Cotton talks up travels in Asia

Trip ‘invaluable,’ U.S. senator says

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton said Wednesday that meetings with foreign leaders during his recent trip to Japan, South Korea and Taiwan gave him "invaluable" information about the countries' economies and security.

"The markets in East Asia are increasingly valuable markets for Arkansas products, whether it's agricultural products or whether it's our aerospace and defense products," he said in a telephone interview. "I wanted to go to the area, I wanted to learn more about the security and the economic and trade challenges and opportunities in Asia."

During the trip, from Aug. 9 to Tuesday, the Dardanelle Republican met with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou and other government officials from each country. He also visited the international sales office of Tyson Foods in Taipei, Taiwan.

Japan is among the countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership with the United States. Taiwan and South Korea have signaled that they are interested in joining the trade proposal.

Cotton visited with Arkansas service members based on Okinawa, Japan, and at Osan Air Base in South Korea and toured the demilitarized zone, or DMZ, between North Korea and South Korea.

The former Army captain said North Korea's posturing since developing nuclear weapons is a lesson in why Iran shouldn't be allowed to develop its own. Cotton has been a vocal critic of the nuclear deal with Iran negotiated by the United States and several other world powers, saying it leaves a path for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

"Once they have them, it makes confronting their provocations much harder," he said.

Cotton met with Sgt. Ha Jae-heon, one of two South Korean soldiers wounded by land mines thought to be recently placed within the demilitarized zone by North Korea.

"It's kind of an incredible provocation, [and] it's much harder to counteract because North Korea has a nuclear deterrent," he said.

Photos of Cotton's visit to the demilitarized zone on his Twitter account show the senator and a North Korean soldier looking at each other through a pane of glass.

"Our soldiers there, and South Korean soldiers there, are highly professional -- the DMZ is an ironic name, since the demilitarized zone is actually the most militarized area in the world -- and they see North Korean soldiers face to face every day and therefore they have a high degree of readiness and professionalism, responsibility and restraint to ensure there are no cross-border incidents," Cotton said Wednesday.

The trip was paid for through the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee.

Foreign travel by U.S. House and Senate members is routine, though some members travel more frequently than others. Travel disclosures required by Congress show that members in 2015 have traveled to several countries, including Germany, Guatemala, Panama, South Korea and Switzerland. Earlier this year, Cotton traveled to Ukraine and Slovakia.

Cotton said the trip to Asia was his first and that he wanted to see first-hand the area's economic and security importance.

"You can't go and actually see how U.S. taxpayer dollars are being spent, for instance in South Korea on the massive new facilities there, by staying in Washington," Cotton said. "It's an important part of the job that we do for Arkansans, that we do on our committees, to take time to travel overseas and learn more about the situation and make sure that our government is representing our interests."

David C.W. Parker, an assistant political science professor at Montana State University, said lawmakers often make foreign trips to check on how American taxpayer dollars are being spent, for example at military bases, or to build relationships with foreign governments. Parker has studied congressional travel since 1977.

"The members go abroad, they go and learn and theoretically they take that learning [back] to help them legislate," Parker said. "More members of Congress are traveling than ever before."

How much a member travels depends on his own interest level, how much his constituents interact with foreign countries through trade or immigration, how much he has to fear a challenge in the next election and what committees the member serves on, Parker said.

The committees with the highest amount of travel tend to be House and Senate Appropriations, House and Senate Armed Services, House Foreign Affairs, Senate Foreign Relations and Senate Intelligence, he said. Cotton serves on the Senate Armed Services and Intelligence committees.

"His committee portfolio predicts high travel," Parker said.

Metro on 08/20/2015

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