I just might need to know where ever louis as he is responsible for your safety im not worried about the chairman. We will take care of him. For everybody else these doors right behind me they will take us down to the first floor. Delighted to have you here but im even more pleased that we can welcome the chairman to be with us today. He went to the undergraduate as a forrester. And entered into politics and became a lawyer. I was talking with his wife vicky. Thirtyfour elections they had been through together. Some questions today are off the table when i can attack about impeachment or any of that stuff. Where here to talk about foreignpolicy today into talk about americas role in leading in a country. Weve a major challenge. Nets can be the focus for the chairmans presentation. I would ask you all to honor that he is under a short time. Without taking any more time please welcome him. [applause]. Thank you for the kind introduction. I really appreciate that. Please welcome idahos first lady. Vicki. You forgot to tell me who was in charge of my safety. What about me. Think you so much for having me here today. This is a speech i have wanted to make for sometimes. I got them prepared so that they wont be misinterpreted as time goes on. I wanted to wanted to talk to us briefly about the relationship between the United States and europe. The United States in europes relationship. I get lots of visitors every day from your its always an interesting experience. On the irish side it was a great grandmother that immigrated. I always asked my german friends where they are from. I guess im getting used to but im concerned it when they talk about the relationship and i dont view us as having any kind of a difficult relationship i will give you a little antidote in that regard. They want to talk about a number of things we talked about soccer we got down to talk about the issues and as we did with a robust debate which is not favored greatly by the vast majority of people in our congress when we were all done they said to me are we okay . We do a lot of friends ive been married for a lot of years. The relationship between these countries as a whole lot better than a lot of these peoples relationship is. Yes, we are okay. Im always a little bit surprised. Should we have differences and strong differences. Doesnt remain the relationship should go away. The president said this and that. There were three branches of government. The fact that the branches are coequal. We can all agree in this room and for that matter that we have a president that is different than the president s that we had have in recent times. To a greater or lesser degree we knew the hw best. We traveled with them because i was chairman of the campaign. This president is very different than anyone weve have in the past. He is less stiff in one regard. And he tells you whats on his mind. With this president have a much different relationship with this president and i head with others. I was in the primary. In any event we get along well. This is a person that you dont know because all you see is him on tv shouting back and forth with the tv. He is a person that is fun to be around. You can engage with. That you can argue with. We have disagreements all the time and we exchange on them. Even though we disagreed. In the reverse of that is he speaks whats on his mind. And that rubs people the wrong way. He will upset people. I doubt there are many people in this room. It is the strongest most successful in just the world. We in the United States congress are deeply committed to nato. The president of the United States was bothered by the fact that all not all members work keeping the commitment. You committed to do this. President trump raised this question a little differently just take a deep breath. We are americans. We are still standing. We have leaders that are different. We will get through this. It doesnt rely with any other Single Person here. Enough of that. We talk about the relationship between us and europe. And the combined europe in the United States in china. Let me say for our european friends. There is nothing wrong with our relationship. We need to do this together and he was talking to his european brother and we need to get together and europe in the United States. When it comes to our relationship with china. I couldnt agree more with him in the regard. As i travel around the United States. Many if not most people in the United States have no idea had the challenges that we face. They really have nothing there. We dont have to worry about this. We now set the themselves on the path. It has been a Significant Interest of mine. I am on the intelligence committee. I am a strong supporter of nato. The greatest alliance in the history. Today the United States as a troubled world. For the first time in generations it have seen the reemergence of the competitors i ran iran and the middle east. And of course china everywhere in the world. If you dont believe me travel anywhere and the world and you will see chinas footprints everywhere. Of these china is the true global rival. With the european interest. The vital interests. We both recognize that it is not the global company. As a global power. If china embraces these principles and truly wants to be a a Global Leader in the 21st century, china will find a United States ready and willing to cooperate. But until china pursues that path, the United States and your must compete with china. And must do so with bigger. The United States, the European Union have both improved our screening of Foreign Direct Investment and we combine forces to expose Chinese Governments repression in shin shenzhen. These actions are important start but the challenges of china which are many and widespread will require a sustained commitment. This is and will be the principal struggle of the rest of our lifetimes. The United States and your have always like most friends have some differences but that cannot distract, cannot distract us from what is most important. Above all, we must ensure the Free International system we built together, we and europe built together, can withstand external pressures, acknowledging the many opportunities for the United States and european cooperation against china will help us to work through our differences. China is a communist authoritarian party state and, unfortunately, the parties values and interests dictate how china operates in the International System. Will the Chinese Communist party directs chinas economy. Chinese leaders assert the primacy of Stateowned Enterprises and Party Officials are increasingly involved in the commercial decisions. Governments, businesses, Civil Societies have been slow to recognize how connected Chinese Companies are to the Chinese Communist party and government. China hides the true role of its companies. Chinas intellectual property theft and Cyber Espionage give washington a wakeup call and revealed the resources the Chinese Government uses to advance economic goals. In my home state of idaho, micron technologies, the worlds second largest memory chip maker had its Chip Technology stolen by a chinese stateowned company. This happened after government officials Chinese Government officials made acquiring that Chip Technology a national priority. That Chinese Company patented the stolen technology and suit Micron TechnologyPatent Infringement and chinese courts. Such thefts are a common chinese practice. European comp trees have suffered similar experiences. Chinas overreaching Foreign Policy goal is to take what it believes is its rightful place as a Global Leader at the center of the International System by 2050, and to ensure the International System functions according to chinas values, principles and objectives. To accomplish that, chinas trying to displace the United States as the preeminent power in the indopacific. China also wants to insert deep influence in every of the region of the world to Chip