US, Britain Reaffirm "Special Relationship"British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Saturday wound up a two-day working visit to the United States after reaffirming with President George W. Bush the " special relationship" between the two countries.Blair came to Washington at a time when the "special relationship," nurtured by former U.S. President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, was in doubt after former President Bill Clinton left office last month. Analysts believe that both politically and in matter of style, Blair enjoyed much closer relation to Clinton than to the more conservative Bush. But this did not prevent Bush and Blair from downplaying their differences to reaffirm the special transatlantic ties between the two countries based on so-called "shared values and interests" as well as "a historical relationship." It was the first meeting of the two men, and every effort was made to make things as relaxed as possible. Bush and his wife, Laura, invited Blair and his wife, Cherie, to spend Friday night at the presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland. In a joint statement issued on Friday, Bush and Blair agreed to continue to maintain and further develop the "special relationship " between the U.S. and Britain. Addressing a press conference at Camp David, Bush called Britain "our strongest friend and closest ally" and Blair responded in kind, describing his meeting with Bush as "absolutely excellent and very productive." "Our countries have stood together in very hard times ... the reason we came through those times stronger is that we share the same values, we share the same interests and we share the same perception of the world," Bush said. Bush and Blair, who authorized joint air strikes against Iraqi military installations last week, also made a show of standing strong against Iraq, while agreeing that the sanctions regime might need to be revised to make it more effective. The air strikes, which killed two civilians and injured 20 others, triggered widespread condemnation from the international community. Blair said that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein should not interpret any eventual relaxation of some elements of the economic sanctions as weakness. "A change in a sanction regime that is not working should not be any kind of signal whatsoever to him (President Saddam) that he should cross any line and test our will," Bush said. The two men vowed to take "appropriate action" if Iraq was found building weapons of mass destruction. Bush and Blair also tried their best to paper over their differences over a European rapid-reaction force and a controversial U.S. plan to build national missile defense (NMD) system. Blair, the first European leader to meet Bush, assured the U.S. president that the creation of a European rapid reaction force would not weaken NATO (the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization) and that the force would be used only when the Atlantic Alliance chose not to be engaged. "We would never do anything to undermine NATO," the prime minister said. "I support his point of view," Bush told reporters. "He (Blair) assured me that NATO was going to be the primary way to keep the peace in Europe and I assured him the United States would remain actively engaged in NATO," he added. The U.S.-Europe difference over the European rapid reaction force have been creating considerable tension in NATO because Washington fears that the move may marginalize U.S. role in European affairs. As to the Bush administration's push for NMD, another sticking point which strains relations between the U.S. and Europe, Blair said he shared U.S. concern about weapons of mass destruction and nuclear proliferation but was noncommittal on the need for missile defense. "We welcome the dialogue (on the issue)," Blair said. "It's very important in that context that we discuss all the ways that we can deal with this threat," he added. |
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