U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2009)

U.S. Department of State

Secretary Clinton's Interview With Cynthia McFadden of ABC's Nightline

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Moscow, Russia
October 13, 2009

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QUESTION: What issues dominate your schedule?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Oh, the headline issues: Afghanistan and Pakistan; Iran; the Middle East; obviously our relationships with China and Russia, where I'm speaking with you today. You know, it's hard to answer that question, Cynthia, because every day is filled with so many subjects of either immediate or long-term interest. And I try to think about what we have to do right now -- the crises -- what we have to do that are immediately demanding but not yet in the headlines, and then the long-term trends like climate change and the rest that are going to have a big impact on our world.

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QUESTION: Can you update us about the Russian feeling about Iran at this point?

SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I'm very pleased by how supportive the Russians have been in what has become a united international effort, both in the existing framework, something called the P-5+1, which is Russia and China and, you know, Great Britain and France and Germany and us and the EU. We're all trying to figure out how to put this issue of Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions, you know, on the very top of the agenda, and I think we're succeeding. This goes back to the President's inauguration where he said, you know, I'll reach out my hand if you unclench your fist.

We know that there are lots of problems between us and the Iranians. But we also know that we remain committed to preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons power. So what have we done? In the meeting in Geneva on October 1st, three very important steps were taken: one, open up your previously undisclosed site at Qom to inspection; number two, ship out your low-enriched uranium for reprocessing outside of Iran -- something Russia and the United States jointly presented, which I thought was quite significant; and begin to set a schedule for further meetings because we are pursuing this diplomatic track. Everybody hopes this succeeds. You know, sanctions, which there's a lot talk about, are a result of the diplomatic track failing. So we are committed to the diplomatic track. But, you know, my view in life and in foreign policy is you hope for the best and you plan for the worst. And so I'm thrilled that we've got the kind of united front on the diplomatic track, but we're also going to continue to look at the potential sanctions if we're not successful.

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