Assistant secretary of state for middle Eastern Affairs discusses u. S. Middle east strategy and he talks about u. S. Relations in the region. Secretary of state, mike pompeos recent trip to italy and chinas expansion in the middle east. From earlier this week at the Atlantic Council in washington, its an hour and 50 minutes. Okay, everyone. Were ready to commence. Okay. We are joined with us here today to kick off the programming, a discussion of the u. S. Role in the middle east given all of the very exciting news that seems to happen every single day. We are here. David shanker, a good, old friend of mine will share with us his great and unmatched wisdom about the u. S. Policy in the region. Let me give you a little background on david. He was sworn in as the assistant secretary of state for near Eastern Affairs. June 14th of this year. Prior to joining the department of state, he was director of the program on arab politics at the Washington Institute for near east policy from 2000 to 2006. He served in the office of the secretary of defense as the lev okay, nt country director and in that capacity he is responsible for advising the secretary on senior and Political Affairs of syria, lebanon, jordan and israel and the palestinian territories. He was awarded the office of the secretary of defense medal for Exceptional Civilian Service in 2005. Before that period of joining government, he was a Research Fellow at Washington Institute, as well and a project coordinator of a large, centrally funded usid projects in jordan. With no further delay, please, assistant secretary shanker, welcome to the podium. [ applause ] good morning. So it says here im supposed to speak on an update on current u. S. Strategy toward the region, but i had seen that the title of this conference was Strategic Visions and power competition in the middle east. So im going to speak about china and russia today, the new threats to middle east security and stability. So thank you, will. Its a pleasure to be at the Atlantic Council today and thank you, ambassador, and our italian cohosts. Both the United States and italy share a deep interest in sustained engagement in the middle east. Italy remains one of our closest partners and events like this demonstrate our shared commitment to the future of the region. Secretary pompeo just returned from a very productive have said to italy, reinforcing our strong partnership. Ive spent time in inga discussing libya. Theyre at a crossroad from the liberation of kuwait from the campaign to defeat isis and the u. S. Has played a leading role in mobilizing the International Community to confront threats in the region. Much of the medias attention focuses on the iranian threat to peace and stability in the middle east, but ill be here today to talk to you about a challenge thats more subtle and possibly more worrying or just as worrying. Thats the incursion of autocratic regimes like china and russia into the region. While we Seek Partnership for further security and stability of the region, were keeping a watchful eye on actions to undermine this goal. So id like to begin with our vision for the region because i think it stands in sharp contrast to the transactional relationships offered by china and russia. The u. S. Has a long track record of working to bring peace, stability and prosperity to the middle east and north africa. We defend our allies. Were committed to Economic Growth that provides jobs and prosperity in the United States and around the world and we value democracy. As secretary pompeo said the United States is a force for good. We seem to being thattel the regions as we advance our own. For example, weve led and organized the Global Coalition to defeat isis on peace and security in the region. Wooe working to launch the middle east Strategic Alliance with mesa and the gulf and together with other likeminded nations, were the cornerstone of the International Maritime security construct to ensure freedom of navigation and the gulf. All of this helps the Regional Security and stability. The Global Coalition to defeat isis is a testament to what we can accomplish when we Work Together for a common goal. 76 nations and five International Organizations of the Global Coalition are and should be enormously proud that the territory isis once held was liberated. Beyond the military campaign, a real triumph of the coalitions effort has been diplomacy and organizing a Worldwide Network to stop illicit financing and ending the flow of foreign fighters and disrupting the hateful ideology and message. It includes significant humanitarian assistance. Since 2014 alone, for iraq alone the United States has contributed 2. 