U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2008)

U.S. Department of State

Remarks at the Council of the Americas 38th Annual Meeting

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Loy Henderson Auditorium
Washington, DC
May 7, 2008

(4:00 p.m. EDT)

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MR. RHODES: The Secretary has kindly offered to take a couple of questions. But before we do that, I must say that even when she leaves this present post, we will be calling on you from time to time, Condi, to come back and speak with us. And we thank you very much for all your support here. So I think the Secretary's open to have a couple of questions. She has also stated that she would like to stay on to hear President Torrijos and his words. So as the Chinese like to say, this is a win-win situation. (Laughter.)

So can we have a -- any questions here for the Secretary?

Yes.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) European (Inaudible) Finance. I've been doodling some interesting questions. But I would like to ask you instead, in leaving, what would you like your legacy to look like 25 years from now when our children are looking at the history books?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, thank you. Well, I'll tell you why I'm not usually one to talk much about legacy, because I'll tell you that I keep four portraits of Secretaries of State near me. One is Thomas Jefferson -- everybody's got Thomas Jefferson. I keep George Marshall -- everybody has George Marshall, probably the greatest American Secretary of State. But I keep two that remind me that history's judgment and today's headlines are rarely the same. One is Dean Acheson, who was the father of NATO, but probably at the time was most remembered for who lost China. And the other is Seward, who was remembered for Seward's Icebox. He bought Alaska for some $17 million and it was called Seward's Folly. I think we're glad now that he bought it. So that's why I tend not to talk much about legacy.

But let me just tell you what I hope we've left in place, particularly concerning the Americas. And I'm quite serious when I say, I think we've become a better partner. Fair, we have to admit that between the United States and Latin America, the narrative hasn't always been a positive one, because of our history, because of the long history dating really all the way back to our founding. It's not always been a narrative of equal partnership and respect. And I think it has colored from time to time the way that the region has viewed the United States and what we've tried to do. And for our part, we've made our mistakes, too. Perhaps some times being driven by larger global concerns and an ideological tinge that made it difficult to sometimes see the clarity of what was going on in the region.

And so I think that what we've done in recent years is we've written a new narrative. And it's a narrative that is one that is clearly shared, because it is about democracy and democratic development. But even that needed some refining, because it was democracy, and it was free trade, and it was micro economic soundness and economic growth.

But the last link had to be that democracies were going to be held accountable for something else. They were going to be held accountable for whether or not they could provide for their people, whether or not people's lives actually do get better. And so the effort to make social justice a part of our language too, not the language of the left, not the language of the right, but the language of democracy, and to work with countries whatever side of the political spectrum they came from.

We have great relations with Brazil or Chile or Uruguay, on the other side with Colombia and with others. So, it hasn't mattered. And I think that has really helped because as we focus together on democracies delivering for their people, good, honest governments that are fighting corruption, securing their people, making the right economic choices, but also making life better for their people, I think it's helped us to write a new narrative.

And if I could add just one other, and perhaps this comes from my own particular background, I have been very gratified by what I think is finally a movement in the region to have indigenous peoples and minorities more represented. When I was recently in Brazil, I signed with the minister there for racial justice -- I signed a document on combating racism and promoting inclusion in our exchanges in education and so forth. And that's important to me because Afro- Colombians or Afro-Brazilians who, unfortunately, have been at the margins of society need to be brought in. And given America's own history of having had a painful experience, I've said our country was born with a birth defect -- slavery -- and yet we've managed to the point that now, after Thomas Jefferson, a slave owner, here I stand as Secretary of State. So I think that engaging the hemisphere on that issue has been very important to me. And plus, I had a great time in Bahia. What a wonderful place. (Laughter.)

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