SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT U.S. VISA EVENT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at a U.S. Visa Event
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
U.S. Embassy Beijing
Beijing, China
November 12, 2014

MR. KRITENBRINK: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome. My name is Dan Kritenbrink, and I’m the deputy chief of mission here at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. It is a great honor to have everyone here this afternoon, including members of the press, staff of the Embassy’s consular section, and of course, our group of distinguished visa applicants. Expanding economic cooperation and increasing people-to-people exchanges are key elements of America’s policy toward China. As evidence of our commitment to that goal, today we celebrate the first day in a new era for millions of people who wish to travel between the United States and China.

We are, of course, particularly honored to be joined today by the U.S. Secretary of State, and our boss, Secretary John Kerry. Secretary Kerry will tell us about this exciting new development in our bilateral relationship. So now won’t you please join me in warmly welcoming Secretary of State John Kerry. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY: Ni hao. And I hope that didn’t need a translation. (Laughter.) This is very exciting for me. I’m really happy to be here. I see a lot of smiling faces. And I think most of them are on the faces of those about to receive their visas.

I’m delighted to be here with Dan Kritenbrink and I thank him for the tremendous work that he is doing as the DCM here in the Embassy. He has mastered the language and he has risen through the ranks of the Department at lightning speed, and – first as a political officer here in Beijing, and as director for the Office for Chinese and Mongolian Affairs in Washington, and now as DCM. Let me say that we’re particularly grateful to Dan and all of the folks at the Embassy, all those of you in the Embassy staff who helped to support the visits of Michelle Obama and also Vice President Biden, who came here for the Strategic and Economic Dialogue; and of course, my own visit earlier in the year with Secretary Lew for the same. So we thank you for the tremendous work you’re doing.

The ambassador as I think you know is escorting the President to the airport, and so that’s the reason that he isn’t here to celebrate this with us. But he is very excited about this program. And I’m very glad he’s going to help make sure the President gets out alright because the sooner the President’s plane gets out of here, the easier it is for my plane (inaudible). (Laughter.)

I want to thank all of the folks who work here at the Embassy first before I say a word about the visas. One of our most sacred, important responsibilities in the State Department is to work hard to show people everywhere who we are and what our values are. And that’s what all of the people who work here do every single day in a large embassy like this or in small posts somewhere in the world – they help people to try to understand who we are, what we believe, and we’re particularly appreciative to all the people locally who come and share the burden of attempting to reach out and touch so many people.

And I say this all the time and I mean it: No matter what rank you are, no matter where you are in the Embassy, whether you’re one year in or months in or you’ve been here for years, everybody is an ambassador. Everybody carries with them the responsibility to be an ambassador for those values and for our country. And every time you go out of the Embassy and you go down An Jia Lou Road, you carry with you those values and the face of America. And by the way, An Jia Lou Road is not named after Angelia Jolie. (Laughter.)

So when you go out and you promote American business in Pudong or right here in Beijing with a company like Xiaomi, or you show people the best of American effort to bring a company to America or to bring a company here, you are really engaged in the best of entrepreneurial spirit. And I want to emphasize how important that is in this globally, totally interconnected world that we are living in and working in and competing in. In this new world and new age that we’re living in, foreign policy is economic policy, and economic policy is foreign policy. And I say this all the time. I want every officer in the State Department to be an economic officer because that’s the world we’re living in.

And that is why what we are doing here today is really so important. This is – visas are a critical part of that interconnected world and high-speed business world that we live in. That is why I’m so proud to announce today that effective immediately – and we mean immediately, when I stop talking (laughter) – we will be issuing the first ten-year visas to Chinese tourists and business men and women on a reciprocal basis. I want to say a special thank you to our consular chief, Chuck Bennett, who’s over here, who’s worked so hard – and the whole consular section – to be able to make this possible.

With this announcement, we are making an important investment in our relationship, U.S.-China. And believe me, this will pay huge dividends for American and Chinese citizens, and it will strengthen both of our economies. Because of this, if you’re one of the 2 million Chinese or American citizens who travel between our countries every year – and that will grow, but if you’re one of those two million now, you will not have to reapply and pay the application fee every year. If you’re a business that operates in both China and the United States, you will be able to travel back and forth and develop your business, interview your employees, invest, travel, do all the things you need to do to grow your business, and you’ll do it with much greater ease, with less burden.

If you’re a businesswoman in Shanghai, for instance, and you need to suddenly go to a business meeting in San Francisco, you don’t have to wait and apply for a visa. You go to the – buy your ticket, go to the airport. (Laughter.) If you’re a grandparent from Chongqing, you don’t have to apply every single year or every time you want to go visit your grandchildren in Boston, for instance.

And I’m proud to say that this is just the latest step that the Obama Administration is taking in order to facilitate travel. Over the last years, we’ve increased staffing, we’ve changed our procedures, we’ve extended our hours, we’ve done enormous efforts in order to be able to make it easier for people to get a visa, to take less time, so that now we’ve kept the wait times for interview appointments in China under one week for the last three years. And most people are in and out of those interviews in less than an hour.

Now, I want to emphasize that visa validity is a two-way street. And that’s why we’re working very hard to make sure that ten-year Chinese visas will also be available within a very short time for people who want to travel to China. But let me emphasize: What I am talking about today, this ten-year proposal from America, is not a one-time deal; it’s not just for a short time, this is here, it’s here to stay. And this is not a reciprocal – it’s a long-term reciprocal arrangement, but when we say it’s here to stay, we mean it. We will issue a ten-year visa to qualified applicants tomorrow, next month, and next year, and that’s our commitment.

So I get to stand up here today and bring you the good news. And that’s my privilege as Secretary of State, but it’s the people behind these windows, and Chuck and his team and people back in Washington who work so hard in order to make this possible. And they’re the ones who will implement it each day and I want everybody here to say thank you to them for their (inaudible). Thank you. (Applause.)

So in a couple of moments we’re going to make history here. We’re going to issue some of the first ten-year visas to Chinese businessmen and women. So those of you who get the visas and all of you folks in the consular section here, you are literally helping to write the next great chapter of the history between the United States and China.

The Chinese have a beautiful saying: (In Chinese.) (Laughter.) “Follow the past, herald the future.” So that’s what brings us here today. And everybody here and millions of people out there, actually one billion-three, have a huge stake in this, as do the 330 million people in the United States of America. This will help to grow our economies, create more jobs, and to bring us together as friends, and I’m very proud to be here today to share in that. Thank you.

So Dan and Chuck, let’s help some businesspeople and create some jobs. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS IN BEIJING, CHINA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Press Availability in Beijing, China
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
China National Convention Center
Beijing, China
November 8, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon, everybody. I want to begin by thanking our Chinese hosts for their very, very warm welcome and for the depth and breadth of the discussions that we’ve been able to have at APEC this year.

This is my ninth trip to Asia and the Asia Pacific in the 21 months since I have served as Secretary of State. And I have returned again and again to this region for one simple reason: The United States is a Pacific nation, and we take our enduring interests here very seriously, our responsibilities likewise. We know that America’s security and prosperity are closely linked to the Asia Pacific, and that is why President Obama began the rebalance to Asia in 2009. It’s why he has asked me to redouble my own efforts in the region over the course of the next two years.

I’ve had a number of very productive bilateral meetings in the course of the last day here on the sidelines of the APEC conference with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China and other Asia Pacific allies and partners, including Australia, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand. And both the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers briefed me on the progress that they announced in their bilateral relations, and we, the United States, very much welcomed the reduction in tension between Asia’s two largest economies. I look forward to continuing these discussions and to deepening our partnerships with APEC economies when President Obama arrives on Monday for the APEC Leaders’ meetings here in Beijing. Excuse me.

To ensure that the partnerships that we talk about here at APEC are able to endure, it is really essential that we reach agreement on the rules of the road. And we need to do so through multilateral institutions where all voices can be heard. APEC is essential to upholding the rules-based system throughout the Asia Pacific. It is the best way to ensure that all of our economies, big and small economies, have a voice. And I am very pleased with the progress that we made this year on the regional economic integration and on strengthening connectivity and infrastructure development. The United States is very committed to working with our APEC partners in order to build stable regional economic order based on rules and norms that are reinforced by institutions. Our goal is to remove barriers to trade and investment so that businesses in all APEC economies can grow and create jobs and compete with other companies and other countries on an equal basis. APEC has and will continue to play a critical role in guaranteeing that.

Today, we also made important progress with China and other APEC economies on promoting women’s economic empowerment, combating corruption, supporting educational opportunities across borders, and advancing our commitment to clean energy. First, we launched the APEC Women and the Economy Dashboard. The dashboard will be a measure of progress across APEC economies on key issues for women’s economic empowerment. And it will allow us the ability to be able to measure education, leadership positions, opportunities for employment, all the different things that contribute to the ability to increase women’s empowerment in the economy. We also launched a Women’s Entrepreneurship in APEC Network. And that will link women entrepreneurs and business owners to each other and to supply chains all across the region. Frankly, that is good for business, it is good for workers, and it is good for all of our economies.

