Buchanan: NATO Won't Survive
Republican presidential candidate Pat Buchanan Thursday told CBS This Morning Anchor Jane Robelot that the strikes on Yugoslavia will spell the end of NATO.
"When the war is over, NATO will unravel and the European Union will put together its own defense forces," Buchanan said. "This war is a debacle from day one because we had no vital interest in the Balkans to justify going to war."
Buchanan said the war has been a disaster for Serbia and a "human rights catastrophe for the people we went there to protect."
He went on to say that the war has damaged the United StatesÂ' reputation for decency and it has destroyed U.S. relations with China and Russia.
Despite his opposition to American involvement in the Balkans, Buchanan reiterated his support for maintaining diplomatic contact and relations with China.
"When China puts missiles opposite Taiwan, when they persecute Christians and dissidents and when they deliberately trash the American embassy, throw garbage at it and hold the ambassador hostage, you have to reciprocate and respond," Buchanan said.
He said he would suspend most favored nation status, which gave the Chinese $58 billion trade surplus last year for one year.
"I understand the things weÂ're giving to them but IÂ'm not understanding what weÂ're getting in return. We ought to demand respect and reciprocity," Buchanan said.
Conceding that the American people might not know exactly what his positions are, Buchanan explained that he believes in free and fair trade with nations that have free and fair trade with the U.S.
"What I disagree with is trade agreements like NAFTA that send our factories and jobs to Mexico in which we get almost next to nothing in return," Buchanan said. "This country used to have an economic policy that made us the greatest industrial manufacturing country in the world. WeÂ're giving away the manufacturing base."
Buchanan confidently predicted his presidential campaign will win in the New Hampshire primary, just as he did in the last presidential primary campaign.
He said Republican front-runner George W. Bush is "a nice fellow, but this is not his year."