Foreign policy a local affair in diverse Valley
By Michael Doyle
Bee Washington Bureau
01/15/07
WASHINGTON – Foreign relations can become acutely local, particularly in the
San Joaquin Valley.
Armenians in Fresno care about genocide resolutions. Sikhs in Stockton care
about Indian affairs. Assyrians in Ceres care about Iraq and Hmong
everywhere care about Laos.
All of which helps explain why Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, cared about joining
the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Despite its name, it’s a panel that can
become surprisingly parochial.
"It’s something I’ve been interested in for a long time," said Costa, who
has been appointed to the committee. "In part, it’s because of the
incredible diversity of the Valley, with my constituents coming from all
over the world."
Throughout California, 8.8million residents counted in the 2000 census were
born in foreign countries. Nearly half came from Mexico, and one-third from
Asia.
Wherever they come from, the foreign-born can have a direct stake in what
Congress does. Sometimes, their voices can drown out U.S. diplomats.
California, for instance, was home to 57,482 natives of Armenia as of the
2000 census. Tens of thousands of other Americans of Armenian descent live
in the Fresno and Southern California areas.
Consequently, California lawmakers invariably lead in pushing Armenian
genocide resolutions.
Introduced by Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, the latest resolution
urged the White House to "accurately characterize the systematic and
deliberate annihilation of 1,500,000 Armenians as genocide." The events
occurred between 1915 and 1923.
"It is inexplicable to me how you do not denounce evil and the evil of
genocide on every occasion when it becomes known to you," Rep. Dennis
Cardoza, D-Merced, said during the last congressional debate on the subject
in September 2005.
Presidents of both parties, though, have steadfastly resisted the Armenian
genocide resolutions, and Turkish government representatives have denounced
them as pandering to Armenian-American interest groups.
"These resolutions could undermine efforts to rebuild a partnership between
the United States and Turkey in pursuit of our country’s broad national
security interests," Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Reynolds cautioned
the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Another committee member, Arizona Republican Jeff Flake, worried the panel
was bogged down passing so many symbolic resolutions of ethnic interest.
"That committee has a lot more potential than we as members utilize," Flake
said Friday.
With Democrats now in charge, the committee already is tangling with the
White House. The new chairman, Rep. Tom Lantos, D-San Mateo, promised a
"top-down review of what our country is doing in Iraq" in a series of
hearings.
"Obviously, we’re in a very troubled world," Costa said, "and I hope to be a
very active participant in the deliberations of the committee."
Other Valley lawmakers have preceded Costa on the foreign affairs panel,
formerly called the House International Relations Committee.
Two years ago, Cardoza secured a spot on the panel even though he already
had a full plate of other assignments.
"The Valley is home to many ethnic groups that have a strong interest in key
areas throughout the world," Cardoza explained at the time.
Cardoza has since stepped off the Foreign Affairs Committee, with his
appointment to an exclusive leadership post. Likewise, for several years
starting in the 1990s, Radanovich did a tour on the Foreign Affairs
Committee.
Radanovich used the committee, for instance, to push legislation chastising
the socialist government of Laos over the fate of former Fresno resident
Michael Vang. Vang disappeared in 1999 while traveling along the border of
Laos and Thailand.
"This keeps much-needed pressure on the State Department and the Lao
government," Radanovich said at the time.
There were 68,306 natives of Laos living in California as of the 2000
census. Historically, the most politically vocal have harshly opposed the
existing Lao government.
State Department officials, though, cautioned that Vang’s unsolved
disappearance was far more complicated than the good-vs.-evil narrative
constructed by the Hmong activists. Congress eventually overcame resistance
and granted Laos normal trade relations.
The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or(202) 383-0006.
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