Second, we deepened our partnership with APEC economies on combating corruption. The principles that we adopted are clear and they are compelling. We are determined to prevent, detect, and effectively prosecute foreign bribery. We’re providing guidance to our businesses on how they could help prevent and detect corruption. And we are enhancing our law enforcement cooperation and we’re promoting the adoption of APEC business codes of ethics for small and medium enterprises. And we believe that this cooperation is a major step forward. Corruption not only creates an unfair playing field, it not only distorts economic relationships, but corruption also steals from the people of every country the belief that the system can work for everybody. So it is important that systems are transparent and accountable, and ultimately, that people at every level have an ability to have confidence that that system is working for everybody with the same set of rules.

We also made progress in education and clean energy. We launched an APEC scholarship, an internship initiative, to provide more educational opportunities for students in all APEC economies. We committed to doubling the share of renewables in the region’s energy banks by the year 2030. And we reaffirmed our commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies. I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is for APEC to lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. We at last have an opportunity to put ourselves on the path to a clean energy future, and that is a path that is more essential than ever because of the urgent threat of global climate change. The solution to climate change is good energy policy. And we believe today, we helped in APEC to move APEC economies to a commitment in that direction.

These efforts complement and reinforce one another. Curtailing corruption makes our marketplace more efficient and more fair. Cutting fossil fuel subsidies creates a cleaner environment and a stronger economy. Enhanced opportunities for women affect and advance the cause of social justice and prosperity. And these are all separate fronts, but actually, all of them support a single, important goal: securing an equitable and sustainable future for all of our countries.

Finally, we also discussed a broad array of challenges, global challenges – from Daesh or ISIL, from the turmoil of the Middle East, from Ebola, to climate change, to the threat of terrorism in many different places. We all understand that Ebola is a global threat requiring global action, and I particularly want to thank Japan for providing an additional $100 million for treatment, prevention, and broader efforts that will promote stability in the hardest-hit countries. Over the last weeks under President Obama’s leadership, many countries have been coming together in an effort to try to create a greater response on Ebola. Many countries have responded remarkably and they’re contributing healthcare workers, they’re contributing construction materials, medical supplies, doctors, nurses, experts, technicians, laboratories, beds, hospital equipment. Every country has an ability to do something, and we are grateful for those that are, but we need more countries to still do more.

And I want to emphasize, across the board, as a planet, all of us on this globe are not yet doing enough to be able to curb and eradicate the threat of Ebola. There are hundreds of new cases each week, and the UN has identified $1 billion in urgent needs. In my meetings over the past two days, I urged all of our APEC partners to help to meet that need with specific efforts along the lines that I just described. So we hope the response will grow, and obviously, out of that can come an enormous example of the ability of countries to come together. What we do against Ebola can actually be a model for what we can do against any other future challenge of similar kind. So this is not a one-time lost moment; this is something that can serve all of us to build a long-term infrastructure to deal with the potential of any communicable disease that can move across boundaries and borders at any time.

With that, I would be happy to answer a few questions.

MS. HARF: Our first question is from Carol Morello of The Washington Post, and there is a microphone for you too, if you’ll just hold on one second.

QUESTION: Could you provide some more details on your discussions this morning with Mr. Lavrov, specifically about Ukraine and Iran? Did he provide any assurances that Russia is committed to upholding the Minsk agreement, particularly when it comes to sending troops and tanks into Luhansk? And if there is credible evidence to the contrary, how would the U.S. respond? New sanctions or something else?

On Iran, did he assess what he considers the prospects for a November 24th agreement? And what is your sense, given the correspondence between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei, that Iran is prepared to make a deal given they – the fact they still refuse to be transparent regarding current and past use of nuclear materials?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, the meeting with Foreign Minister Lavrov was a very in-depth meeting in which we discussed a number of different crises in the following context: Obviously, the United States and Russia have some clear differences and some clear disagreements about certain policies at this point in time. And we discussed, obviously, those disagreements. But we also know that we need to find the places where we can agree and cooperate because it is important for the world to do so.

With respect to Iran, Russia has been a constructive, engaged, serious partner in the effort to try to find a solution to a problem that is not – that shouldn’t lend itself to other disagreements, but which has enormous impact for everybody and which is strategically important not just to the United States or the P5+1, but to all countries, and which can have a profound impact on nonproliferation for the long term. So Russia has been working as a constructive participant in the P5+1 process. They have made various suggestions that have helped to move the process along. And we are hopeful that over the course of the next weeks, it will be possible to close real gaps that still exist in order to be able to reach an agreement, but I’m not going to stand here and predict at this point in time what the odds of that are.

I also want to make this very, very clear: No one, to my knowledge, has confirmed or denied whether or not there is a letter or was a letter, and I’m not going to comment on what the President of the United States and a leader of another country may or may not communicate – may or may not communicate privately. I will tell you this, though: No conversation, no agreement, no exchange, nothing has created any kind of a deal or agreement with respect to any of the events that are at stake in the Middle East. There is no linkage whatsoever of the nuclear discussions with any other issue, and I want to make that absolutely clear. The nuclear negotiations are on their own, they are standing separate from anything else, and no discussion has ever taken place about linking one thing to another, one involvement with another, that I am aware of. And I’m confident I am aware of what the President has been doing and saying with respect to this issue.

The issue of Ukraine we discussed, obviously, at length, but we also discussed Syria, we discussed the Middle East peace process, we discussed other issues of concern. Suffice it to say that we do have some disagreements about some of the facts on the ground with respect to Ukraine. We have agreed to exchange some information between us regarding that. And we have also agreed that this is a dialogue that will continue. But the issue of sanctions or other issues obviously have been made clear, are that the choices Russia makes will decide what happens with respect to sanctions in the long run here.

And our hope is still that the process of the Minsk agreements can go forward, that they will be implemented, and that it will be possible over time, with their implementation, to see the border sealed, to see the troops withdrawn, and to see stability restored in a way that allows everybody to move down a path of de-escalation. But it really is up to the events over the course of the next weeks to determine whether or not that happens.

MS. HARF: Great. Our final question is from Hu Ling of Phoenix TV. The mike is coming.

QUESTION: Thank you, Secretary. I come from Hong Kong, Phoenix TV. My question --

SECRETARY KERRY: Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION: Yeah, sorry. My question concern about the China and Japan relationship. You have also mentioned about a little bit in your final (inaudible) speech, and I wonder how you – what’s your comment on the agreement reached by China and Japan, and that they finally made the top leader meeting during the APEC time? And also, do you think it’s come to a release – relief for U.S. and also other Asia country? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: What was the last part of the question? I’m sorry.

QUESTION: Sorry, I do wonder, the meeting – the top leader meeting welcomes to relief for U.S. and also other neighboring country in Asia? Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: The top leader meeting in – between --

QUESTION: Yeah, between China and Japan.

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I discussed this new agreement with both Foreign Minister Wang Yi and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan. And both of them explained to me what they believe they have achieved in the four points with respect to the agreement between them. I want to be clear that the United States welcomes this initiative. We think that any steps that the two countries can take to improve the relationship and reduce the tensions is helpful not just to those two countries, but it’s helpful to the region.

And I think it’s entirely appropriate that that particular discussion took place here at APEC, which frankly is becoming not just a place to discuss economic ideas, but also to reflect on the fact that today, the ability of economics to work requires stability and a peaceful process in place. So I think that security issues are also automatically on the table. So to have this emerge from this meeting, I think, is important.

Now this agreement is a beginning; it’s not an end. It’s the outline of steps that now need to be taken in order to really define how certain tensions are going to really be resolved. So it will be over time that this will be given a little more meat on the bones. But we absolutely appreciate the initial effort, we think it’s very constructive, and we have hopes that it can lead to a greater definition and to a reduction further of any conflict or tension in the region.

MS. HARF: Great. Thank you all very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT CEO ROUNDTABLE IN BEIJING, CHINA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks at Opening of CEO Roundtable

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew, State Councilor Yang Jiechi

Diayuotai State Guesthouse

Beijing, China

July 10, 2014

---

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Special representatives, friends of the business community, (inaudible) joining us in the Strategic and Economic Dialogue through a cultural performance, then the roundtable is a routine program of this cultural show. So I will first give the floor to State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

STATE COUNCILOR YANG: (Via interpreter) Vice Premier Wang, Secretary Kerry, Secretary Lew, business leaders from China and the United States, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. First of all, let me warmly welcome all the business leaders from China and the United States at this breakfast. I’ve seen many old friends and new friends here today. So all of the four special representatives are here, and we also have the leading figures from important ministries and agencies of China, and I think this shows – the presence of them shows how much importance our two governments attach to our business relationship. And I’ll be looking forward to the remarks from all the business leaders as well as your insights.

