Time it recognizes that our 2nd tier parties are rogue states such as north korea and iran and finally dealing with violent extremist organizations will likely be an enduring threat for years to come being in europe i know that there has been much discussion about the challenges from russia so this morning i want to focus on the pentagons top concern the peoples republic of china next year will mark the 20th anniversary of a decision that fundamentally altered the course of International Affairs chinas admission into the World Trade Organization i was working in the United States senate at the time and 2 competing arguments over chinas membership dominated the public debate. The prevailing notion of the day was that if we allowed the p. R. C. In the b. T. O. And other multilateral institutions china would continue on its path of economic reform and eventually become a market oriented trading partner more broadly increased engagement with the liberal world order would also spur political opening and help transform the p. R. C. Into a responsible global stakeholder and who knows maybe even a democracy one day the more skeptical voices argued that if granted membership china would use the benefits of free trade and open International Order to grow its economy and Access Technology required to build a Strong Military and Security State capable of expanding the reach of its author or tarion rule these are both credible arguments but we all know which one is rep winning right now its not the former in fact under present shes rule the Chinese Communist party is heading even faster and further in the wrong direction more internal repression more predatory economic practices more heavy handedness and most concerning for me a more aggressive military posture it is essential that we as an International Community wake up to the challenges presented by chinas manipulation of the longstanding International Rules based order that has benefited all of us for many decades the communist party and its associated organs including the Peoples Liberation army are increasingly operating in theatres outside its borders including europe and seeking advantage by any means and at any cost let me state up front though the United States does not seek conflict with china in fact we look for areas of cooperation when our interests converge in the hope that they will choose the other path that they didnt select 2 decades ago. Just look at the nearly 1000 tons of medical supplies the United States recently provided to the p. R. C. To help fight the coronavirus and last week we announced more than 100000000 dollars in assistance to china and other countries affected by that malady the world is too interconnected for us not to Work Together to solve some of our toughest problems however to be a responsible member of the International Community china must be transparent and respect the sovereignty freedom and rights of all nations unfortunately their current behavior leaves great cause for concern the United StatesNational Defense strategy recognizes this critical challenge as we adapt and prepare our forces to deal with china in this new era of Great Power Competition the p. R. C. Is growing economic military and diplomatic power off to manifest itself in ways that are threatening coercive and counter to the rules based International Order over time weve watched them seize a militarized islands in the South China Sea and rapidly modernize the armed forces while seeking to use emerging technologies to alter the landscape of power and reshape the world in their favor and often at the expense of others i continue to stress to my friends in europe just as i did this past week at the need to defense Ministers Conference in brussels that americans can see americans concerns about beijings commercial and military Expansion Expansion should be their concerns as well this september will mark the 75th commemoration of the end of world war 2 and the birth of the International Rules based order that has supported security and prosperity around the globe the United States our nato allies and partners are crossed into pacific have sacrificed blood and treasure over the decades to protect and preserve it yet the p. R. C. Seeks to undermine it subvert the system the same one that allowed them to rise and become what they are today. As we speak communist china is exerting financial and political pressure publicly and privately on men date many pacific and european nations large and small while pursuing new strategic relationships worldwide in fact the smaller the country the heavier the hand the beijing through its belt and Road Initiative for example the p. R. C. Is leveraging its overseas investments to force other nations into supple security decisions this has wide ranging wide reaching ramifications for the United States and our allies in critical areas like Data Security in robert building and military readiness while we often doubt the transparency and forthrightness of beijing when it comes to their security aims we should take the Chinese Government at their word they have said that by 2035 the p. R. C. Intends to complete its military modernization and by 2049 it seeks to dominate asia as the pre Eminent Global military power furthermore the Global Community should be deeply concerned about the partys use of Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to surveil and repress muslim minorities journalists prodemocracy protesters and others to make matters worse the government is now exporting those tools worldwide in a manner that could bolster other authoritarian regimes chinas rapid ascent has stored much debate over the primacy of the United States in the west in the 21st century i understand this topic is part of this years Munich Security Conference report chinas growth over the years has been remarkable remarkable but many ways it is fueled by theft and coercion and exploitation of free market economies private companies and colleges and universities. American and european institutions and corporations face the brunt of these malign activities and we have often seen a multitude of examples where our economy and our companies have suffered as a result of beijings behavior bad behavior it will only take them so far the world is increasingly aware of its motives and responding in turn regrettably rather than change course Party Leadership continues its Rampant Technology theft while resolving to eventually end its reliance on foreign innovation altogether then independently develop its own systems and then dominate critical sectors and markets huawei and 5 g. Are todays poster child for this nefarious strategy history has proven time and again though that authoritarianism breeds corruption promotes conformity smothers free thinking and suppress freedom in stark contrast to this our our values sense of fairness and a culture of opportunity where which encourages destruction and unleashes the very best of human intellect spirit and innovation this is why it is critical that together we all of us directly and unambiguously address beijings actions and intentions so that we are never intimidated or duped or pushed into bad security economic or political choices and maybe just maybe we can get them on the right path again make no mistake we do not see conflict with china thats not what we want not at all rather we seek fair and open competition in the economic realm and in general we simply ask a beijing what we ask of every nation to play by the rules to abide by International Norms and respect the rights and sovereignty of others to restore an equal footing the Department Defense is doing its share we are focused on deterring bad behavior reassuring our friends and allies and defending the global commons. And to maintain the peace through strength were implementing the United StatesNational Defense strategy as part of this strategy were doing our part to safeguard American Innovation and to reinvigorate our Industrial Base thanks to our Largest Research and Development Budget in 70 years we are