5 billion in humanitarian aid to the displaced iraqis in the region and 263 million destabilized areas liberated from isis and this is for a voluntary return of nearly 4 million internally displaced people. Neither russia or china nor china showed a willingness let alone a capability to organize a collective effort to defeat a global threat not to mention help the people harmed by isis and according to the u. N. Financial tracking service, chinas provided less than 1 million to china since 2013 and russias provided nothing. Instead of helping, russia and china sought to exploit openings to increase their own influence at the expense of their partners. The United States remains the indispensable partner for the majority of the region. While china and russia play both sides in the dispute, the United States offers a handson approach in solving the regions problems. Taking a Firm Position is not always the most popular thing to do, but Public Opinion sometimes like that, but its a hallmark of responsible, global leadership. Let me be clear. We have no desire to make any country choose between the u. S. And russia and china. Countries have positive u. S. Ing and russia. We simply want to ensure russia and chinas influence and activities in the middle east do not come at expense of the regions prosperity, stability, fiscal viability and longstanding relationship with the u. S. So the fact of the matter is that we have a fundamentally different approach from both russia and china to the regions most pressing problems. Lets start with iran. Iran represents the dominant challenge facing the region today. We see this in its nuclear escalations, Ballistic Missile programs and its malign regional behavior. Iran is stoking a conflict in yemen, iraq, syria, beyond, and bankrolling terrorist groups like hezbollah. Earlier this month iran staged a brazen attack on saudi oil facilities. This attack showed irans aggressiveness and fundamental lack of respect for sovereignty and security of its neighbors. It also threatened International Energy markets temporarily taking 5 of the Global Oil Supply off the market. A sizable percentage of this oil is destined for china. China is saudi arabias numberone customer. Saudi arabia is chinas leading oil supplier. Yet, where was china when its primary Energy Source was threatened . China was playing both sides. Facilitating irans destabilizing activities by propping up the Iranian Regime through continued oil purchases. These violations or sanctions give Iranian Regime crucial cash it needs to further its regional efforts to sow discord and terrorism. China also sold Weapons Technology to iran, used to threaten others in the region. Iran interfered with the shipping in the strait of hormuz, we had an effort to assemble the International Maritime security construct to protect freedom of navigation. Weve had country from around the world join us to monitor irans behavior and prevent them from seizing more ships. Wheres russia in all this . Trying to reincarnate its 20yearold construct which they dusted off to divert the attention from more effective solutionoriented efforts. It didnt work 20 years ago, and it wont help the situation today. Our presence in the gulf remains a bedrock of Regional Security and guarantees freedom of navigation for Critical Energy resources and all other shipping through the straits of hormuz, this benefits all of us in the region and around the world. Russia, china, are opportunistically seeking to increase their own returns rather than contribute to the broader goal of Regional Security and stability. The behavior is not limited to just iran. In iraq, iran has repeatedly undermined the Central Government by providing assistance to armed groups that owe more allegiance to tehran than to baghdad. So while china and russia pursue profit through heavily mercantilistic policy in iraq, u. S. Assistance is providing clean drinking wat water to citizens, jumpstarting an economy with hundreds of millions of dollars in new projects and clearing mines so that displaced religious minorities can return to their ancestral homes. The regions three ongoing conflicts in syria, yemen, libya, continue to claim lives and radiate instability. Its clear that those conflicts require Political Solutions that cannot be resolved by military force. United states will continue to support u. N. Led peace efforts throughout the region. Deeply engaged in efforts to bring relevant parties into a political process. Russia, on the other hand, is playing a spoiler to advance its own narrow interests that the people of the region suffer. In syria, russias behavior has been particularly egregious. Russia intervened to prop up the murderous assad regime. It did so under the guise of counterterrorism. Yet, russia, along with the assad regime, has not demonstrated the ability or willingness to even fight isis in syria. Rather, the regime has shown a willingness to tolerate isis and other extremists in a bid to undermine the legitimate at prags aspirations of the syrian people. Russias support for assad facilitated brutal attacks on civili civilians. Syria and russia used the u. N. s donotstrike list as a targeting list attacking civilian sites and creating refugees and displaced persons. Moscow adheres to grasni rules, raising entire cities filled with innocents to kill a handful of terrorists. The United States in contrast is scrupulous is honoring its obligation to distinguish civilians to terrorists. Russia did nothing as assad deployed chemical weapons against its own people. We have sought evidence that demonstrates its crimes. Russia has sowed doubt and misinformation, doing everything it can to protect the assad regime from accountability and frustrate the u. N. Led process trying to bring an end to the conflict. Instead, russia used syria as a forum to showcase its weapons, its mercenaries and build a platform to meddle in other regional issues. In libya, russia fueled the conflict in its socalled private military force is plain to see. Its also violating the arms embargo. Where is china . Playing an unhelpful role in syria, joining russia in vetoing a call for a ceasefire. Ultimately, we want a constructive, resultoriented relationship with china that