U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2005)

Rice Welcomes Growth of Iraqi Political Activity

Secretary addresses Iran's nuclear program, Syria's regional policies

Following is the transcript of the secretary's interview:

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(New York, New York)
September 12, 2005

INTERVIEW

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
With the CBS News Editorial Board

September 12, 2005
524 West 57th Street
New York, New York

(11:00 a.m. EDT)

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: Are you hopeful that this week's talks on North Korea in Beijing are going somewhere?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I thought Chris Hill put it very well. We're ready to go back and negotiate, and that's how we used the last month. The question is how did the North Koreans use the last month. And we will know that, I think, fairly soon.

I thought that we did make a lot of progress in the last round. The talks were businesslike without histrionics, which had not been the pattern before. There is good unity among the other states other than the North about what it is we're trying to achieve.

There's been a tendency for the goal posts to move at the last second with the North Koreans so I can't tell you that I know exactly where we're going to go in. I know where we left off but I'm not quite sure where we're going to go in. We'll have to see when the North arrives.

But there is an awful lot that is favorable to North Korea if they choose to take it. If they will abandon their nuclear weapons and nuclear programs and really get on a course of verifiable dismantlement of this, it unlocks a great deal for them economically and politically.

Now, we do have concerns other than just the nuclear issue. We have human rights concerns in North Korea. We have -- the Japanese have human rights concerns, humanitarian concerns, the abduction issue. But there are ways to deal with all of these issues, but the North is going to have to make the strategic choice. And there were times in the last talks where they seemed close to it but we didn't quite get over the bar, and so we'll see where we are when we go back.

QUESTION: Could you clarify our relationship with China? (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY RICE: Well, again, like most big relationships, you know, it's a complex, kind of mixed relationship. There is no doubt that I think in terms of our diplomatic engagement and the engagement of the President, the engagement throughout the layers of government, the relationship is probably better than it's ever been. That doesn't mean that there aren't serious issues between us. I think we're cooperating very well on the six-party talks on North Korea. I think we're cooperating very well on the war on terrorism. We've even managed better cooperation recently on Sudan and a number of other issues like that.

Our trade relationship is huge and complex and it is -- there are many elements of it that are quite beneficial to America and to American consumers. The problem is that the Chinese economy is very big, getting bigger and has still not undertaken some of the reforms that really are required by integration into a rules-based system like the WTO.

For instance, intellectual property rights. This is the core, this is the base, of the modern economies that we are building. And if you don't have protection of intellectual property rights and if you don't have prosecutions of people who engage in piracy, then an economy of that size is going to be a real problem for the international system.

QUESTION: Well, this meeting is already available on DVD over there. (Laughter.)

SECRETARY RICE: It probably is. I'm sure you've experienced this. (Laughter.)

You know, the Chinese can't write a law that says government procurement of foreign software is prohibited but private procurement of software -- when most of the economy is still government. So all we're saying to the Chinese is recognize how some of these things affect the international economy because this is not a small economy that can kind of play outside of the rules. The whole reason for the integration of China into the WTO, which I was out of government but fully supported, was so that this big economy would be inside of a rules-based structure. And so they've got to play by the rules. That's why people were upset about the currency issue.

Now, on the military side, you know, we are not overstating the case but it is the case the Chinese military buildup looks outsized for their regional concerns, and that has to be an issue for the United States since the defense of the Pacific, along with our allies in South Korea and Japan, has been an American concern.

QUESTION: Tell us about Wu Yi you know --

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, Mrs. Wu. Mrs. Wu. Yes. I call her Madame Wu.

QUESTION: Mike is on a first-name basis with everybody. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: In this list of the 100 most powerful women in the world, you're number one and Madame Wu is number two.

SECRETARY RICE: Yeah, and being at the top of that list and three dollars will get you coffee. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: A small coffee.

SECRETARY RICE: A small coffee. Is that what it costs now? A small coffee. Okay, right.

She is a formidable person. She is. She is --

QUESTION: What's she in charge of?

SECRETARY RICE: She is in charge of anything that is hard in China, I've decided. They put her in charge, for instance, when the SARS crisis hit. They have given her a portfolio having to do with intellectual property rights. She is a very formidable person and she was a -- she is very funny. She'll tell you about how when she was the floor manager of a plant back when she was a young woman, and I have this image of this Chinese woman back, you know, not too long after the Cultural Revolution as a floor manager on a plant. She's really something.

Women have been pretty powerful in China. I mean, this is not the -- the role of women is, I think, not -- has not really been an issue in China. But as China's political system hopefully develops in a more open way, then political rights for everybody will include enhanced political rights for women. But she's wonderful. I'm really quite fond of her.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

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