And business is a backbone of China-U.S. economic relationship. Over the past 35 years, our bilateral trade increased by over 200 times. It was up from U.S. $2.45 billion in 1979 to $520 billion in 2013. Bilateral investment, which was hardly in existence, grew to U.S. $100 billion last year. So without your hard work, there would not have been such big progress in our bilateral economic relationship and trade.

The businesses also drive our cooperation. Trade and investment between our businesses’ leaders – businesses not only brings goods and jobs to us, but also mutual understanding and friendship among our peoples. Over the past 35 years, we have been expanding the areas of our cooperation and have seen a big increase in our people-to-people exchanges, and we ought to thank our enterprises for their hard work.

Finally, the business is also the pillars for our new model of major-country relationship, which is an unprecedented and innovative endeavor. We need to work very hard and work continuously. And we also look forward to the active support and participation of people from all sectors so that our companies and businesses play very important roles.

And I believe that the government departments from those countries will attach great importance to your views and your comments, and we will try our best to include them into the agenda of S&ED so as to remove the obstacles for cooperation between our two – between the companies of the two sides and create a better development environment for all of you. Thank you.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Secretary Jacob Lew please.

SECRETARY LEW: Thank you very much, Vice Premier. On behalf of President Obama and all of my colleagues in the States, I’d like to thank our Chinese colleagues for hosting this morning’s discussions, and to all the business leaders who’ve come (inaudible). As we all know, we’re in the middle of our sixth U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, and over the past five years, this has really become a foundation of our economic engagement.
I think that the dialogue itself is the government-to-government engagement. But what’s really driving a lot of what we do economically is the people-to-people engagement that goes on in the business world. I think it’s important to remember that before we had diplomatic relations, we did have commercial relations. They were small, and as the State Councilor noted, they’ve grown tremendously over the last 35 years. But it began with relationships in commerce and grew into government-to-government relationships.

Today, strengthening the commercial relationship remains an important task ahead of us. It’s a way of creating economic growth and jobs in our two countries, and it’s a way to help drive the global economy forward. You, the business leaders, are the strongest champions of the robust, fair and expanding U.S.-Chinese relationship.

The United States welcomes foreign direct investment. It has been the backbone of our economy for our entire history, and we look forward to discussions that will continue (inaudible) the next few years. Foreign direct investment from China in the United States has grown tenfold, and we hope that we can, through conversations like this, continue to identify opportunities (inaudible) in both countries.

Last year marked the first time that Chinese direct investment in the United States was greater than investment from the United States into China. Chinese firms are making important contributions to U.S. output and employment and are valued members of the communities in which they invest.

U.S. firms, which, I believe, are the most dynamic and innovative in the world, likewise are contributing to the Chinese economy. And they’re capable contributing to even more of China’s efforts to transform its development model, develop its services industry, deepen financial sector reform, and improve access to capital and boost domestic demand. It’s important that these firms are able to participate in healthy competition on a level playing field that will produce benefits to both our nations and the global economy.

And that’s where each of you, the business leaders here this morning, comes in. Each of your firms plays a pivotal role in helping to propel the U.S.-China relationship forward. And with that, I look forward to hearing your comments this morning about the successes you’ve had in the collaboration, and importantly, the challenges you face where we, as government officials, can perhaps play a role to help make things easier on both sides.

With that, I look forward to hearing what all of my colleagues on both sides – the government part of the table, but mostly what the business side of the table – have to say here this morning. Thank you very much.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Secretary Kerry please.

SECRETARY KERRY: Vice Premier Wang, thank you very, very much. Thank you very much for your generous welcome here over the last 48 hours. We’re really delighted to be here with so many high-level, extraordinarily successful, confident business leaders. And I’m very happy to be joined with a very strong American delegation. Our – in addition to the Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, we have our Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, our Trade Representative Mike Froman, our Counselor to the President John Podesta, our ambassador – well, Senator Max Baucus. And we really have come here to listen to you. We want to hear your thoughts.

But I would just say as a preface to that, the State Department today is very clear that economic policy is foreign policy and foreign policy is economic policy. And all of our people – the people of China, the people of the United States, really the people of the world – are looking for their fair opportunities. That was part of the unrest that we see in certain parts of the world. Huge numbers of young people connected to everybody in the world, every day, all the time. So everything that happens anywhere is now known to everybody.

The fact is that it’s a world of rising expectations, but it’s also a world of rising possibilities. And nobody defines that more than your businesses. When half the world is still living on less than $2 a day and a large percentage of it on $1, there’s immense opportunity for growth and development. How we manage that is really what is going to define, I think, this century.
And the fact is that you’ve heard the figures. Thirty-five years ago, $2 billion of trade in goods; now, well over 500 and growing, with foreign direct investment moving in both directions – not yet even, but something we need to work at, but it doubled last year from China to the United States. We want to do better. We are in the middle of negotiating now a bilateral investment treaty. We’ll want to get that completed. We want to have an intellectual/technology trade agreement. We need to make sure we’re protecting intellectual property rights; make sure we’re creating transparency in the regulatory process; make sure that we are raising the bar for everybody in a sense, in terms of the standards by which we do business.

China and the United State represent the greatest economic alliance trading partnership in the history of humankind, and it is only going to grow. So this is a very important meeting and we really look forward to hearing from you your thoughts about how we, in the Obama Administration, can grow these possibilities, meet your needs, strengthen our countries, and strengthen the security relationship as well, which grows out of the economic relationship at the same time.

So thank you for coming today, and we thank the Vice Premier and the State Councilor for convening us.

MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) I want to thank the three special representatives for their opening remarks. Now I will open up the floor.

DEFENSE SECRETARY HAGEL STRESSES U.S.-CHINA MILITARY-TO-MILITARY RELATIONS

Right:  Defense Secretary Hagel with Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan in Beijing, April 8, 2014. DOD photo by Erin A. Kirk-Cuomo  

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
Hagel, China’s Defense Minister Build Military Relations Model
By Cheryl Pellerin
American Forces Press Service

BEIJING, April 8, 2014 – At the invitation of Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Chang Wanquan, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel visited the Chinese Defense Ministry’s headquarters here today.

Hagel met with Chang and then a larger group of defense officials before he and Chang revealed during a news conference a new model for U.S.-China military-to-military relations.

The secretary’s visit to Beijing comes in the middle of a 10-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region, during which he visited Japan and will travel to Mongolia later this week. The trip began in Hawaii with the first meeting for defense ministers of the 10 member countries of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations to be held in the United States.

“One focus of our discussion today was how we develop a new model of military-to-military relations,” Hagel said about his meeting with Chang. “We’ve just finished a very good meeting,” the secretary added, “during which I restated that the United States is committed to continuing to build a constructive and productive relationship with China.”

Hagel explained that the United States believes its approach should be to build a sustained and substantive dialogue, deepen practical cooperation in areas of common interest, and manage competition and differences through openness and communication.

In each area, he added, there is much work to do, but the nations are making strong progress.

“As General Chang announced, we agreed today on several new ways to improve our military-to-military relationship,” Hagel said. First, the U.S. and Chinese defense agencies will establish an army-to-army dialogue as an institutionalized mechanism within the framework of the U.S.-China military-to-military relationship.

Second, the secretary added, “we agreed to participate in a joint military-medical cooperative activity. This will build on experiences gained at the 2014 Rim of the Pacific exercise, a U.S.-hosted multilateral naval exercise that China will participate in for the first time this summer.”

Third, Hagel said, the defense agencies will establish an Asia-Pacific security dialogue between the assistant secretary of defense for Asia-Pacific security affairs and the director of the Chinese Defense Ministry’s foreign affairs office to exchange views on a range of security issues.

“This dialogue will build on the discussions Gen. Chong and I had today on regional security issues,” the secretary said, “including North Korea and the growing threat posed by its nuclear and missile programs.”

Hagel added that continued instability in Northeast Asia is not in China’s interest, and that the United States is deeply concerned about the threat North Korea poses to U.S. treaty allies and, increasingly, to the homeland.

“The United States and China have a shared interest in achieving a verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.

Hagel and Chang also discussed tensions in the East and South China seas.
“I underscored that all parties should refrain from provocative actions and the use of intimidation, coercion or aggression to advance their claims,” the secretary said. “Such disputes must be resolved peacefully and in accordance with international law.”

Hagel noted that yesterday he toured China’s aircraft carrier, met personnel aboard the ship and had an opportunity to listen. He will later speak to officers at the National Defense University and is looking forward to visiting with noncommissioned officers, whom he characterized as the backbone of all militaries.

“Exchanges like this at every level of command are critical for building mutual understanding and also respect, Hagel said. “Our vision is a future where our militaries can work closely together on a range of challenges, such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions.”

To reach this objective, the secretary said, “we must be candid about issues we disagree about, [but also continue] to deepen our cooperation in areas where we do agree. We have many common interests, and we agree on many things.”
Regarding cybersecurity, Hagel emphasized the need for the United States and China to be more open about each other’s capabilities and intentions in this critically important domain.

