Global General

Clinton to reassure Central Europe

By Ai Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-02 08:38

Beijing - US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began her official visit to Central Europe and the Caucasus region on Thursday, a move the host countries hope demonstrates their national interests will not be undermined by an improving Russian-US relationship.

Clinton arrived first in the Ukraine, where she is expected to discuss economic and energy issues, defense cooperation and the development of democracy. She will later visit Poland, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia during her five-day trip, her first in the area as US secretary of state.

"Russia's neighboring countries may fear that their interests will be sold short as Moscow and Washington get friendlier with each other, so they will expect Clinton to offer some kind of reassurance," said Xing Guangcheng, an expert on Russian studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

US President Barack Obama met with his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev on June 24, declaring the two have succeeded in resetting their relationship after years of distrust, and applauding their diplomatic gains, including a weapons reduction treaty and Russia's support in pushing sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

However, the warming tone was slightly interrupted by the arrest of 10 Russian spies in the US three days after the two presidents shook hands. It was also reported that Obama was aware of the spies when he shared an order of fries and chewed on a burger with Medvedev at a local restaurant in Washington. Both countries have downplayed the significance of the incident and said their relationship will not be soured by it. Clinton's trip was also arranged long before the arrests.

"The incident has in a way cooled the atmosphere a bit after Medvedev left Washington. Although the US government wants better ties with its former cold war foe, other agencies don't necessarily share the same enthusiasm. The intelligence community, for example, does not trust the country as much as the government appears to," Xing said.

On the other hand, Xing said, Russia "used to react quite strongly in the past when similar cases were uncovered, but this time it did little." Xing added.

China Daily