Next and look at you as tiny relations and differences and opportunities for partnership between the nations. Former u. S. Trade purpose and the Michael Froman was joined by an official with the Chinese Communist party for the discussion, hosted by the council on Foreign Relations. Good morning, everybody. My nameik is mike from, presidet of the council on Foreign Relations and its a great honor for me to welcome you to our event this morning, the conversation with minister liu jianchao who is the minister of the International Department of the Central Committee off the communist party of china. In addition to the people in the room today, the members and room today have over 400 cfr member participating virtually and we p will have an opportunity to ask question both from people in the room and from people on video as well. Minister luc will give some short remarks, will have a conversation ourselves then well openn it up to questions. Its a great a pleasure to welce minister liu to the podium, please. [applause] welcome, Michael Froman, dear colleagues and members. Good morning. I wish to begin by thanking the council on Foreign Relations for the kind invitation. Also Michael Froman for his kind words. The cfr is renowned for its global reach, and also unique role in shaping American Foreign policy. The four Affairs Magazine has been my must read since i joined the Foreign Service at a very youngt age. It is also contribute to many states of the thumb of chinau. S. Relations over the years. Also i would like to take this opportunity to express chinas deep appreciation for your sponsorship of the welcoming dinner for president xi jinping in San Francisco. So it is to limit on it and delight that dr. Michael froman, other cfr colleagues, the great audience here in this room and online for joining the conversation. So now i would like to share with you what china is doing at home and abroad. I will start with chinas domestic policy. For now and a long time to come, the major and central task at home is to advance the modernization drive. The central economics conference concluded four weeks ago, reviewed chinas economic work and planned for 2024. Further clarifying what kind of Development China pursues and how to achieve it. China will use high quality developments. Chinas Development Remains imbalanced and insufficient. The extensive growth model is to be followed, that mainly pursue highspeed resulted in many problems. We therefore have to adjust the growth model to put more emphasis on quality rather than speed. D. Highquality Development Must be driven by innovation and technological progress. So that reminds me of january 1979 when comrade joe shopping and president carter signed at the white house xi jinping on cooperation in science and technology, providing institutional guarantee for the scientific ever since then weve made in joint research between two back countries on science and technology. China stand ready to Work Together with the United States to truly implement the San Francisco mission, and bring chinau. S. Scientific and. S technological exchanges back to the right track. And where also will china ignore the government as it talks more about security . Indeed, china has highlighted the importance of the security just as other countries, too. We believe highquality development can only be achieved in a highly secure environment. But what we pursue is a balanced and positive interplay between security and development. And we will never ignore developments as it holds the key to solving all the problems and challenges in china. China pursues high standards opening up. Last year marks the 45th anniversary ofhe chinas reform and opening our policy. This policy hasol transformed china tremendously. I was born in the 1960s, and i witnessed the sheer contrast right before and after the policy was adopted. China will remain committed to the policy and keep its doors open. Going forward china will continue to expand institutional opening up with regard to rules, regulations, and management to create a market oriented law based business averment that meets the international standards. In the process we will try to address the concerns of the american businesses such as Market Access to the service sector, crossborder flow of data, and equal participation in government procurement. In the same mind we hope the United States keeps its marketsr open and provides the Chinese Companies with equitable, just, and nondiscriminatory Business Environment as well. So another question is, will china become more inward looking as it talks more about selfreliance . China has accelerated its efforts to foster a new Development Pattern that is focused on the domestic economy, and features positive interplay between domestic and International Income flows. But let me be very clear. For domestic circulation to function well, it does need Stronger International cooperation. More foreign trade, and better use of fdi. We benefited from these in the past, and chinas first joint venture Automobile Company beijing jeep was in partnership with the United States. And the first holy Foreign Owned Company to operate was also from the United States. We understand our success comes from not onlyy our own hard wor, but also the cooperation with the world, and we are determined to strengthen such cooperation. China pursues steady performance. In recent years we have endeavors to keep our economy stable while taking incremental steps to sustain progress. We focus on creating a stable environment, securing peoples livelihoods, and avoiding big fluctuations in growth, employment, and inflation. In the same time we have strived to make through waste and highquality development by transforming the growth model humanizing the structurema and shifting the driving force which in turn sustains the good momentum with daily growth for the long run. Another question would be compared with the precovid era, chinas economy is slowing down. I think that we need to put this issue in perspective and bear in mind twoer factors. Number one, chinas economic aggregates. For china, the growth rate of 7. 