“Greater openness about cyber reduces the risk that misunderstanding and misperception could lead to miscalculation,” he said. “More transparency will strengthen China-U.S. relations.”

The U.S.-China relationship is important for stability and security in the Asia-Pacific, and for achieving prosperity for both nations in the 21st century, the secretary added.

“As President [Barack] Obama has said,” Hagel noted, “the United States welcomes the rise of a stable, peaceful and prosperous China.”

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS ON POLLUTION IN BEIJING, CHINA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks at Cummins-Foton Joint Venture Plant
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Cummins-Foton Joint Venture Plant
Beijing, China
February 15, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. Thank you very much, Steve Chapman, Vice President of Cummins-Foton. And I’m very, very grateful to Foton and Cummins for inviting us here today, and thank you all for taking a few minutes to be with us.

I’m delighted to be joined up here by the American Ambassador to China, who is leaving in a few days, and we’re very grateful for his work – Gary Locke, thank you very much. (Applause.)

I’m also here with a very important individual who helps to make many of the decisions that help to advance the issue of climate change response, and he is the Vice Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. I’m delighted to see Vice Chairman Xie here. Thank you very much for being with us. (Applause.)

And I want you to know – excuse me – I want you to know that just now, as we were here, we’d been completing our meetings and Vice Chairman Xie made some very important phone calls and succeeded in completing our agreement with respect to some steps we are going to take to move the climate change process forward. And I’m very grateful to him and the leaders of China for their rapid and important response on this issue.

Jim, you may want to twist that up a little towards you. There you go.

And we’re also pleased be here and I thank him for his help in making this possible – the Foton Chairman Xiu. Thank you very much, sir. (Applause.) Thank you.

And finally, we have our special – the American special representative on climate change, who represents me in all of our – and the President in all of our negotiations, and that’s special representative Todd Stern, and I thank him for his important work here. (Applause.)

One of the most important challenges that we all face here in China, in America, in Europe and other countries, particularly where there’s a lot of industry and development, is how do we improve the quality of the air that we breathe and at the same time reduce the greenhouse gas emissions which contribute to climate change? To be successful, it is going to take the cooperation of China and the United States – not just our governments, but also our industries. I just toured this amazing facility, and let me tell you, what you have built here is really a blueprint for the businesses of the future. Not only is the facility modern and clean and state-of-the-art, but the workers are well paid and the benefits are good, and there is collaboration between what happens here and what happens in the United States.

I learned that this past year, the Foton-Cummins plant received a huge shipment of equipment from Michigan. And for that to happen, before any of that equipment gets here, there are people back in Indiana, in the United States, who are doing research and development. In fact, hundreds of people in the United States and right here in Beijing – all of you – have jobs because of what is going on here at this facility.

So we’re not just improving lives by building cleaner engines, which you see right here, and making it easier for people to breathe; we’re not just transforming the way we use and produce energy – we are also creating jobs and strengthening our economies by moving towards clean energy, clean technology, alternative and renewable fuels.

But here’s the truth that we all need to think about: In order to meet the global and the economic challenge of climate change, undeniably all of us are going to have to do more. China and the United States together are the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas. Together we account for almost 40 percent of all of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. President Xi and President Obama have joined in agreeing that we both have a special role to play in reducing those emissions. And we all know that air quality is really a fundamental part of a decent quality of life for people.

We know where the problem starts. Approximately 22 percent of the air pollution here in Beijing, and more than 25 percent of climate pollution in the United States, comes from cars, trucks and buses that are on the road. Now, a lot more comes from power plants and the fuel that’s used, depending on what the fuel is, for those power plants. But we have to come at this issue step by step. And one of the big steps that we can take is to build cleaner engines, like you are building here at Foton-Cummins.

So we have to build cleaner engines that run on cleaner fuels. And how does that happen? It happens through innovation – innovation that the Foton-Cummins plant makes happen every single day. Innovation like making a cleaner engine. Innovation like making a car or a truck that can go farther, a longer distance on fuel with fewer pollutants coming out of it. Innovation like finding ways to take an old truck or an old car and change the way that it provides its power and can run on clean fuels.

Above all, innovation depends on governments sending the right signals. China has already committed itself to ambitious fuel-quality standards so that the engines run on cleaner fuel. During Vice President Biden’s most recent visit, we agreed to move even more aggressively in reducing emissions and cleaning up air pollution that comes from heavy-duty vehicles. And when these cleaner fuel standards are fully implemented, everyone in China will benefit.

People everywhere, in every country, whether it’s in Beijing or in the streets of Washington, D.C., people want healthy air for themselves and for their children. Last year, when I was here, we joined together with our – with China’s leaders in what we call the Strategic & Economic Dialogue. Within this dialogue, we have launched five initiatives as part of our Climate Change Working Group. I’m very pleased to report today that we have completed implementation plans for those five initiatives on heavy-duty vehicles, on smart grid for the delivery of energy, on carbon capture, utilization and storage, on energy efficiency, and finally on collection and management of data.

I’m very pleased to also announce today that the leaders of China have agreed to join us in a mutual effort – China and the United States will put an extra effort into exchanging information and discussing policies that will help both of us to be able to develop and lead on the standards that need to be announced next year for the global climate change agreement. This is a unique cooperative effort between China and the United States, and we have hopes that it will help to set an example for global leadership and global seriousness on the issue of next year’s climate change negotiation.

And finally, I’ll end by saying this, and you’ve all been very patient. Thank you. There is a great Chinese proverb that speaks to the question of adapting to change. We would be wise to take it to heart today. The proverb says that, when the wind changes directions, there are those who build walls and there are those who build windmills. Today, not only are we on the side of building windmills, we’re actually building something better. We’re building cleaner engines and making cleaner fuels. We’re building wind turbines and solar panels. We’re building new technologies to help us respond to the challenge of climate change.

Two world powers, the two largest economies in the world – China and the United States – are joining together in order to help power the world in a new way and help to make better quality of life for all citizens.

So we want to thank you, all of you, for being part of this larger challenge, this larger mission. We’re grateful to you for the work you do here, and we thank you for building engines that are moving us forward in more ways than one. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN BEIJING, CHINA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Solo Press Availability in Beijing, China
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
JW Marriott Hotel
Beijing, China
February 14, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: I know you all have been waiting a while, so my apologies. Our meetings ran a little longer than anticipated, and you’re patient, and I appreciate it very, very much.

It’s a pleasure for me to be back in Beijing, and particularly tonight with the Festival of the Lanterns and the start of the Lunar New Year, the Year of the Horse. And the Lunar New Year always, here and in other parts of this region, is an exciting time, a time of renewal, as it is for everybody, and a profound sense of optimism, I think, as we heard from the leadership throughout the day.

It’s an auspicious time to visit, and I want to thank all of the leadership of China – the president – President Xi Jinping and the premier, the state councilor, and the foreign minister – for their generous welcome, and for the in-depth and serious conversations that we had today on almost every subject of concern between the United States and China and the region.

I want to emphasize that President Obama and the United States take our role in the Asia Pacific very seriously. As President Obama and I have made clear on any number of occasions, we are committed to strengthening our enduring presence in this dynamic region, and to working with our partners in order to promote long term stability and prosperity. And I think everybody knows that the United States has been a Pacific nation for almost all of our history, throughout the 1800s, 1900s, and now into the 21st century. And our partnership with China is critical to our effort to provide for that stability and prosperity.

As the world’s two largest economies, we really have a particular role, a particular set of responsibilities that we can exercise, and together, if we exercise them in concert with one another, we have an opportunity to make real progress, and also to send important signals to people throughout the world – people who are watching China rise and wonder where it is headed, and people who watch the United States continue to exercise its leadership and to press for the expression of our values and our interests to be met according to the rule of law and according to the highest international standards.

Our partnership with China we view as one of great potential. It is one that is continuing to be defined, and we are convinced that both regional and global challenges that we face, China and the United States, when they can act together in concert with common purpose, have the opportunity to be able to make a significant difference.

As President Obama and President Xi made clear at Sunnylands last year, they are committed to building an historic bilateral relationship based on two most critical elements: one, practical cooperation, and two, constructive management of differences – and there are differences, and we were honest about that today.

In our meetings, we had an opportunity to discuss particularly some key issues, and I’ll just review those very quickly for you. First of all, we spoke about the commitment that the United States and China share to achieve a denuclearized North Korea, as well as the special role that China can play in helping to make that goal a reality. We agree, along with our international partners, that the DPRK must take meaningful, concrete, and irreversible steps towards verifiable denuclearization, and it needs to begin now. I’m pleased that at every level in all of our conversations today, China could not have more forcefully reiterated its commitment to that goal, its interests in achieving that goal, and its concerns about the risks of not achieving that goal – in terms of what it might mean, in terms of stability on the Peninsula, as well as the potential for an arms race in the region. I encourage the Chinese to use every tool at their disposal, all of the means of persuasion that they have, building on the depths of their long and historic and cultural and common history that has brought them together – though while not allies, they have a relationship.