International perceptions and steer decisionmaking in its favor. China always demands demands. Beating chinas demand opera cries of the nations to cede their sovereignty to accommodate chinas interest. The effect of chinese influence are evident. One powerful example is the chinese, and his Party Pressure on the nba. In retribution for a single tweet by a u. S. Team executive supporting protesters in hong kong. What could be wrong with that, you ask. Many in the west to the threat of chinese political influence in 2010 when china punished norway. China will need military power to protect those interest. We all receive in europe with increased chinese commercial and military presence in the mediterranean. Although china may seem to selectively cooperate in todays International System, it is fundamentally opposed to u. S. And european norms. Values and institutions. Chinese leaders preach that socialism with chinese characteristics is superior to the ideas advanced by western nations. Chinese leaders believe the alternative philosophy is what makes china a truly Global Leader. China uses International Organizations to shape favorable narratives and gained International Recognition of its views. China has successfully pressured Eastern European nations to vote against u. N. Efforts to hold china accountable for chinas own deplorable human rights violations. China advances language on human rights and u. N. Governance to justify their horrific treatment of its own people. Going forward, china will not be satisfied to just shape narratives. China appears determined to set the standards by defining the meaning of human rights or how emerging technologies are used. Our fundamental competition with china is between two systems, with different vision of how the world should look. This competition touches on our political and cultural values, our Economic Prosperity and our defense and security. Led by the United States and europe, much of the world has created an open system of rules, norms, and institutions that upholds individual rights and freedoms. That advances marketbased Economic Prosperity and that safeguards shared security interest. Despite some differences we have enjoyed enormous success in fostering and advancing that system. Chinas vision is vastly different. The rights of the individual are subordinate to the interest of the state. Economic coercion for political ends is a legitimate form of statecraft, and might makes right on the high seas and in contract negotiations according to china. This is our shared challenge. In facing it we should be guided by three things. First, we must not put economic interests ahead of our political and security concerns. Thats why the United States strongly opposes european nations allowing huawei to compete for building 5g networks. Fortunately, denmark and Czech Republic have chosen a better path and im encouraged that the Security Community in germany especially is raising the alarm. But if enough allies allow huawei in, i fear intelligence sharing within nato could be negatively compromised and impacted. We do not gain by putting Economic Engagement with china ahead of our political principles and values. If we dont prioritize our core values, we cannot expect our own companies and citizens to stand up when confronted with Chinese Government coercion. Second, the United States and europe must regain a robust commitment to defend our interests. In 2014 nato was not equipped to deal with renewed russian aggression. Clearly we cannot repeat that mistake. I agree with the nato secretarygeneral that nader needs to be fair for tiny, closer to europe, addressing the china challenge will require strong consent and collaboration within nato. Next month nato is expected release new report on china. This will demonstrate how strong this consensus really is on china. Third, we must acknowledge this is an international competition. Past u. S. Your cooperation on china has focused on better treatment of our companies in the chinese market. However, u. S. And europe cooperation they face unfair chinese economic practices in markets around the world. Economic competition with china is not just about the u. S. And european markets, and our policies must reflect that. U. S. And European Companies must be set up for success by advancing the rules and norms that allow them to compete fairly, addressing these challenges together will require balancing our longterm shared interests with our current irritants. There are some frustrations between the u. S. , everything from tariffs to iran, to defense spending, and those are not fully in think right now but we have succeeded in overcoming our differences in the past, committing to each other to a system based their economic practices and political openness, and to our collective security always has and always should override other issues. As china challenges us today, that same commitment must be paramount. China is a longterm problem so we must focus on the future. Here are a few areas where we can work better together. We must Work Together to fend off chinas political influence and coercion. Our issue is not with the chinese people. China is much more than the communist party, and not all engagement is a bad thing, but a healthy awareness of the controlled exerted by the Commons Party and their widespread access to vast amounts of information which are held by the chinese people, and just as importantly, Chinese Companies, must be recognized. Most americans are not aware of a communist parties topdown control. Private companies, universities and others are vulnerable. We must establish best practices and consider legislation to address this. These are very tough issues facing our free societies. We will come up with best ideas if we put our heads together. We need better coordination to shape the future of technology. We must ensure a level Playing Field in Industry Groups that set standards and norms for emerging technologies. Chinese companies are playing a much more active role in these groups, but not always according to our values. Protect human rights, the United States and europe must be actively engaged and how new technologies will be used. We already know china is exporting the tools and techniques of its mass surveillance, and we cannot allow this practice is to become the norm. Despite current friction, there is ample room for us to cooperate on trade issues. A major priority to the u. S. And for European Partners is wto reform which we should all support. Im encouraged the trend, European Union and japan are cooperating to fight policies that undermine free markets. I support the administration focus on reforming developing country status within wto. The wto remains crucial to a functioning International Trading system but to compete with china we can put all our eggs in that basket. We must consider other forms of economic harding such as more cooperation on investment screening and better alignment on export controls to safeguard critical technologies. We should also work to secure and strengthen critical infrastructure, particularly ports. Chinas present is growing from rotterdam. The u. S. Department of defense assesses chinas greater access to foreign ports that allows chinas military to preposition necessary logistics, support to regularize existing deployments in the far seas, according to the defense department. These ports are used heavily by the u. S. Military to support our commitment to european security. We must also focus on cybersecurity are ports which increasingly rely on mechanized process and digital industrial infrastructure. Understanding how chinas access to european ports could threaten transatlantic security should be a top priority of nato. Finally, there is a vast potential for greater collaboration between the United States and europe in both africa and the indopacific. Both regions have growing economies and exploding populations as we know. China has already capitalize