7 in 2013 means the 660 u. S. Dollars increase of economic aggregate, while iversen of growth in 2023 means 900 billion u. S. Dollars increase of economic aggregate. That is to say, one percentage point of growth now roughly equals 2. 1 Percentage Points of growth ten years ago. Number two, the quality of chinas economy. Thanks to innovation which has already become the primary driver of chinas economic growth, the quality of our economy keeps improving. On top of that, the vast market demands stable macro policies and ample room for monitoring and fiscal policies, chinas economy has sound fundamentals and good s potential. And china pursues grain development. We have made unprecedented efforts to advance grain, low carbon development. At present, nearly half of the worlds installed capacity is in china. Over 50 of all new Energy Vehicles in the world are now running in china. On onefourth of the worlds total increased for station is contributed by china. Emitter gases which i know should bear more responsibility in addressing climate change. Climate change is caused by both current and historical munitions. As developed countries contribute to over 70 of the global total accumulated emissions, theyy should show greater responsibility. Yet, china is trying hard to make the sharpest reduction in Carbon Intensity in the world, and achieve Carbon Neutrality in the shortest time span in world history. Colleagues, chinas strategic goal is grand and yet simple. That is to deliver a better life for more than 1. 4 billion Chinese People. To achieve this we are working hard to advance chinas and president xi jinping recently stressed during the central conference on work, on economic, sorry, on work relating to Foreign Policy that chinas Foreign Policy in the new era should aim at creating a more favorable international for chinas modernization dries and building human communities of future. China remains firm in pursuing and independent Foreign Policy of peace and is committed to Peaceful Development. China is the only country to incorporate its commitment of Peaceful Development into chinas constitution. And recently we have adopted the law of foreign nations which explicitly f stresses again chinas commitment to peace and the path of Peaceful Development. Since the founding of the peoples republic of china we have all along have a good record on peace. We have never revoked conflict or war, or occupied a single inch of foreign land your president xi jinping reiterated during his recent visit to the United States that china will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone. People in our nation have our own way of dealing with each other, which values peace and above everything else, and seeks Peaceful Solutions towards disputes. China doesnt seek to change the Current International order, much less reinvent the wheel by creating a new International Order. We are one of the builders of the current world order, and have benefited from it. We will continue to uphold the International System of the u. N. At i its core and International Order by International Law and the basic norms governing international relations. The Human Community with a sad future is about an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful worldif that enjoys lasting pea, universal security and common prosperity. To build it we have proposed the Global Development initiative, the Global Security initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative as the strategic guidance, and the belt and Road Initiative as a practicing platform. Colleagues, this year marks the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations between china and the United States. Looking back, we see that this relationship has brought tremendous benefits to our to make peoples and other peoples in then world. During the summit meeting in San Francisco, president xi jinping put forward five pillars for chinau. S. Relations, and the future oriented San Francisco mission. What is needed now is not waiting for debating, but to act upon it. We should strengthen dialogue and communication. My visit this time is to have candid exchanges from people across the American Society on how to implement the San Francisco vision. Were herean to promote dialogus for legislatures and Political Parties of the two countries as we believe communication is the only wayhe of increasing common understanding. President xi jinping has announced that china is ready to invite 50,000 Young Americans to visit china on the exchange and Study Programs in the next five years. As we y speak, the the govet agencies in china, universities and Civil Society organizations are gearing up to send out invitations here can my department is also ready to join them to invite Young American political leaders to visit china and get some firsthand experiences. As china and the United States should probably managedi differences. Having engaged with each other for such a long time, both china and the United States no to well each others interests and red lines that can never be crossed. For china that taiwan question is at the very core of the hot interests. Its the red line that must be crossed. And we take serious the statement of the United States not supporting taiwan, and we hope that the u. S. Side will honor this commitment. We should expand mutually beneficial operations. Mutually beneficial operations brings benefits to our two peoples, and adds certainty to our relationship. This is what we have learned from the past 45 years of interactions, and some say we must continue in the future. Our two countries can cooperate on wide range of areas from trade, agriculture, to Law Enforcement and artificial intelligence. Take our corporation in