prioritizes concrete outcomes over hopeful aspirations. While we work with china on areas of futumutual interests, will push back forcefully when beijing undermines our interests and those of our allies and partners. Instead of taking a leadership role in these conflicts, chinas focused on increasing its economic and geopolitical position in the region. Unfortunately, chinas belt and road initiatives have fallen flat, both for china and for its recipients. In funding, which rarely has been efficient or marketdriven, has begun to dry up. Chi chinas projects often come with o bake tepaque terms, questionar practices, high rates of interest that do not promote shared economic prosperity, touted by the cheinese government. Chinas track record in using labor force is poor. China does not sufficiently engage local contractors, provide enough local jobs to train many local workers. Chinese practices run counter to National Policies in places like saudi arabia, bahrain, oman, designed to build the capacity of the local labor force and create jobs. U. S. And middle eastern governments both want Infrastructure Development that benefits local communities, but the promise of highquality development with low shortterm costs such as the promises china made at the recent belt road forum ring hollow when chinas track record is so poor. From burma, to malaysia, to tanzan tanzania, governments are negotiating the terms of their debt and investments from china and bri projects, nearly entirely if place entire ly in places like india. Projects dont meet the high standards set by inclusive organizations like the g20 wont produce the desired results. The mote northeatable, the disas outcomes of Chinese Investment projects in pakistan, vsri lank and ecuador. Has led to the harsh reality of debt, project failure, corruption and in some cases chinese control. In contrast, the u. S. Has enabled egypt, israel, jordan, tunisia, to access over 21 billion in boennds from international markets, preferential rates through the issuance of sovereign loan guarantees. These transparent financial mechanisms helped support key players fiscal stability while supporting Economic Reforms that encourage Sustainable Growth and foreign investment. Unlike china and russia the u. S. Offers Development Assistance designed to help people build better lives. To give one example, 2016 usaid helped eliminate polio in egypt. Today the u. S. Supports immunization campaigns to keep egypt poliofree. U. S. Programs have bougrought cn water and sanitation to over 25 Million People in egypt and at least 1. 5 million egyptian girls can read and write better thanks to u. S. Support for early grade reading. There are many more examples of u. S. Assistance programs in the region, from morocco, to the arabian peninsula, lavont in iraq, that are building capabilities and country institutions to enhance security and stability, providing essential services and Responsive Government and driving economic reform and growth. Our total foreign assistance to the region exceeds 7 billion a year. As we look ahead toward increasingly digital interconnected world economy, we need to pay more attention to the risks that comprise telecommunication that compromise telecommunication suppliers like huawei post National Security. Chinese laws, most notably, the National Intelligence law, compel its citizens businesses and other organizations to cooperate with chinese intelligence and security services. To keep such cooperations secret. That means government agencies, confidential data, and companies trade secrets could be fully available to the Chinese Government if transmitted or processed on huawei or chinesesupplied equipment. There are media reports that huawei representatives participated in spying operations on political opponents. Chinas highly repressive campaign against the uighurs and others. Since april 2017, the Chinese Government has by our estimates detained more than 1 million individuals in internment camps where theyre forced to renounce their ethnic identity through religious beliefs or culture and religious practices. Chinas highly repressive campaign extends far beyond the camps. Officials have instituted hightech surveillance measures, dramatic increases in the number of security personnel, the embedding of security personnel in peoples homes, and collection of dna and other biodata. Outside of its borders, china coerces members of the Muslim Minority groups to return to china from abroad and pressures third countries tos f forcibly return asylum seekers. Were disappointed by the large number of arab countries that signed a letter to the council praising chinas actions. We have welcomed the fact that turkey has raised concerns about situation. We especially welcome qatars decision to withdraw its signature from the letter and we hope others will follow. We have yet to see china or russia take a principled stand on human rights in the region and were not holding our breath. Remain concerned about human suffering and completely reject the rights of conscience, remain unconcerned about human suffering and completely reject the rights of conscience that we and we believe the people of the middle east and north africa region value so dearly. Our positive vision for the u. S. Is a force for good in the region. Based on a Value Proposition that Neither China or russia can match. We believe in freedom, openness, political and economic inclusion. We believe that economic dynami