We also discussed – excuse me – we also discussed climate change and clean energy. And this is another area where we are already cooperating closely and where we are looking for even more cooperation. The United States and China, unhappily, are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gasses on the planet, and they contribute together as a result to the fact of climate change. Together, the United States and China account for some 40 percent of the carbon pollution that is released into the atmosphere. It is imperative for us to work together in order to ensure that an ambitious international climate agreement that the united – the UN Climate Summit in 2015 can be achieved. So we talked about that today.

On my last visit to Beijing, last April, we took an important step forward when we came together to launch the climate change working group. That is working, and they are engaged, but there’s a lot more work to do as the science that has been pouring in over the course of the last year tells us every single day, and as the facts on the ground with droughts, fires, and disasters, and acidification of the ocean, and other things happening at an increased pace, it is more urgent that we join together to respond to this problem.

So we need to implement the initiatives that the climate change working group has already identified, but we need to do more than that. We need to see if working together we could identify any further steps that we may be able to take, specifically with respect to arrival at meaningful targets with respect to the 2015 climate change conference that will take place in Paris in December of next year.

In addition, it’s also important that we make good on the promise that was made at Sunnylands last year when our presidents agreed to face down the hydrofluorocarbons – or HFCs, as they’re called. And HFCs are some of the most potent climate pollutants in the world. And if we follow through on all of the fronts that are available to us, we have an opportunity to make real progress in the fight against climate change.

In addition, today, we spoke about our shared interest in preventing Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon. Our close cooperation, which we agreed will absolutely continue, will go a long way towards helping to make the P5+1 negotiations continue. There are many areas where we are able to cooperate closely. But it’s equally important for us to acknowledge areas where our governments disagree and where, most importantly, we need to take steps in order to manage those disagreements appropriately and constructively.

In that spirit today, we did discuss – had a frank discussion about some human rights challenges and the role of rule of law and the free flow of information in a robust, civil society; the challenges of the cyber world that we live in today; the economic challenges; and I emphasized that respect for human rights and for the exchange of information in a free manner contributes to the strength of a society in a country.

Recent arrests of peaceful advocates for reform run counter, in our judgment, to all of our best interests and the ability to make long term progress. I emphasized today that the United States remains concerned about these situations here in China, human rights situations – especially with respect to the Tibetan and the Uighur areas.

I also expressed our concern about the need to try to establish a calmer, more rule-of-law-based, less confrontational regime with respect to the South China Sea, and the issues with respect to both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. And this includes the question of how an ADIZ might or might not come about. We certainly expressed the view that it’s important for us to cooperate on these kinds of things, to have notice, to work through these things, and to try to do them in a way that can achieve a common understanding of the direction that we’re moving in, and hopefully a common acceptance of the steps that are or are not being taken. Certainly, with respect to the South China Sea, it’s important to resolve these differences in a peaceful, non-confrontational way that honors the law of the sea and honors the rule of law itself. And we encourage steps by everybody – not just China, by all parties – to avoid any kind of provocation or confrontation and to work through the legal tools available.

I think it’s important that the same approach of rule of law clarify whatever claims are being made by any party. That’s why we have – the United States, though not yet ratified, lives by and will follow the rules of the Law of the Sea, and we hope others and everybody else chooses to do so, too.

I also shared our interests in China and ASEAN making rapid strides in negotiating the code of conduct, and I think China’s ready and wanting to try to achieve that goal. That would help reduce tensions that stem from the territorial and maritime disputes, and in the meantime, it’s very important that everybody build crisis management tools and refrain from coercive or unilateral measures to assert whatever claims any country in the region may have.

Finally, on Syria, which we also discussed, I stressed the importance of China’s support in the United Nations for the Security Council efforts to help deal with the planet’s greatest humanitarian crisis today. The Syrian people have gone without humanitarian aid for so long that there are people starving to death – children, women. There have been horrendously graphic pictures of both torture and starvation that have indicated the craven depravity that is the hallmark of what is happening in Syria today. And the Syrian people deserve to have the international community stand up and fight for them, since they are not in a position, most of them, to be able to fight for themselves. It is important for the Security Council to speak to this. And I underscored today that no country should stand in the way of increased humanitarian access for the Syrian people, and we are going to continue to press for that.

Our cooperation, frankly, on issues of enormous importance in the world should not go unnoticed. China and the United States are cooperating on big-ticket items. We’ve worked together in the P5+1 on Iran. We’ve worked together on Afghanistan. We have worked together on Syria. We are working together on other issues like South Sudan and the prevention of violence there. And we appreciate enormously the Chinese efforts with respect to those kinds of initiatives. Not many people know that that kind of cooperative effort is underway.

I think today we agreed that it is important for us, as the two most powerful economies in the world, to look for the opportunities to be able to work together and try to cooperate, to try to manage the differences, but most importantly to engage in a practical cooperation that can have an influence on other countries in the world that wonder where these two great powers are headed. And I found today constructive. I thought the tone was excellent. It was frank. There were some differences, needless to say, but they were managed and handled exactly as they should be, in an appropriate exchange and an appropriate kind of discussion. And my hope is that today, particularly with respect to the climate that we discussed, where were are going to work again some more tonight, and even tomorrow morning I have a meeting and I hope out of that will come further definition to the steps that we want to take, and also with respect to North Korea, where we both had thoughts about how to proceed, and I think we both are taking them under advisement. And I will certainly report back to President Obama on what may or may not prove to provide a road ahead. And that is certainly our hope.

So I look forward to the rest of my meetings and to continuing our work with our Chinese partners on these many issues. And I look forward to taking some questions.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Arshad Mohammed of Reuters.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, did you make any tangible headway in getting specific assurances from China that they would actually pursue their maritime claims in line with international law or that they would actually submit them to some kind of international or diplomatic process, such as actually starting negotiations on an ASEAN code of conduct? Or did you not actually get assurances on any of those?

And you’ve made reference to discussing the importance of cooperating on declaring ADIZ. Did you specifically warn China against unilaterally establishing a second ADIZ in the South China Sea? And did you specifically say, as a senior NSC official recently said, that if China did so it – the United States could alter its military posture in the region?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I’m not going to go into all of the specifics of the conversation, except to say that yes, we did discuss this specific road ahead with respect to resolving these claims in the South China Sea. And the Chinese have made clear that they believe they need to be resolved in a peaceful and legal manner, and that they need to be resolved according to international law and that process.

And I think they believe they have a strong claim, a claim based on history and based on fact. They’re prepared to submit it, and – but I think they complained about some of the provocations that they feel others are engaged in. And that is why I’ve said all parties need to refrain from that. Particularly with respect to some of the islands and shoals, they feel there have been very specific actions taken in order to sort of push the issue of sovereignty on the sea itself or by creating some construction or other kinds of things.

So the bottom line is there was a very specific statement with respect to the importance of rule of law in resolving this and the importance of legal standards and precedent and history being taken into account to appropriately make judgments about it.

With respect to the ADIZ, we have, indeed, made clear our feelings about any sort of unilateral announcements. And I reiterated that again today. And I think hopefully that whatever falls in the future will be done in an open, transparent, accountable way that is inclusive of those who may or may not be concerned about that kind of action. But we’ve made it very clear that a unilateral, unannounced, unprocessed initiative like that can be very challenging to certain people in the region and therefore to regional stability. And we urge our friends in China to adhere to the highest standards of notice, engagement, involvement, information sharing, in order to reduce any possibilities of misinterpretation in those kinds of things.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Paul Richter.

QUESTION: Just to make clear on the DPRK issue, you said that the Chinese voiced their commitment to taking action on this. Did you receive a specific commitment from China to do more to try to prevent North Korean provocations?

On a second issue, President Obama last Friday said that, because of his frustration about the lack of a solution to the Syrian war, that the Administration is reviewing, once again, the options to do more on Syria. I wonder if you could address that. Is the Administration thinking about doing more than providing humanitarian aid and perhaps non-lethal assistance? Have options been presented to senior officials?

SECRETARY KERRY: What was the first part of the question?

QUESTION: About the DPRK.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Did you receive a specific --

SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah. On the DPRK, China could not have been more emphatic or made it more clear that they will not allow a nuclear program over the long run, that they believe deeply in denuclearization, that denuclearization must occur, that they are committed to doing their part to help make it happen, and that they also will not allow instability and war to break out in the region. They believe it has to be done in a political negotiation and through diplomacy. That is their preference.

But they made it very clear that if the North doesn’t comply and come to the table and be serious about talks and stop its program and live up to an agreed-upon set of standards with respect to the current activities that are threatening the people, that they’re prepared to take additional steps in order to make sure that their policy is implemented. And when I say “their policy,” their shared policy together with the other participants of the Six Party group and those in the region. And there is a very firm commitment to achieving that.