fentanyl as an example to support the u. S. Endeavor to combat fentanyl abuse at home. China has a scheduled all the fentanyl analogs as controlled substances since 2019, the first country to do so in the world. And during the summer meeting, the two sides agreed to put in place a working group on countering narcotics, greater cooperation on more fronts, and were looking very much forward to concrete and visible durables. China and the United States will Work Together to address common challenges. The success of the 28th s once again proven that china and the United States can accomplish big and good things when working together. As the world has entered a period of turbulence and transformation, people of all countries are counting on china in the United States to take the lead in resolving more global issues and offering more public goods. China stands ready to work with the United States to shoulder responsibilities and make new contributions to human progress. So i thank you very much for your attention and i will be very much looking forward to take your questions. Thank you. [applause] thank you very much for playing that out for us. You mentioned the recent work conference, the Foreign Affairs work conference, where i understand one of the issues discussed was how to make sure theres a correct understanding of china. As a trustworthy, lovable, and respectable country. Now, at the same time president xi was going to the medical relations a struggle. He asked his diplomats to engage in a fighting spirit and he called for diplomatic iron army. Are we likely to see a return to war your diplomacy, and how is that lovable . [laughing] [inaudible] a kind of warrior policy analyst to talk about, to that diplomacy, but let me talk about the kind of iron diplomatic economy, he really means the diplomats, chinese diplomats both at home and around the world have been well, junior, in terms of making sure that they have very strong work hard, not really something about a kind of wolf warrior, quoteunquote. So i dont come as i think the fundamental goal of chinas diplomats would be to contribute their efforts in making sure that chinas arrangements with other countries be warm and cooperative, and by that we mean that we try to create a favorable international environment. Lets talk about one of those relationships. The relation between china and russia. When president xi met president putin, he allegedly said right now there are changes the like of which we havent seen for a hundred years and we are the ones driving these changes together. What did he mean by that . What are those changes and what does come you mentioned in your remarks we dont seek to create a new world order. At how d. C. Russian and china working together to modify the existing world order . I think its that really limited only to china and russia. I think one of the features, the global transformation would be the collective emergence of the developing powers, i mean the rapid rise, emerging economies including china, russia, india, brazil. So i think basically when we are talking about the trends would be the rise of the emerging economies. Certainly china and russia are part of the transformation powers. So i think that the chinarussia relations is strong and we really enjoyed Good Neighbor relationship and also very strong strategic partnership. So i think that such rising between china and russia benefit not only chinese and russians, we do need each other and we also Work Together to ensure that the International Balance of power, and that will ensure the peace and stability on the eurasian continent and also the world at large. So i think that the relationship is useful for the two countries. Also useful for the region and the world. You mention in your remarks, and now chinas, the importance china places on peace and think the defendant apiece. China has also been very outspoken about the infallibility of sovereignty. How do you reconcile that with chinas support for russias attack on ukraine . I dont believe you when you say china supports the military operation on ukraine, because we do believe that sovereignty and territorial must be respected. [inaudible] concern of the country regarding in this context, russia must also be very well addressed pics i think in terms of sustained peace and stability in the world, i think that there should be a balance of addressing of all the concerns of all countries in the world. So i think the ukraine crisis is more complex than it appears to be. So we believe that the oil deposits that are involved in the conflict and crisis, which are trying to find out in a safe manner, and how to bring in the end to the crisis as soon as possible because we have already come the has already suffered from the spillover effect of the ukraine crisis. So i hope that the United States and nato members and eu partners should work to find out which would be the right way to move about. Doesnt meant you feel russia should withdraw from ukrainian territory . Sorry . Doesnt mean china urges russia to withdraw from ukrainian territory . I think we do want to see an and added toie believe that when we talk to the russians, they are showing that having peace talks with ukraine. So we support that. Lets talk about another region. Have close relations with iran. You have been p playing, china s been play more of a role in the middle east helping to broker an agreement between iran and saudi arabia. We now have iranian supported houthi forces interrupting the flow of ships in the red sea. No country is more dependent on the free flow of products from one pc to another then china. Are you concerned about this and are you urging iran to urge the houthis to stop interrupting this important trade route . I common we do stand very strongly for peaceful navigation of cargo ships and a part of the world because it is essential for the world economy, but im not talking, im not commenting on