CAMPAIGN '96: AROUND THE WORLD FOR VOTES

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That Bill Clinton would campaign for re-election by traveling overseas would have seemed wildly unlikely four years ago. But lately the President has discovered something surprising about foreign policy: after a stumbling start, he is getting good at it. He can even claim a recent string of successes--in Haiti, Bosnia, Ireland, the Middle East--as a big reason voters should give him another four years in the White House. But he is not past the danger that some foreign hot spots, like Korea and Russia, might blow up disastrously before the November vote. Nor is he yet safe from Republican criticism that he has too often followed a wishy-washy line. What better way, then, to spend a spring week than by doing his best to defuse both threats?

To be sure, Clinton, on his eight-day jaunt to South Korea, Japan and Russia, was also pursuing objectives that are valid from a purely foreign-policy standpoint. On the South Korean island of Cheju, he unfurled a proposal for a four-power conference (North and South Korea, the U.S. and China) to draft a peace treaty replacing the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War. Whether or not such a conference ever begins, the mere proposal serves a number of purposes. It allays the perpetual South Korean fear that the U.S. will strike a deal with Pyongyang behind its back. Simultaneously it warns the North that it cannot scare Washington into such a deal by sending troops on forays into the Demilitarized Zone.

Further, the proposal has some chance of demonstrating that Clinton can win Chinese cooperation on an important project, despite the many disputes between the two Pacific powers. The President also illustrated a paradoxical strength in overseas relations: the total absorption in politics that makes his acts and motives suspect to many Americans strikes a responsive chord in foreign leaders, themselves politicians, who appreciate his expertise in building coalitions and surviving tough elections. The proposal for four-power talks was primarily a U.S. idea, but Clinton graciously gave all the credit to South Korean President Kim Young Sam, supplying a needed boast to Kim's popularity at home.

In Tokyo too Clinton did some adroit and necessary fence mending. Earlier he had emphasized bitter confrontations about trade even more than the U.S.-Japanese security alliance. Last week he switched just about all the way back. He announced that the U.S. would keep its 100,000 troops in the Pacific to help guarantee stability. For its part, Japan has agreed to provide more help--possibly with food, fuel and the use of its own bases--to the 47,000 U.S. troops there.

There was an unspoken but unmistakable message from Clinton to both East Asian nations and Republican critics: See, I am not soft on China. I know its military buildup is worrying neighbors that need us to stay there as a counterweight. And we can't take a firm line with China or North Korea without cementing our Japanese alliance. Trade? Clinton mentioned it only to claim credit for some encouraging trends. U.S. exports to Japan are up 85% in sectors such as cellular phones, where the Administration applied pressure. But the overall increase of 35% owes much to economic forces beyond government control.