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

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Hank Plante of KPIX-CBS TV

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

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QUESTION: Let me start with kind of a critical question and, you know, I never mean this personally. But I wonder how you look back at your tenure now as you wrap things up. There are a lot of critics of how you handle foreign policy from Iraq to Afghanistan to the oil-producing nations.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, first of all, let me just say to fellow Californians, of course, we're all watching with some alarm and concern what's going on in the Santa Cruz Mountain. And to all who are affected by that, I just want to send my best wishes and hopes for the best there and to all the brave people who are trying to fight those fires. We greatly appreciate it.

First of all, I've still got several months to go here. And I've got a lot of work to do on trying to help the Palestinians finally get the state that they deserve, helping the Iraqis and the Afghans. We're doing some work on the denuclearization of North Korea. So there's still a lot of work to do.

But I'm very pleased with what we've been able to accomplish in liberating 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq, in helping to bring to the Middle East an agenda for democratization, in supporting Lebanon, how difficult it's been, but Syrian forces are out of Lebanon and that's a major step forward, and in the progress that we're making toward, I believe, an agreement perhaps by the end of year to establish a Palestinian state.

You add to that extraordinary relations with countries like India and China, our alliances in Japan and South Korea, quadrupling foreign assistance for the entire international community, I think we've done pretty well.

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QUESTION: President Bush recently said talking with our enemies is appeasement. You spend your whole life doing diplomacy. Isn't that the same thing? You talk to people you don't like.

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I do talk to people I don't like. But, first of all, let's be clear on what the President said. The President talked about not appeasing terrorists. We don't talk to Hezbollah and Hamas and al-Qaida. There's nothing to talk to them about. But we do talk to countries with which we have differences. We try to set the right conditions before we do it, because if you don't, then you're just talking. And diplomacy's actually not just talking. It's trying to achieve results.

So within the context of the six parties - China, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and the United States - we have been able to talk to North Korea and we're making progress. Within the context of the P-5+1 - Germany, Great Britain, France, the United States, Russia, and China - we have offered to talk to Tehran if they will simply do what three Security Council resolutions demand: suspend their enrichment and reprocessing.

Now, the really interesting question isn't why won't we talk to Tehran. It's why won't Tehran talk to us. And by the way, I've met my Syrian counterpart a couple times.

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