Now what we’re talking about are some of the specifics of how you do that. And they put some ideas on the table, and we put some ideas on the table. And both of us are taking those under evaluation. I will report back to the President those things that the Chinese thought might be helpful, and they are taking under advisement – I shared with each leader at each level our thoughts about what must be done and what we need in order to proceed forward. And they have agreed to take that under advisement. And we will continue this dialogue in the days ahead in a very serious way with a great sense of the urgency of time and purpose.

With respect to Syria, the President is always considering the options. This is not a one-time thing. But I think it is fair to say that because of the increase of the humanitarian crisis, because of the unwillingness of the Assad regime to engage fully in Geneva I talks – which is the sole purpose of Geneva II, to implement Geneva I. And Geneva I makes it clear that you have to have a transition government with full executive authority arrived at by mutual consent. Those are the terms.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has stood up beside me in Moscow, in Paris, in Geneva, and elsewhere – not beside me in Geneva, but said in Geneva that is the purpose of our doing Geneva II. There is no question about what this is about. And any efforts to try to be revisionists or walk back or step away from that, frankly, is not keeping word or keeping faith with the words that have been spoken and the intent of this conference.

So it is clear that the crisis of Syria is growing, not diminishing. There’s been a 50 percent increase in the number of external refugees. There’s a 33 percent increase in the number of internally displaced people since last October, when the presidential statement was passed at the United Nations. Almost nothing positive with respect to those refugees or the internal displacement has happened. In fact – what am I saying? – it’s gotten worse, dramatically worse, since the UN issued a presidential statement, which was all that could be achieved because of the opposition of certain countries.

So now we’re back at the United Nations because the situation demands that the civilized world stand up and fight for those people who are the victims day to day of violence that comes from barrel bombs dropped from helicopters and from Scud missiles fired on innocent civilians and starvation and siege that is being laid to over 200,000, 250,000 people trapped in places where they can’t get food. This is grotesque. And the world needs to take note and figure out what the appropriate response is.

President Obama said at his press conference with President Hollande of France that he is deeply concerned about it and deeply concerned about the fact that at Geneva the talks are not producing the kind of discussion of transition government that they are supposed to. And so he is, indeed – he’s asked all of us to think about various options that may or may not exist. The answer to the question have they been presented, no, they have not. But that evaluation by necessity, given the circumstances, is taking place at this time. And when these options are right and when the President calls for it, there will undoubtedly be some discussion about them.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all very much. Thanks. Appreciate it.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN'S REMARKS TO AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN CHINA AND U.S.-CHINA BUSINESS COUNCIL

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE 
Remarks by the Vice President at a Breakfast with the American Chamber of Commerce in Beijing and the U.S.-China Business Council

St. Regis Hotel
Beijing, People's Republic of China

10:12 A.M. (Local)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  (Applause.)  Thank you very much.  And I'm so late you probably thought you were going to hear from the 48th Vice President of the United States.   (Laughter.)  I apologize.  I always, when I’m late at home, always blame it on the President.  But I can’t do that today, and I apologize for keeping you waiting.

I remember 220 years ago, when I was in college, you only had to wait 10 minutes for a professor, 20 minutes for a full professor.  The only full professor in the Biden family is my wife -- you didn’t have to wait this long.  But thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak with you all.

Let me begin by saying one thing about competition.  I’ve told this to Vice President Xi and then President Xi, in all the time I had to spend with him, is that one of the things that has happened in the last 20 years, as the world has become more competitive, it’s awakened the competitive spirit in the United States.  Competition is stamped into our DNA.  And if there’s anything remotely approaching a level playing field, we’ll do just fine -- just fine.

And so I want to thank the American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. Business Council for inviting me here today.  You are living the U.S.-China relationship every single day, and you know the opportunities, but you also know the obstacles.  And it’s great to be back together one last time here in Beijing with our Ambassador, Gary Locke.  I say one last time because he is going to be heading back to his home state of Washington after a very distinguished career, which I don’t think is anywhere near ended, as both governor, member of the Cabinet, as well as the Ambassador.

And Gary and I were speaking this morning as I was -- there was a telephone call, they said I’m required upstairs.  And one of the things I like about Gary -- there’s no member of -- no governor or member of Cabinet that I have enjoyed working with more, because Gary speaks English.  By that, I mean not English versus Chinese; I mean plain versus complicated.  (Laughter.)  And so when Gary speaks, everyone understands exactly what he means.

And as you know better than I, communication is the currency, and particularly the currency that is needed most here in China.  He’s been an Ambassador to the Chinese government, but also to the Chinese people, and he will be missed.  I remember, I was here shortly after Gary arrived and every newspaper you’d pick, even though I don’t read Chinese, I’d see Gary’s picture -- because he connected.  He connected immediately with the Chinese people as a representative of our country and knowing -- the Chinese people knowing he was reaching out not just to the government, but to them.

I had a chance since I’ve been here -- it’s been a very rapid visit, and it’s been 14-hour days, but very useful -- I had a chance to talk with Vice President Li, and I will spend several hours -- and I spent I guess almost four and a half hours with President Xi.  And I’m honored that he would give me the time to go into such detail, both in a private bilat with him as well as an expanded, as well as a lovely dinner he hosted for me and a few of my colleagues.  Later, I’ll be meeting with Premier Li.

And I want to talk to you about much of what -- some of what I’ve talked to all of them about and what I believe to be are next steps in the U.S.-China relationship.

We’re trying to build a new kind of relationship between major powers, one that’s different, one that is defined by constructive cooperation, healthy competition, and a shared respect for an agreed upon new set of rules of the road and international norms for the 21st century.

After World II, our grandfathers and fathers and mothers put in place a structure that accommodated the economic change that took place in the world and set up a new set of rules of the road for the remainder of the 20th century.  We’re in a different place now.  You all know it better than I do.  We use the phrase in colloquial conversation in all our countries that it’s a “global economy.”  But it’s truly a global economy -- a global economy.

My colleagues always kid me about quoting Irish poets all the time.  They think I do it because I’m Irish.  I do it because they’re the best poets.  (Laughter.)  And William Butler Yeats wrote a poem called Easter Sunday 1916, about the first rising in Ireland in the 20th century.  And he had a line in it that better describes, I would argue, the Pacific Basin in the year 2013 than it did in his Ireland in 1916.  He said, "All is changed, changed utterly, a terrible beauty has been born."

We’re at a moment, a window, as they say, of opportunity.  How long it will remain open remains to be seen -- where we can potentially establish a set of rules of the road that provide for mutual benefit and growth of both our countries and the region, that set down sort of the tracks for progress in the 21st century.  I think it is that profound.  I think that’s the place, that’s the inflection point we are at in our relationship now -- not only with China but the entire region.

And so the only path to realizing this vision for the future is through tangible, practical cooperation and managing our differences effectively.  We’ve not tried this before.  We’ve not tried this before.  This is going to be difficult.  But if we get it right, the outcome for our children and grandchildren can be profound -- profoundly positive.

But to move this relationship forward, there is no substitute for direct and personal engagement between leaders.  President Xi pointed out to me, because I had an opportunity when he was vice president to spend some considerable time with him at the request of President Hu and then -- and President Obama.  He made indirect reference to -- there was a famous American politician named Tip O’Neill, who I admired a great deal and was sort of a mentor when I was a young 29-year-old senator coming into Congress.  And he’s famous for having said all politics is local.  Well, I believe all politics is personal, including international politics.

Personal relationships are the only vehicle by which you build trust.  It doesn’t mean you agree, but trust to know that the man or woman on the other side of the table is telling you precisely what they mean, even if you don’t want to hear it.  That’s why President Obama asked me to make this visit, and that’s why President Xi and I spent so much time together yesterday discussing in great detail a whole range of issues we face together that are difficult for both of us to navigate in our own political system.

These were very candid conversations.  I know it shocks you to think I would be candid.  I know that’s a shocking assertion. No one has doubted that I mean exactly what I say.  The problem is I sometimes tend to say all that I mean.  (Laughter.)  But because our relationship is so complex, getting it right isn’t going to be easy, and it’s going to require direct straightforwardness with one another about our interests, our concerns and, quite frankly, our expectations.  And that was the nature of the discussion yesterday.

Let me start with economics, not because this is a business audience, but because ultimately what matters most on both sides is our ability to deliver better for our people without it being viewed as a zero-sum game.  I have said since I met with Deng Xiaoping as a young senator, with very senior senators, that China’s economic growth is very much in the interest of the United States of America -- very much in our interest.  In my meetings with President Xi, he and I spent a good deal of our time discussing the outcomes of China’s third plenum.  China’s leaders have stated their ambition to move China toward a system where the market plays a “decisive role.”  That is a very, very big order that will require on the part of -- and I’m confident he possesses it -- the leadership of this country and the President.

