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

U.S. Department of State

Remarks With Chinese Foreign Minister Yang

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Beijing, China
June 29, 2008

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SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much, Minister, for your hospitality here, and I look forward to the continuation of our broad-ranging discussion over dinner.

I was very moved by the people of the affected earthquake area. They clearly are showing great spirit. There's been a major effort to relocate them, and the government has worked very hard at that. Yet it was really the spirit of the people that comes through, because they are determined to restart their lives.

We do very much have a large agenda, as is befitting the United States and China. It is a relationship that needs to work well if we are to be able to address the many challenges in international politics. And so, our discussions of the six-party talks and how to move forward on verification and monitoring so that we can get to the abandonment of North Korea's nuclear weapons and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has been a -- one of our elements of our conversation and I'm sure we will have further discussion.

I thank you also for the extensive discussion that we've had about Iran. We together, of course, with our colleagues from Russia, Germany, Britain and France have proposed to Iran a far-reaching set of proposals that would really help Iran to integrate into the international community, if they will only suspend their enrichment and reprocessing in accordance with several Security Council resolutions, and we are hopeful that they will do so.

We talked about many other issues. I want to say that the United States continues to be concerned about the situation in Tibet and we want to encourage the dialogue that has begun there.

The -- you were kind enough to receive our Assistant Secretary for Human Rights, Democracy and Labor, and I think that David Kramer had very good discussions here. We want to continue these discussions. They are done so in an atmosphere of mutual respect. But as I've said to you many times, Foreign Minister, the American people care greatly and deeply about issues of democracy and human rights. And so the resumption of our human rights dialogue has been an important step.

I know that President Bush looks forward to seeing President Hu Jintao in Japan. And we've had a chance to talk some about their agenda, but whenever the two of them get together, they really do have wide-ranging discussions. You and I could never really structure an agenda for them because it's a very good relationship and one that has, in the years that they have come to know each other, gathered warmth, gathered a sense of respect, and even trust. And so I look forward, and I know the President looks forward, to his meeting with President Hu Jintao.

And finally, the next time I see you, I hope I will be here to attend what I am certain will be an extraordinary Olympic Games.

MODERATOR: Thank you. The floor is now open. The first question - CCTV.

QUESTION: (Via interpreter.) Madame Secretary, I'm with China's Central Television station CCTV. Since you took office as the American Secretary of State, you have seen a good momentum in the growth of China-U.S. relations, and our common interests are also expanding. So I would like to ask that, in your view, what will be the future course of development for China-U.S. relationship? And how do you think that the two sides can work together to ensure that this sound growth momentum will be sustained?

And we also know that in this coming August, President Bush and you yourself will come to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games. I have a specific question, that -- what kind of sports would you like to watch? And what kind of expectations do you have for that Olympic tour?

SECRETARY RICE: Yes. Well, let me start with the second part of the question. I like any sport that -- because I love the competition of sports, and so I will watch almost anything. But I hope that I'll see perhaps some basketball and some track and field. Unfortunately, my own sport was a winter game sport. I was a figure skater, and I met some of the Chinese figure skaters when I was here several times ago. But I love summer sports too, so I'm looking forward to the Olympics.

The United States and China have developed a constructive relationship. We have our differences. We have differences over issues sometimes of human rights. We have issues and differences sometimes about the pace of tactical decisions that we may take in the Security Council. But those differences have not obscured a very important fact. And that very important fact is that the United States and China simply must work together if we are going to resolve the many challenges that we face in the international community in a constructive and diplomatic manner.

And in some areas, like the Korean Peninsula, we, I believe, stand at the threshold of turning an area that has been a source of conflict into a source of cooperation. And here, I want to thank China for the leading role that it has taken in the six-party talks, for the hard work that has gone into getting as far as we are today, and to know that we will be able to draw on our strong relationship for moving forward to the total denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

MR. MCCORMACK: Janine Zacharia.

QUESTION: Foreign Minister Yang, China is a regular supplier of arms to Zimbabwe, as we saw from the ship that failed to port two months ago in Africa. President Bush said yesterday that he's going to push for a UN arms embargo perhaps as early as tomorrow at the Security Council. Will China support an arms embargo on Zimbabwe? And, if not, what is China's objection to it?

And Secretary Rice, if China and Russia and South Africa and others oppose the arms embargo in your discussions, will you push for a vote anyway in order to force countries to stand up and state their position? Thank you.

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SECRETARY RICE: We will, in fact, be in the United Nations this week. We are consulting with the various members of the United Nations. And we believe that the situation has deteriorated to a very grave level, that the sham election there is likely only to bring more misery and perhaps violence. And we believe that it is really now time for the international community to act strongly, but we're consulting about what measures might be taken.

And we are watching very carefully the outcome of the AU summit. And we hope that the AU summit will reflect the strong voices in Africa that are speaking up against the outrage that is being committed in Zimbabwe, and we hope, at the very least, that there will also be a strong caution to Mugabe not to use violence against his own people any longer. And frankly, it makes sense to deny the Government of Zimbabwe the means to conduct violence against its own people.

MR. MCCORMACK: Lachlan Carmichael.

QUESTION: Yes. Can you tell us, please, what dates you've set for the ministerial meeting, and also for the meeting of (inaudible) envoys to discuss the verification regime?

And finally, for Madame Secretary, the first (inaudible) Madame Secretary, how much can you really hope to achieve between now and the end of the Bush Administration in the North Korean final phases (inaudible)?

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SECRETARY RICE: Thank you. And we will see how far we get. I've seen momentous international events take place suddenly, I've seen them take a very, very long time. I don't think there's any way to predict, at this point.

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