iran is supporting the houthis. In its operation. Re we were talking about the conflict. [inaudible], not involved of any kind of support of hamas in the attack on israel and did not really know beforehand that the attack was going to happen, so they do not give any military support or advice to the hamas. I think they are being very important in this regard. You dont believe that iran is whether they knew about this particular attack, iran is supporting hamas and training them, equipping them, supporting hezbollah and directing them and supporting houthis, you dont see iran playing a significant role . It is an influential country in that region. Dont have the specific information in terms of what is going on. The middle east issue is more complicated than just a palestinian israeli conflict. I mean there are various factors, you know, racial factors, and, you know, ethnic factors, religious factors as well, so i think that thats why were talking about the comprehensive security concept when all these concerns and factors should be addressed because you cant really say, you know, theres this one factor, behind all the other factors, so i think even with the conflict between the israelis and palestinians, i think the world should take a more action in stopping the conflict there and also the humans would not suffer more the loss of life and also suffering. Lets talk about u. S. China relations. You said the 45th anniversary of our normalized relations. Were heading to an important year we are in an important year, including Election Year here in the United States. Minister has said cooperation is no longer an option but imperative. What specific areas of cooperation do you think the u. S. And china can Work Together on . What would you expect to see as the expect to see as deliverables, over the course of 2024. I dont see any area and covering the United States if the two countries have correct perceptions, good policies will be possible, so, theres a tremendous potential for, you know, the largest developed country and the Worlds Largest developing country in the world and potential in the past. So, i think the possibility and personality are all there, but now, i think that its the United States to develop a you i ep kind of have a direct understanding of chinas intentions. And china will naturally become more powerful with the economy, the ministry and other areas as well and chinas intention is basically to deliver a better life for chinas people so we dont have any hidden agenda and we have in mind the mutually beneficial cooperation will be possible and i think the thing i dont really want to name the areas, we can talk about trade, economy, agriculture, Law Enforcement and even cooperation in addressing Global Energies and people around the world who have strong expectations of the two countries to Work Together and other parties in the world, such as the Global Energies, which is a must for china and the United States. As you said, chinas to deliver for its people. The economy has slowed down and facing a number of challenges, one of the messages that president xi and chinas leadership the last year, theyre open for business and welcome Foreign Investments to come back, at the same time a number of actions around implementation around chinas laws, espionage and National Security that has had a Chilling Effect on foreign invests, officers detained and offices raided. Can china do anything to clarify how it intends to implement and enforce the laws in order to give some clarity and greater certainty to Foreign Investors . Well, i think it would be the first place that thats not to well, theres going to be such unnecessary rhetoric that such things do take place because antiespionage law and other laws are necessary for china and in the United States, everyones stricter, espionage laws and thats why the United States is using these laws to create for Foreign Investments in china and the espionage is something that is being played up unnecessarily and i have never heard of story that, you know, any foreign Business Office has been raided while on and the law regulates the data flow is necessary for china, but we are ready to explanation and also to convince that china is the country that you can have good opportunities for development. Lets switch to taiwan and then one more question and then open up to the audience, so please be ready with your questions. In 1975, chairman mao told secretary of state kissinger. 1979 . 75. 75, story, yes. Quote, if you were to send taiwan back to me now, i would not want it because it is not desirable. There are a large number of counter revolutionaries there. 100 years hence we will want it. Were half a century away from 2075. What would mao say about the taiwan question in 2024 . The unification of china and also has always been the dream of the Chinese People, so, i think that this is the firm and clear and strong policy of the Chinese Government and aspiration of the Chinese People. Apart from that, i think theres no need to explain the issue. All right. And at his dinner in San Francisco, president xi said were ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation. When are the pandas coming back . I hope theyre coming back as soon as possible. Will they come back to the national zoo in washington d. C. . It depends on you. Theres a David Rubenstein panda house in washington. I hope that it will be. Excellent, ill be happy to give up my house. Let me correct you if we give you a panda, instead of a giant panda, two kind of panda, panda and giant panda, and giant panda. The black and white one. All right. Well look for the giant pandas. Thank you for the clarification. Let me open it up to questions, please. Here is a mic coming to you. Please yourself. Im with the china institute. My first introduction to china was through julian as a student studying to go over there as a young boy and delighted to hear that youll