But, in fact, many of the reforms China’s leaders are proposing actually match the priorities we have raised with China over the years.  Leveling the playing field for private and foreign-owned companies -- it’s going to be a difficult, difficult transition.  Protecting intellectual property and trade secrets, which is essential.  It’s not a surprise that a number of American companies are coming home in their manufacturing.  Why?  Well, we have very productive workers, but also we have court systems that are totally transparent.  Intellectual property is protected.  It matters.  And I think it’s becoming apparent to our competitors around the world that it matters for their own economic growth.  Opening service sectors to private and foreign investment and moving to market -- to a market-demand exchange rate.

These are welcome steps, but they will be difficult steps, and there’s no need to wait till 2020.  Again, the Chinese leadership in private has been very candid with me about the difficulty, but the determination they have to meet this, by any standard, very ambitious goal.  Of course, what matters most at the end of the day will be implementation.  There’s an old Saxon expression -- the proof of the pudding is in the eating.  The proof of the pudding is in the eating.  But I have no doubt that President Xi and his leadership and his primary advisors intend on, mean to, are committed to making the third plenum a reality. But it is going to require substantial commitment and follow-through.

Reform anywhere is challenging.  There are always intense interests.  I know you all are so happy about our views on Wall Street reform -- not easy, but a minor -- a minor -- change compared to what the Chinese leadership has taken on.  But the more China delivers on its proposed reforms the strong our bilateral trade and investment relationship will be.

And there's a lot of work to do, and I know that many of you have concerns that need to be dealt with in the process.  There are a number of areas where, in the next two years, we can and should make progress immediately.  We have an opportunity to improve intellectual property protection, resolve outstanding trade disputes that are holding us back.  We have an opportunity to significantly expand our cooperation on energy and climate change -- where we have overwhelmingly mutual interest.  Helping China achieve new vehicle emission standards and energy-transparent goals is that we committed to this week.

Implementing our agreement on HFCs -- we have an opportunity to protect the health and well-being of our people by increasing the safety of food and drugs.  And today we've agreed on increase of the number of U.S. inspectors who are operating in China.

We have an opportunity in the months ahead to make significant progress in negotiating a bid, a bilateral investment treaty and much more.

The third plenum also speaks to social and political reform and identifies some important near-term steps that they want to implement -- an end to China's program of reeducation through forced labor, easing the one-child policy, a commitment to deeper judicial and legal reforms.  Any major economic power in the 21st century, these are all going to become essential requirements in order to sustain growth, in my humble opinion, through the first half of the 21st century.

As was pointed out yesterday by the President, quoting back to me, I always say I never tell another man his business, or suggest to another leader what's in the interests of his country. But the interests laid out in the third plenum seem to be very much in our mutual interest.  There are many more steps China can take to open its politics and society as well as its economy.  And as I've said before, this is actually, from our perspective, in China's interest, notwithstanding it's for them to determine their interest.  Because history tells us that innovation is the currency of 21st century success.  Innovation thrive where people breathe freely, speak freely, are able to challenge orthodoxy, where newspapers can report the truth without fear of consequences.

We have many disagreements, and some profound disagreements, on some of those issues right now, in the treatment of U.S. journalists.  But I believe China will be stronger and more stable and more innovative if it respects universal human rights.

I was asked why we always talk about human rights.  The point I try to make wherever I go in the world when that discussion comes up is we are a nation of immigrants.  The vast majority of your ancestors who came to America came because their human rights were being violated.  It is stamped into the DNA of Americans.  No President, no matter how much he or she would like to avoid speaking to it, is able to remain silent without suffering consequences from the American public.  It is who we are.  Not that we're the citadel of human rights; we have much progress to make ourselves.

As businesses know well, prosperity critically depends upon predictability and stability.  The United States and our allies have guaranteed peace and security in this region for more than 60 years, providing the conditions for the remarkable economic progress in the region, particularly China.  Our relationship with China is complex, though.  We have our differences and they are real.  But there's nothing inevitable about a conflict with China -- nothing inevitable about a conflict with China.  Wholesome competition and strong competition is fundamentally different than conflict.

In fact, we see considerable common interest on the security side.  A secure and peaceful Asia Pacific enables economic growth for the entire region.  This area of the world is going to be the economic engine of the 21st century; in halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction, including North Korea, to stabilizing nuclear missile program, where we have real cooperation; in greater access to affordable and clean sources of energy.  It's easier to begin to talk about that in the United States and in China because as -- my President kids me -- I often say reality has a way of intruding.  Reality has a way of intruding.  And it has intruded in both our countries in terms of global warming and the effects on air quality -- storms, natural disasters.  And it is overwhelmingly in our mutual interest that we share the capacity each of us may have to deal with a more healthy environment.

We need to keep building practical cooperation and manage areas where we do not see eye-to-eye.  Everybody focuses on where we disagree with the Chinese.  We disagree with our allies in other parts of the world.  But China's recent and sudden announcement of the establishment of a new Air Defense Identification Zone has, to state the obvious, caused significant apprehension in the region.

And I was very direct about our firm position and our expectations in my conversations with President Xi.  But I also put this in a broader context.  The Asia Pacific region will be the driver of the global economy, to repeat myself, in the 21st century, and as China's economy grows, its stake in regional peace and stability will continue to grow as well because it has so much more to lose.  That's why China will bear increasing responsibility to contribute positively to peace and security.

That means taking steps to reduce the risk of accidental conflict and miscalculation, and reaffirming -- reaffirming that we want to have better predictability and refraining from taking steps that will increase tension.  And it means pursuing -- this means pursuing crisis management mechanisms and effective channels for communications with its neighbors.

These are some of the things I discussed with Chinese leaders.  The United States has a profound stake in what happens here because we need, and we are, and will remain a Pacific power diplomatically, economically, and militarily.  That's just a statement of fact.

When I first visited China back in 1979, as has been pointed out, I came to the conclusion then that I still share now, that China's economic growth then I thought would be good for, and now I am confident is good for America and the world.  But it has never been inevitable.  It takes work to build trust and make a habit out of cooperation, to be clear, predictable and straight with one another when we disagree, and to escape the traps that set other powers before us down a path of conflict.

That is the work of leaders and diplomats, but it is also of citizens and businesspeople like all of you assembled before me. I believe that our success or failure in building a U.S.-China relationship that will define the world for our grandchildren to live in depends not just on political leaders, but on you as well.  I believe that the shared prosperity that you help create is part of the glue that will hold together this relationship.  So I thank you.  I thank you for your commitment.  I thank you for your hard work.  I thank you for staying in the game.  And I wish you all a great deal of luck because your success strengthens the entire relationship.

And if we get this relationship right, together China and America, the region and the world will be better off for it for a long time to come, and that is not hyperbole.  That is -- as an old Western movie used to say in America, that ain’t brag, ma’am. That's just fact.  It is a fact that if we get this right the prospects for the 21st century being peaceful, secure and everyone sharing in the growing prosperity is real.

So thank you all for what you do.  And may God bless you all and may God protect our troops.  Thank you very much.  Appreciate you.  (Applause.)

REMARKS BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE DAVIES ON NORTH KOREA

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks to Press at Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Remarks
Glyn Davies
Special Representative for North Korea Policy 
Tokyo, Japan
November 25, 2013

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: What I would like to do very much – first of all, let me thank you all for coming out. I appreciate that very much. I would like to say something at the beginning since it’s been a long visit here to North Asia and I’ve had good talks in Tokyo. First of all, I want to thank Director General Ihara and Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary Kanehara for giving me so much time today here in Tokyo. We had very in-depth and useful talks, and I believe that our visit here today and the talks I’ve had in Tokyo today demonstrate our close collaboration on North Korea.

We talked of course about the nuclear issue. Japan and the United States are in complete agreement, complete sync about that. We also talked about North Korean human rights – we’ll do more of that in a minute at lunch – and touched on the abductions issue. And we’ll again have more to say about that at lunch. I want to reiterate again, as I always do here in Tokyo, about how we in the United States share the pain and the suffering of abductee families and the Japanese people and pledge once again that we will work tirelessly in cooperation with Japan to try to resolve this important matter.

But as I wrap up a very productive week in the three key North Asian capitals – Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo – I want to report a strong convergence of views on North Korea. All of us are in quite close alignment, and I believe Russia, an essential partner in the Six-Party process, agrees that we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state. There are of course some differences among the five – but not at all among the three allies, who are in complete solidarity – but some differences over secondary issues such as the precise threshold or timing of talks, but there is unanimity on what North Korea must do: North Korea must abandon its nuclear weapons and agree to begin that process.

So we are looking for concrete indications from Pyongyang of its commitment to do that. This is because the core purpose of the Six-Party process is the complete, verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula on a clear and quick timetable.