investing in cutting Edge Technologies and accelerating the modernization of our force while at the same time divesting from legacy systems and reinvesting those savings into hypersonic missiles Artificial IntelligenceAutonomous Systems and many other Game Changing technologies unlike china and others we will use these advanced capabilities to keep the peace to promote prosperity to ensure security and to protect the sovereignty the sovereignty of all freedom loving countries for example while beijing uses ai to tighten its grip over its people the department of defense has established well regarded principles for the lawful and ethical use of ai while the p. R. C. Develops and deploys long range fires to intimidate and threaten its neighbors we are investing in both conventional and advanced Missile Defense systems to protect the homeland our interests and our allies and while communist china is weapon it weaponized into space the main through development of directed Energy Weapons and killer satellites the pentagon is standing up its 1st new military service in over 70 years the United States space force to ensure freedom of use freedom of commerce and freedom and at navigation in to and through space for all simply put the contrast between chinas actions and United States leadership couldnt be more obvious at the same time we are protecting these high tech breakthroughs from theft and exploitation by strengthening our Foreign Investment laws supply chains export controls university based research and cyber defendants defenses all of which have been longstanding attack points of the Chinese Government. We are encouraged that our allies and partners are beginning to take similar actions as they thoroughly assess the long term threats and challenges posed by china among these concerns that dependence on emerging technologies that could inject serious risk into our defense cooperation reliance on chinese 5 g. Vendors for example could render our partners Critical Systems vulnerable to disruption manipulation and espionage you could also jeopardize our communications and intelligence sharing capabilities and by extension it could jeopardize our alliances to counter this we are encouraging allied and u. S. Tech companies to develop alternative solutions and were working alongside them to test these technologies at our military bases as we speak. In the long run developing our own secure 5 g. Networks will far outweigh any perceived gains from partnering with heavily subsidized chinese providers that ultimately answer to Party Leadership in short lets be smart lets learn from the past and lets get 5 g. Right so we dont regret our decisions later the reality of the 21st century is that many economic decisions are also D National Security decisions were not asking our partners to reject engage with china just the opposite we want you to show them the right path and we want you to nudge them down and in the meantime though we are asking our friends to clear to choose a global system the global system that supports democracy protects human rights and safeguards our greatest asymmetric advantages our values our shared interests and our Unmatched Network of alliances and partnerships we feel that the choice is clear but recognize it may be tough that the economic challenges may take a toll in the short run but that our collective future may hang in the balance if we fail to make the hard choices now for the long run. United states is not want to have a certain relationship with china its a great country with an extraordinary history a rich culture and a wonderful people rather we want china to behave like a normal country that hears to the International Rules and order the generations before us have fought hard to protect and preserve and that means the Chinese Government the government needs to change its policies and behaviors if the p. R. C. Will not change its ways and defending the system must be our collective priority. We can only do this by making greater investments in our common defense by making the hard economic and commercial choices needed to prioritize our shared security and by working together to maintain a ready and capable Alliance Network that is prepared to deter any threat to defend any ally and to defeat any phone thank you for your time and i look forward to our questions. So for there the u. S. Defense secretary speaking for a little over 15 minutes id say and leaving us in no doubt as to where. National Defense Strategy lies in the pentagon and that is as a defense secretary himself said was basically china listening to that with us is correspondent now how and jonah lets talk a little bit but beware if marcus response to an interesting question we might have to appeal away and take that but. Basically the defense secretary reinforcing the message that came earlier from my home payer and that is that the u. S. Sees china as enemy number one. Well yes very much so i mean it was almost as if this was a sort of 2 pronged rebuttal the theme of this conference this year which is west listless the idea that the so easily into routes where it was last night and youve only just started lets quickly have what espec has to say proposal that was negotiated between our ambassador and the taliban it looks very promising we have now been for a few days now in the process of consulting 1st with our congress ive had many conversations and then secondly concurrently with our nato allies in brussels we had 2 good days of consultation well made by secretary general stoltenberg who by the way is doing an exceptional job i think theres general agreement and its my view as well that we have that we have to give peace a chance that the best if not only way forward in afghanistan is through a political agreement and that means taking some risks that means enabling our diplomats and that means working together with our partners and allies on the ground to effect such a thing now yesterday i met secretary pompei and i met with president dawning we had at least an hour long discussion with him i think he is fully on board he wants to lead his part of the process which if we get to that would be the a a peace deal that would involve very soon afterward and inter afghan negotiation he wants to be a clearly a full partner in that and wants to lead on that and make sure that all afghans come together are well representative and can come up with an agreement that would endure so that we could end this long conflict and make sure that afghanistan stays on the right path. And on iraq in the coalition you know more details on what tasks nato allies may be willing to or so so we had a good discussion also with our nato partners as you know. The proposal on the table that was agreed to in principle that nato would pick up more of a mandate would be willing to put Additional Forces into iraq as part of our nato mission in iraq that would allow nato to pick up more slack if you will and to a address that mission in a way that we continue the 2 most important things were trying to do in iraq as a coalition and as an alliance 1st continue the enduring defeat advice of some by the way yesterday in the German Defense minister hosted 82 countries organizations we keep adding partners to this coalition all committed to the enduring defeat of isis and and thats very important the 2nd task we have in iraq is to train advise and assist the Iraqi Security services so that over time they can pick up in total that mission and ensure that isis does not come back and present the challenge does to iraq in particular but the region more broadly. So let me take you back to the main theme of your intervention china you mentioned while we know there has been a very extensive very complex complain only of the trumpet ministration engaging with allies on this issue but it does not seem to be working because key nato allies in europe britain france germany are seemingly not going to exclude weiwei from building their 5 g. Networks i mean you i think members of your administration have said that this will hav