U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Maura Fogarty of CNBC Asia

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Hanoi, Vietnam
November 17, 2006

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QUESTION: When President Bush arrived in Asia on this particular trip, he talked about how the U.S. is remaining engaged in Asia and is committed. However, there is a sense though among Asian leaders that the U.S. is not engaged enough. What do you say to that?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I think the United States is very engaged in Asia. First of all, the President is coming here to Southeast Asia. I was just in Southeast Asia, in Kuala Lumpur last summer for the ASEAN meetings. Not too long ago I was in Northeast Asia, in China and Japan and South Korea to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue. We have a very deep engagement here and, in fact, I think we consider the APEC, with this wonderful expanse of countries, 20 countries that go from South America all the way up through Northeast Asia, to be one of the most dynamic regions in the world and one in which the United States has enormous interests.

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QUESTION: If the North Koreans do not agree to terms laid out at the six-party talks, is the United States willing to live with a nuclear North Korea?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, not only is the United States not willing to live with a nuclear North Korea, but the rest of the six parties, the other five parties, aren't either. I think you've heard China talk about its commitment to a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. It would be in violation of the agreement between North and South of 1992.

And so that is why you have the kind of sanctions that you have against North Korea, the first time by the way in decades that the North Korean regime has actually been sanctioned for its nuclear program. So no one is prepared to recognize North Korea as a nuclear power. Everybody is going to work both diplomatically and through sanctions to reverse the North Korean program.

QUESTION: One of the partners you've been working with quite hard on this is China, of course. But it seems now there's some concern amongst the Chinese that the United States sees China as a competitive threat both economically and militarily. Does the U.S. see China as a threat in those ways?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, we certainly see China as a country that's in major transition and it's been a good partner in many ways. It's an important economic power. Of course there are concerns about a rising China, concerns about China's transition, concerns about whether the Chinese economy will in fact act in a way that is consistent with the level playing field that the international economy needs, whether it is in terms of currency valuation, intellectual property rights protection. Those are the kinds of concerns we have. And of course there are concerns about Chinese military buildups; it's sometimes seemed outsized for China's regional role.

But I would say that we have an outstandingly good relationship between the two presidents. We have a very good relationship with the country and these are problems that can be worked through. China is a country that's in transition, and of course its record on human rights, its record on issues of religious freedoms, continue to be issues that we discuss. But by and large, it's a good relationship and it is very much in the interest of the world that China's energies, China's growth, be channeled in a way that is stabilizing for the international system.

QUESTION: Is the U.S. foreign policy towards China in any way aimed at containing China's ability to exercise its power either militarily or so in a way that poses a risk to the United States?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, U.S. policy is aimed at having China be a responsible stakeholder in international politics. That means that Chinese energy, Chinese growth, Chinese incredible innovation and entrepreneurship, would be channeled into an international economy in which everybody can compete and compete equally. I think most people would say that China's rise, China's economic growth, has been a net benefit for the international system. And where we have difficulties or where we have differences, we have found ways to either resolve those differences or to keep them in a context in which we are able to have a potential for a resolution.

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2006/T25-4

Released on November 17, 2006