support the 50,000 students with president xi. My question about western media, we talk about misunderstanding and misperceptions that the u. S. Has about china and i think that the u. S. Audience relies heavily on reporting from western media. Theres a bad history, i think, i would say between western media and china and its filled with mistrust and misunderstanding. Im wondering if you agree that western media is important to the way that the u. S. Sees china and if yes, what can china do to help improve that reporting and coverage . Thank you. Very important, indeed, since i used to be the director general for the information department, so i was basically working with the foreign press, including the western press. Very important, indeed, and every time i think in china, amounted to about 800 so thats quite a lot. Basically beijing and some other parts of china and other places. I think thats played an extremely Important Role in serving as had a brace between the Chinese People and people all over the world. So, people do read Foreign Affairs and people do read other journals and magazines and newspapers and well, i think also read online. And very important. We take china has always been taking a supportive position or encouraging foreign journalists to come to china and report and see china for themselves and for china in the reasons. Its true that we have differences, between when journalists come to china that do see china in a way thats different from our expectations, because we believe that china is like this, but they are approaching china in different way and sometimes create some difficulties, but the main strain of things. So, china is open not only to the Business People, but also to western and global and international media. But there were some between china and the United States in some years before and you know, the Chinese Media was here in the United States, media, and the label, foreign agents or Foreign Missions and so, thats kind of between them as kind of a difficult time between the Chinese Government and the u. S. Government. And working together on media. But i hope that that could be mended. And also, covering foreign journalists reporting in china, theres also laws and regulations, for example, in penalty right after the games there was a lot of changes from the previous regulations and which really paved the way for more Accessible Information in china, but i hope that the china and the media could really work in a more strong way to make sure that our peoples understand each other better. Thank you. Dan. Thank you very much, dan. Coming back to the performance of the chinese economy, as you noted, china has now become globally, systematically important economy if the estimate of china is very high, that leads to big estimate to feed chinas needs in places like africa. Is there concern and discussion in beijing, an overestimate of chinas macroeconomic growth could aggravate belt and road countries, zambia, for example, the spillover effects of the Chinese Statistics on home over more fragile developing countries . Thank you. China has actually been working for a long, long time even during the difficult time of chinas economy like in the 1970s. China was a very useful helping hand for the African People and countries in building at that time even, you talk about that and suddenly you know about the Zambia Railway and thats when china even during a time when it was for themselves, were trying to offer a helping hand and even when chinas policy reform and opening up, even working more close, more closely together with other countries. So when we talk about chinese economy, chinese economy now is doing well and were stronger than we used to be and stronger than we were 10 years ago. So 10 years ago is the time when chinas belt and Road Initiative was proposed. So we will now, now today in we are in a very stronger and better position to work with countries that are involved in the belt and Road Initiative, and in building the connectivity, structure, and trade and things, so i think that were not really in any burden on the countries that are involved in the belt initiative. And chinas assistance and chinas cooperation with these countries are warm welcomed for these countries. And take for example, the country where i used to work, indonesia. Now we are seeing launch of the jakarta train. When i was there it took me five hours at midnight to travel from jakarta and now only 40 minutes. So the train is running at 350 kilometers an hour. Yes, a tremendous amount of money was spent on that train and on the railway and i asked the indonesia president you should not only look at the cost of the railway, but the benefits, the financial benefits, the economic benefits, the social benefits. When we have the trains there in place, you know, and than just building the railway itself because when its there the railway is not there, what people have in mind if that, you know, how much money that we are going to spend. When we have the railway, we think about how much money were going to make with that railway. So theres been fundamental change, you know, of peoples approach towards this kind of connectivity built in and if were building. So, i think a lot of people are talking about that problem of the other countries and china is not the major country to that problem in that continent. Thank you. Yes, right here in front. Thank you for coming today, ambassador. Israel was the first state in the middle east to recognize the peoples republic of china in 1950. And over the more recent years, you have developed very strong economic relations with israel. In fact, our second largest trading partner and i think, also, managed part of the port of haifa right now. Yet, over october the 7th, china has not yet condemned the terrorist attack on israel and despite the fact that you yourselves have been victims of islamic terrorism in the past. Could you