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

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Randy Shandobil of KTVU-Fox

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Stanford Park Hotel
Menlo Park, California
May 23, 2008

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: I really don't want to get involved in partisan politics, but a debate between John McCain and Barack Obama has been going on the past couple of weeks about the wisdom of a president negotiating with leaders of countries that could be seen as enemies. I'm just wondering --

SECRETARY RICE: Well, let me just - not in terms of the debate, because you're right, I'm not going to get into a political debate here. But in terms of how one conducts foreign policy and conducts diplomacy, the President of the United States is the ultimate (inaudible) for the United States of America. I can't tell you what a valuable thing it is to, when you're out there in the world, to be able to say, yes, you can meet with the President, the President would like to meet with you. It's very, very much someone who is coveted. And the President really ought to be there when something can be delivered, when things are going along to encourage strong allies, to help states that have made big strategic choices to come over the line.

In talking to adversaries, we talk to adversaries. We certainly do so when the conditions are right. Diplomacy isn't just about going into a room and talking. You're trying to get results.

QUESTION: You talk to adversaries?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, of course. But I'm trying to get them going. And so I try to make sure that the conditions are right before I do it. So the conditions were right with North Korea because we created a coalition of five other states that have real incentives and disincentives that they can deliver - South Korea, Japan, Russia, China. These states together make it possible to actually deliver something (inaudible).

QUESTION: Let me play devil's advocate for one minute. The U.S. has isolated Castro for decades. His family is still in power. How has it helped?

SECRETARY RICE: His family is still in power. Unfortunately, for the Cuban people, their lives are still quite miserable under his brother, just as it was under him. But I really fail to see how that change - what will change by talking to him. You know, it's very interesting; all of the European countries that talk to him that didn't have trade embargoes, it didn't seem to make a difference.

So the idea that somehow just talking is what will make a difference - I've met my counterpart, my Syrian counterpart, a couple of times. But the issue isn't talking to Syria; it's getting Syria to change its behavior. And with Iran, we are part of a group of states - Russia, Great Britain, France, the Chinese - and we have said that if the Iranians will do what the world requires them to do, suspend their enrichment and reprocessing capabilities, I'll be there.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: You've been with the President since he took office. Does it pain you to see those polls by historians (inaudible)?

SECRETARY RICE: Oh, I am well aware that history's judgment and today's headlines are rarely the same. You know, I keep the portraits of four secretaries of state near me. Thomas Jefferson, everybody's got Thomas Jefferson. I have George Marshall, everybody has George Marshall. But I also have Dean Acheson, who, when he left, was who lost China. And now, I think he's remembered most for NATO, the formation of NATO, and for the laying the groundwork for the end of the Cold War that benefited us so much in 1989, 1990, 1991 when we were able to unify Germany and the peaceful collapse of the Soviet Union. And the other one that I have is William Seward. Remember Seward's Folly and Seward's Icebox? I think we're now happy he bought Alaska. So you shouldn't get caught up in these things.

Harry Truman, another great president who, in retrospect, really laid the foundation for the victory in the end - at the end of the Cold War.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]