North Korea, however, is moving in the opposite direction. They have made clear through words and actions that they reject that premise. We have heard them say repeatedly that instead they demand acceptance as a nuclear weapons state, that they demand prior lifting of sanctions, that they demand a weakening of the U.S.-ROK alliance, which has kept the peace on the Korean Peninsula now for 60 years. I’ve spoken – I did so in Beijing – about North Korea’s “Byungjin” policy of prioritizing nuclear weapons development, which I call a dead end.

I also want to underscore that Pyongyang’s attempts to engage in dialogue while keeping its program running are completely unacceptable. So it’s understandable, we believe, after so many broken promises, after the nuclear and missile tests, the threats against its neighbors and the United States, that not just its negotiating partners in the Six-Party process, but the international community writ large would have high standards of evidence to measure North Korean intentions.

That’s why the United States and its allies call on North Korea to make convincing indications, take concrete steps to demonstrate its seriousness of purpose. We will continue this process of joining with our partners – especially China, given its unique role – to keep the onus for action on North Korea.

With that, I’m very happy to take any questions that you have.

QUESTION: Could you be more specific about what is the concrete step you want North Korea to take?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Well, this is now a matter of diplomatic discussion among the diplomatic partners in the five-party process, so I don’t want to go into a great deal of detail now. We’re talking about this between governments. We commend China for its tireless efforts to try to move forward on this discussion of what the appropriate threshold for Six-Party Talks would look like. My friend and colleague Ambassador Wu Dawei was just in Washington, some weeks ago, and we had the opportunity there to talk about it, and of course I followed up in Beijing on that same subject. And of course the discussions we had in Washington with separately the ROK and Japan, and then we had a trilateral session, and then again out here in the region – all are meant to define to our collective satisfaction what the threshold for talks should look like. So with your permission I do not plan at this stage to go into a great deal of detail about it.

The North Koreans know full well the kinds of things that we are looking for and talking about. We’ve been at this diplomacy now for a generation, through bilateral talks, trilateral talks, quadrilateral talks and Six-Party Talks, and we’ll keep it up.

QUESTION: Ambassador Davies, what is the U.S. currently doing to pull its citizen out of North Korea, and did you discuss it with the allies?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Of course. This issue of the fate of American citizens who are in North Korean custody is one that we’ve raised – that I’ve raised at each stop, but particularly in Beijing, given their relationship with North Korea. I’m not going to get into, again, the specific discussion of the measures that we’re taking, but I will use this occasion to once again call on North Korea to make the right decision and to respect our concerns and let American citizens who are there go free. I also want to commend our Swedish protecting power. The Government of Sweden has been magnificent in trying every day to work on these issues in Pyongyang with the North Korean government, and that is very important. It is very important to us that this be resolved, that it be resolved quickly.

QUESTION: There have been reports that it is Mr. Newman who has been detained. Can you confirm that identity?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: I’m not at liberty to do that. We have a law that we take very seriously in the United States called the Privacy Act, and because there is no signed Privacy Act waiver, I’m not in position to speak specifically about that issue, out of respect for the law.

QUESTION: Ambassador, your opening remark was very strong, and it comes obviously after the deal with Iran. Is the United States ready to deepen the sanctions, to make the sanctions more strict, to make them more effective?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Well, look, I’m glad you raised that. I actually – since I knew you’d raise the issue of Iran, and this gives me an occasion to talk about it, so let me say some general things about that, since I know it’s the topic of the moment. Other than the nuclear denominator, the cases could not be more different, frankly, between Iran and North Korea. The two states, simply put, are on opposite sides of the nuclear weapons divide. I would point you to the remarks just made by Secretary of State Kerry. He pointed out that there is the very significant difference on the treaty on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons that, as I think many of you know, North Korea is the only nation on earth to have first signed that treaty and then renounced its signature. Iran is a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty. Also North Korea has said repeatedly, with increasing frequency, has asserted that it is a nuclear weapons state. They have now placed provisions in their constitution to enshrine that. They’ve sought acceptance as a nuclear weapons state. Iran in contrast has pledged not to build nuclear weapons.

But the starkest contrast of all – and I think this is the most important point to make – is that in the 21st century, North Korea is the only nation on earth that has exploded nuclear devices. They’ve done it not once, not twice, but three times.

There are other differences between the two cases. North Korea walked away from its membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, the agency where I spent several years representing the United States, that is now under the direction of Director General Yukiya Amano. Iran is and has always been a very active and engaged member of the IAEA although we have often had differences with them in the past. I would also remind that I’ve alluded to this before, that North Korea has elevated the pursuit of nuclear weapons to one of its two strategic priorities in its “Byungjin” policy that I spoke to a minute ago.

One way the cases are similar – and I think this is very important – is that pressure, particularly in the form of sanctions, do play a critical role. Sanctions helped convince Iran to agree to this interim deal that’s just been announced. We believe sanctions and pressure are key to sharpening the choices that Pyongyang faces. So given North Korea’s continued flouting of its international obligations and international law, given its testing of nuclear devices, given its repeated threats of nuclear attack, its elevation of its nuclear weapons program pursuit to its highest national priority, we will continue to keep pressure on North Korea, to keep the screws to North Korea.

But it’s pressure not for its own sake; it’s pressure with a purpose, and this is important because what we seek is a negotiated, diplomatic solution to this long-running problem. Here we believe we are making progress with our partners to define an appropriate threshold for resumed multilateral talks, and we will keep that up.

QUESTION: There have been many rumors that the two countries, Iran and North Korea, have been cooperating on nuclear programs. How do you address these concerns?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Well, proliferation is a concern. It’s a big concern, and it’s something that we work on every day and about which we have conversations with our partners. I’m not going to get into what we do or don’t know about the state of affairs between North Korea and Iran. That would dip into intelligence matters which I can’t comment on, but this issue of proliferation of the spread of nuclear technologies, in particular from North Korea, remains an area of key concern to us, and of vigorous action.

QUESTION: Ambassador, regarding the sanctions, are you suggesting that we don’t have the right level or the right mix as we stand?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Sanctions are always a work in progress. I mean, I think that there are always more sanctions we could put in place if needed. But what I want to put the emphasis on here is what I said at the end of my earlier remarks, that we want the sanctions to help clarify for Pyongyang the choices that they face. If they continue to defy the international community, pursue nuclear weapons and missile technologies, all they will do is continue to isolate themselves, quite frankly to impoverish their people, to keep North Korea outside the community of nations. So we’re saying to North Korea – and we’re doing this increasingly with one voice across not just the six parties, not just the northeast Asian region, but across the world – take a different approach; take a different decision; come in the direction of the concerns of the international community; give up your nuclear weapons; pledge to eliminate your nuclear program; stop this relentless pursuit of these technologies; stop threatening the outside world, testing weapons and declaring yourself at odds with the international community.

If you do that, there is hope going forward for diplomacy, but we’ve seen just the opposite. I’ve detailed that. I won’t go back into that. And that’s why we’re so concerned, that North Korea seems uninterested in meeting the concerns of the international community, and that’s where pressure and sanctions come into play. And so we will keep the pressure on North Korea, and if necessary if they cannot in the near term go in a different direction, we’ll have to ramp up that pressure in order to continue to try to bring home to them that this is a mistake, it’s not in their interest, and that if they wish a better relationship with the United States, their neighbors in the world, they have to give up the nuclear weapons.

QUESTION: What is the latest (inaudible)?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: I’ve talked about this before. I actually talked about it at length in Beijing, and I don’t want to really repeat myself. What I said was that it remains a matter of some wonderment that they haven’t understood that if, as they say, they want a better relationship with the United States, one thing they could do is release these Americans and answer our calls to take seriously our concerns about the fate of those being held there. And you know Kenneth Bae has been there for over a year. He’s been in North Korean custody longer than any American in quite a while. His family is understandably concerned. We talk to them frequently. They are keeping their hope up, and I believe that’s the case with the family of the other individual concerned. And we want them to know that we’re with them, and we’re doing everything we can to convince North Korea to let these men go.

QUESTION: The current level of sanctions hasn’t quite persuaded North Korea to think as you suggested. Is it time for a different tactic?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: Well, that time will come soon, but we’re not there yet. There’s still room for diplomacy. We’d like to get something going here, and that’s why the pace of diplomacy has increased, to see if we can’t agree on an appropriate threshold for Six-Party Talks. But at the same time, we keep up our pressure. We keep up our sanctions, and if we do not see signs of North Korean sincerity, if they do not act to demonstrate that they understand they must fulfill their obligations to give up their nuclear weapons, then there is more pressure that will be brought to bear on them.

QUESTION: Did you give them a deadline?

AMBASSADOR DAVIES: You know, I’m not in the business of giving deadlines. I’m not going to do that. Let me – if there’s one more question, I’m happy to take it, but I’ve been invited to lunch by Director General Ihara, and I would not like to be rude. I want to show up for that lunch, so any other questions here? No? Excellent. Thank you very much for coming here and listening to me. I really appreciate it. I look forward to seeing many of you in the near future either in Washington or back here in Tokyo. Thanks again. All the best.