explain why that is when i understand that you have relations with the arab countries, with iran, et cetera . But you could still maintain those relations or while still condemning that attack and would you do so today . Let me correct you. Well, let me say that we appreciate the fact that israel was one of the first countrys that recognized china and for many, many years, china and israel have really very good and cooperative moments with each other and also, our people share a lot of those good emotions for each other, so, thats the fundamentals of chinas relationship. And when it comes to the general picture of the crisis and issue, china does stand on the side of their countries. I dont need to explain more on that, but what i want to correct you is on the very first day of the attack, china did condemn the attack on the civilians. So, you can check the record to find that, but now the overuse of force and the obvious revengeful by the israelis on palestinians is something that is also unacceptable to us and that results in tremendous humanitarian suffering rises. So, we do hope that the crisis, the conflict could come to an end and the israelis should stop behaving in such a manner and so there could be restoration of order and china does see eye to eye with many countries in the world that the plan, so when you talk about the israelipalestinian conflict, i do believe that the u. N. Resolutions must be adopted and you know, that people are condemning hamas, this is correct in a way that on the civilians, impact them. But on the other side, the israelis should also think about their behavior in building fences, in the settling on Palestinian Land and driving the palestinian out. So the palestinians people they should have the right to come back to their homeland, to restore their sovereignty and also to establish their own country. So i think that a lot remains to be done and there needs to be international defenses and concerted efforts. Were going to the virtual audience for a question. Well take our next question from trudy ruben. Please accept the unmute now button. Hi. Thank you for doing this. International affairs columnist. Sir, the Taiwan Election is coming up this week. Everyone is very focused on how china will react to the results and if the dpp candidate vicepresident should win, china has denounced him as a separatist, but maintain the status quo and engage with china. What would be chinas reaction if the dpp should win this election . Thank you very much for the question, but at this juncture what i want to say is that chinas position on the issue remains clear, strong, and unchanged. So, thats what im going to tell you. Thank you. Yes. Im katie from the new york times. First i want today affirm on behalf of my industry colleagues we would welcome the opportunity to report more from china in the future. But my question is actually about Chinas Nuclear arsenal. Could you comment on what effort china is undertaking to build its current arsenal and what potential for cooperation between china, the United States, and russia, there is in terms of new rules around use and testing of those weapons. Thank you. China does attach great boldness to the Nuclear Authority in the world and china made it very clear that china will not on the very first day that china developed the nuclear bomb we say that china will not be the first one to use the nuclear bomb and china will not use the nuclear bomb against any country, a nonnuclear country. You know, we have the common the nuclear work and can never before and were concerned about the such a big arsenal of Nuclear Weapons in the world and many come to negotiations and dialog. I think that the United States and russia should take the lead in having negotiations between themselves, thank you. We before i have a question about hong kong, this is something that a lot of foreign Business People are interested in, especially since 2019 and the protests then and the adoption next year of the National Security law, hong kongs status as an International Financial center has somewhat declined. You can see this in the number of people. Hong kong Business People and foreign businesses, moving to singapore, et cetera. And i wonder if it wouldnt make more sense now for china to show a little leniency toward people involved in the protests . Im thinking especially of the entrepreneur jimmy li and the announcement that china put a bounty on five protesters who lived overseas. Simply from a pragmatic point of view, trying to establish hong kong as a trade center, wouldnt it be to turn the page on that rather than keeping it in the international eye. Thank you for that. And i think a number of facts about this question. Number one is that china actually hong kong, despite the time of a period of anarchy and violence, well, hong kong remains the financial center, number one. Number two, when youre talking about pragmatic terms, hong kong should be a place that is also ruled by law, and governed by law. So if theres any company that is moving out to other places, its not because of the return to order, for normal in hong kong. And the incident or the situation of 2019 continuing, could the foreign contest sustain leaving hong kong. And its very simple. So we dont want to have the kind of situation where anarchy and disorder prevailed in that part because, you know, its disastrous for hong kong, we managed to put order in hong kong and i think thats welcomed by the foreign Business People as well because weve seen hong kong with the business in hong kong save and hong kong will continue to be governed on basic rule formula of systems, and that remained unchanged, but in any trying to sabotage the order and the situation in hong kong, theyll not be tolerated and that would be, you know, dealt with in order with the law. Thank you. Yes, and twothirds of the way back. Behind you, yeah, and then come back. Jeff laurent, its nice in spoens