International ties praised as crucial

Personal relationships among citizens of different countries are a key to peace and must be preserved despite the need for protection against terrorism, former House Speaker Tom Foley told delegates to an international conference in Spokane.

“We have a challenge today because security issues … have created serious problems for visitors,” Foley told Friday’s luncheon crowd for the 2005 Sister Cities International Convention.

While the nation tries to reduce the threat of terrorism, it’s important that those efforts not be seen as an attack on Muslim or Arab countries, he said.

The Bush administration has taken needed steps to tighten security in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the former congressman and ambassador to Japan said. “But it’s important not to cut off opportunities to visit this country.”

Those personal visits, from international student exchanges to the cultural connections of Sister Cities, can lead to lifelong bonds, Foley said. They also contribute to America’s understanding of the world, its economic and scientific growth, and its security, he said.

The conference marks the 49th year since President Dwight Eisenhower kicked off the Sister City program.

Eisenhower, Foley said, “understood that people-to-people contacts are the best relationships,” even though they are often underestimated.

“People-to-people diplomacy is significant, and lessens the possibility of future wars,” he said.

Cities have, through history, been the places where people gathered for security and stability in times of danger, Foley said. Now major cities, with their mass transit systems and large populations, present special challenges and risks as the targets of terrorists.

“But it’s terribly important for cities to continue to play their traditional role,” he told about 500 delegates gathered in the International Ag Trade Center.

“Despite differences in language and culture (city residents) have a common experience.”

The luncheon was part of a five-day conference that brought some 1,000 people to Spokane from 24 countries and 39 states. A companion event on American and Chinese relations was also held in Spokane and sponsored by Washington State University’s Foley Institute.

Also at the luncheon, the mayor of Spokane’s first Sister City, Nishinomiya, Japan, thanked Spokane residents for the aid they provided in 1995, after his city was devastated by an earthquake. Satoru Yamada said that when the quake hit, “our friends in Spokane immediately offered help and medical supplies.”

“Our city has truly recovered,” Yamada said.