IMI VALLEY, Calif. - Rejecting isolationism as ''a shortcut to chaos,'' Texas Governor George W. Bush yesterday outlined the foreign policy principles that would guide his presidency, promising a ''distinctly American internationalism'' while avoiding what he called ''management of crisis.''
In a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Bush sought to reassure skeptics and supporters alike that, despite limited experience in foreign affairs, he commands a vision of the world that would make him an effective president in an unpredictable world.
While embracing internationalism, however, Bush enunciated specific policies that could strain relations with such nations as China and Russia, and possibly even with some US allies.
Bush called for a US policy that deals with China as ''a competitor, not a strategic partner.'' While not as pugnacious as some conservatives have advocated, this is a harder line than that taken by the Clinton administration, which has at times considered a ''strategic partnership'' with Beijing. Bush's vow to deploy missile defense systems could alienate China and US allies in Europe.
In another clear break with the administration likely to disturb allies, Bush restated his opposition to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which was recently rejected by the Senate. Bush said the treaty was not enforceable or verifiable. ''We can fight the spread of nuclear weapons, but we cannot wish them away with unwise treaties,'' he said.
Bush sought to sketch out America's role in a post-Cold War world that is radically different from the one his father grappled with as president a decade ago, when the collapse of the Soviet Union and the twilight of the Cold War framed the United States' approach to the world.
Instead, he described an unstable world of emerging powers, rogue tyrants, and proliferating weapons of mass destruction. ''The empire has passed,'' he said, ''but evil remains.''
In this new world, Bush said, ''America's first temptation is withdrawal, to build a proud tower of protectionism and isolationism.'' That approach, he argued, would lead inevitably to ''a stagnant America and a savage world.''
''American foreign policy,'' he said, ''cannot be founded on fear'' that American workers cannot compete internationally or that the United States ''will corrupt the world or be corrupted by it.''
His call to reject ''the blinders of isolationism'' appeared aimed at the forces within his own party (and at Patrick J. Buchanan, who is seeking the Reform Party nomination) that have opposed US intervention in various global crises - most recently in Kosovo.
The speech was made as the Republican front-runner faced increased scrutiny about his preparation for the presidency. Since failing a foreign policy pop quiz in a TV interview, which even his adversaries called unfair, Bush has been peppered with questions about his foreign policy expertise.
Yesterday, Bush won the endorsement of Senator Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and one of the party's top foreign policy experts.