to trudy rubens question the policy of china toward taiwan is unchanging awn unchangeable although youve opened civil relationships that the communist party had expelled from the main lands 75 years ago, but it does raise the question if one is seeking to bring the two sides together, what space the communist party in china is prepared to give to that or any other Chinese National party to operate on the mainland side and give some sense what your relations with taiwan may be and for give me for asking about a your fascinating biography, discipline inspection, discipline inspection is like what federal does to politician ins new jersey or uniformity in some way . I prefer to take your second question. [laughter] china, the unification of china, as you said, is very clear. So long as there could be communications and talks between mainland and actions in taiwan and we stand for we hope to see communications between on the basis of one china policy and principle. If i started my career as a diplomate in 1986 and then that led me up to asia and then assistant foreign minister. And then there was a very Strong Campaign in the communist party of china on strengthening the building of the party and one of the of this campaign would be to fight with a stronger hand against corruption because at that time corruption was really bad and rampant in china and that was dangerous for, for the party and for china, the country. And people hated that. And there was a phenomenon or you know, some government officials, civil servants, members of the communist party when the committed corruption and become criminal suspects they tried to flee to escape the punishment. So they ended up with fleeing china to other parts of the world. And certainly the United States was one of their destinations. So i think that they decided to have somebody who is more experienced in National Cooperation and for this job is interNational Cooperation in Law Enforcement. So then they chose me. I dont why, but that happened. So the there are two elective committees with the communist party of china and one is the Central Committee of the communist party which is headed now by the general secretary and theres another elective committee, which is the Central Committee. And the committee is under the leadership of the Central Party committee so there are two committees so basically you could tell from the name, its more about fighting corruption. Its more of about punishing people who are who have violated the charter of the communist party of china and also the people who vee late the violate the chinese law. They violate not only the charter of chinese party, disobeyed the rules and also violated the law. So when they flee the country, nothing to be done about them, but then we decide to take them back with the support and help from our colleagues from other countries. Here in the United States we did help from the department of justice and your then Security Department. Homeland Security Department. Homeland Security Department so we managed to get them back on the basis of the u. S. Law and on the basis of chinese law, we did have really various cooperation with each other, bring back, take them back to china and that was really in accordance. In line, in conformity with leaving no safe haven for corrupt people and we do express our strong appreciation for the Law Enforcement demand, the United States for helping china. And in the province and the prevention level, the central level, also to committees that the provincial committee and the Party Committee also, same thing at a lower level. But i was chief of that commission. And that gave me a lot of the you know, i do believe to bring justice to the people. Thank you. A lot more questions, but unfortunately, we have no more time. Let me say, i think china is very fortunate, mr. Minister, to have you in this position where you can explain independence policies. To say youre an in sheeps clothing. Cspan is your unfiltered view of government funded by these Television Companies and more, including charter communication. Charter is proud to be recognized as one of the best internet providers and were just Getting Started building new infrastructure to reach those who need it most. Charter communication support cspan as a Public Service along with these other television providers. Giving you a front row seat to democracy. Be uptodate in the latest in publishing with book tvs podcast about books, with current Nonfiction Book releases, plus, best seller lists, as well as Industry News and trends through insider interviews. You can find about books on cspan now, our free mobile app or wherever you get your podcasts. Tod on cspan, the house is back at 10 a. M. Eastern for general speeches, followed by legislative business at on. Meers are considering legislation to directs the u. S. Government that excludes chinese officials, if peoples republic o China Threatens taiwan. An also a bill for the china towards taiwan. And at 10 a. On cspan 3, the House Homeland Security committee holds itsirst former hearing on impeament inquiry into Homeland Security secretary alejandro mayorkas. You can watch on the free cspan now video app or online at cspan. Org. Watch cspans 2024 coverage on the ground in iowa with president ial candidates for the final week before the caucus. And hear the Campaign Speeches to caucus goers and experience what its like on the campaign trail. Watch our live coverage of the Iowa Caucuses on the cspan network. Cspan now, free mobile app or cspan. Org campaign 2024. Cspan, your unfiltered view of politics. New jersey democratic senator bob menendez talks about the federal indictments hes facing on the floor, and he warned that the charges against him could have implications how other lawmakers could conduct business in the future on behalf of their state. The latest indictment alleges that senator menendez took bribes to help to secure company to