My objection to William Weld wasn't based on the way he conducted himself as governor or even how he would conduct himself as an ambassador in a place other than Mexico. India was where I wanted to send him,

I'm not calling [William] Weld a skunk. But if you get into a certain kind of contest, you get your shoes wet. I'm not going to pick up his challenge. What he would like most in the world is for me to fire back so he could fire back.

He called Weld ''an outstanding candidate for governor.

We must have a full debate and votes on issues such as China's pitiful human rights record, China's brutal suppression of religious freedom, China's increasingly belligerent stance toward the Democratic Chinese government on Taiwan and China's unbroken record of violated agreements one after another on other matters. You can't trust them,

The Indian government has not shot itself in the foot. Most likely it has shot itself in the head, ... By conducting five nuclear tests India made a major miscalculation not merely about the United States but about India's own capability. The Indian government has deluded itself into the absurd assumption that the possession of nuclear weapons will make India into a superpower at a time when hundreds of millions of India's people are in abject poverty.

[Saying he didn't] particularly relish raining on their parade, ... perhaps uncomfortable votes -- on a range of issues relating to China.