election assessments, world leaders focused on Mr. Clinton's core pledge: to aggressively rebuild the U.S. economy. "The revitalization of the American economy is important not only for the United States alone but also for Japan and for the whole world," said Japanese Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe. A U.S. rebound would mean more trade with America's partners, more investment abroad. A vital America "will have an importance far beyond the country's own border," said Denmark's Conservative prime minister, Poul Schlueter. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl's congratulatory message struck a more down-to-earth tone, reminding Mr. Clinton of major tasks ahead: "Our hopes for a more peaceful world and for the carrying out of human rights, democracy and a market economy everywhere in Europe still have not been fulfilled." Those hopes may be greatest in the new nations spun off from the old Soviet Union. Those governments looked yesterday toward the man in Arkansas for an even bigger helping hand. "I hope that the new U.S. administration . . . will render more effective assistance to countries in the former Soviet Union," said Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgian leader and former Soviet foreign minister. Russian President Boris Yeltsin vowed to work toward "strengthening the relations of friendship and partnership between our countries." The upbeat assessments were overshadowed in part by growing fears of a gridlock in international trade, possibly encouraged by Clinton policies. The Japanese are troubled by the Democrat's support of legislation toughening retaliation against countries deemed guilty of keeping their markets too closed to U.S. goods or of "dumping" their products elsewhere. Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe cautioned a political rally Tuesday that the Democrats would "apply the brakes to Japan's selling products cheaply." Meanwhile, European Community and U.S. negotiators deadlocked in talks to liberalize world trade. The result: yesterday's moves by the Bush administration to impose tariffs on selected European farm products. The Europeans would be sure to strike back. The congratulatory message sent to Mr. Clinton by Jacques Delors, the EC's top executive, had the sound of an appeal. "Together we can bear more fruit than separately," he told the president-elect. But sides were being chosen, and some - like Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating - looked forward to getting Mr. Clinton on their team. Mr. Keating, a foe of what he sees as European protectionism, told his Parliament that Mr. Clinton's convincing electoral triumph will strengthen the U.S. hand in dealing with "the selfish policies of the Europeans." China also is concerned about Clinton trade policies. He favors withdrawing favorable trade status from Beijing's "free-market Communists" to pressure them to liberalize their politics. A Hong Kong newspaper that often speaks for Beijing said such "interference" would "elicit a strong Chinese response." The Democrats' 1992 platform calls for more such interference - promotion of human rights worldwide. People in distant corners of the world seized on that straw of hope yesterday. In the African nation of Zaire, delegates at the "national conference," an opposition-led gathering trying to strip President Mobutu Sese Seko of his autocratic powers, interrupted the proceedings to listen to reports of Mr. Clinton's victory. Opposition newspapers predicted they would find a friend in the Arkansan. As history rushed by yesterday, some world leaders stopped to thank the American chief executive who presided over the past four momentous years. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM