We know how to do that. For everybody else, these doors right behind me, theyll take us down to the first floor. Take two lefthand turns, go to a righthand turn, go across to national geographic. Well meet there and ill pay for everybodys ticket. We want you to know how to be prepared. Delighted to have you here, but im even more pleased that we could welcome the chairman to be with us today. Hes the force guy ive ever met who is by profession a forester. He went to undergraduate as a forester but quick found the calling and entered into politics, became a lawyer and entered into politics. I was talking with his wife, vicky, 34 elections theyve been through together. I mean, i tell you thats for good or for worse, you know, for better or for poorer. Thats what it means to be married for 51 years and to go through 34 elections. And to have triumphed all the way. Thank you for being here. Great to have you here. Its a pleasure to have the chairman here today. Some questions today are off the table. Were not going to talk about impeachment or any of that stuff. Were here to talk about Foreign Policy today. Especially to talk about americas role in leading in a country where weve got a major challenge like china, the rise of china, and our important alliances. Thats going to be the focus for the chairmans presentation. Id ask you all to honor that as we go through the process of a question and answer dialogue with him. He is under a short time, so without taking anymore time, i would ask you with your warm applause to please welcome the chairman of the Senate Foreign relations committee. [ applause ] thank you for that kind introduction there. I really appreciate that. Say hello again i know former first lady, vicky, stand up and say hello. Forgot to tell me who is in charge of my safety. You talk about these peoples safety, what about me . You are, okay, ill take that. Thanks so much for having me here today. Gosh, this is a speech ive wanted to make for some time. I have prepared remarks. I got them prepared so they wont be misinterpreted as time goes on. I want to talk just briefly about the relationship between the United States and europe and i want to talk about our relationship as far as china is concerned. Being in a position im in, i get lots and lots of visitors every day from europe. And its always an interesting experience. I view them as my cousins, my grandfather emigrated on the german side, on the irish side, it was myemigrated. I ask my german friends where they were from and if they knew my grandfather, which they didnt because it was 1898 when he came here. In any event, i guess im a little always im getting used to it. But im always concerned when they talk about our relationship. And i dont view us as having any kind of a difficult relationship with europe at all. Certainly we have some differences. But i mean, as far as the basic relationship, our relationship is good. Indeed, ill give you an anecdote in that regard. I had some friends not friends people from germany come that were Public Officials and wanted to talk about a number of things. The usual issues we talk about when we get together. And i asked them where they were from. They were from dortmund, which is as you know in the north, which happens to be where my grandfather emigrated from. We talked about soccer, they loved soccer, dortmunds got a pretty good team. We got down to talking about the issues. As we did talk about the issues, we had a robust debate on the northbou setting that aside, when we were all done, we were done talking about the issues. They said to me, well, are we okay. What do you mean are we okay . Is our relationship okay. Look, let me tell you something, we have a lot of friends who have been married for a lot of years. Theyve been through a lot of troubles. Let me tell you something, the relationship between the United States and germany and European Countries for that matter is a whole lot better than a lot of these peoples relationship is. Yes, were okay. So i do that frequently and like i said im always a little bit surprised the fact they think there are these overall relationship problems. Sure we have differences, strong differences, really. That happens. It happens in all kinds of relationships where you have differences. That doesnt mean your relationship by any stretch should go away. A good share of it is it always comes back to the president. That president this and the president said that. I try to explain to them, of course, that the president is the president. There are three branches of government which are coequal and then their eyes start to glaze over when you talk about the branches of government and the fact that the branches are coequal. We can all agree in this room and for that matter with my european friends that we have a president thats different. Vicky and i have had the honor knowing every president starting with president reagan. Weve gotten to know the president s. This president is very different than any president that weve had in the past. He is substantially less stiff in one regard. And in another, he tells you whats on his mind. Which president s have not always been wont to do. With this president , and admittedly ive got a much different relationship with this president than i had with others. Indeed, i didnt start out a trump person. I was a rubio guy in the primary. Which by the way the president reminds me of at every opportunity he gets that i was a rubio guy back in the day in the primary. In any event we get along well. This is a person you dont know because all you see is him on tv shouting back and forth with the media. Hes a person that is fun to be around, that enjoys engagement. You can engage with. You can argue with. People say if youre friends with him you must agree with him on a lot of stuff. Not at all. We have disagreements all the time. We exchange on them. Hes never treated me with anything but total respect, even though we disagree. He is the president of the United States and i treat him with respect that the president of the United States deserves. Having said that, he speaks whats on his mind. Sometimes that rubs people the wrong way. A lot of times, just by what he says hell upset people. A good example of that is nato. When he started talking about nato. I doubt theres many people in this room that wouldnt agree with me that nato is the strongest most successful military alliance in the history of just the world. Nato is not going to go away. We are deeply committed to nato, the American People are deeply, deeply committed to nato. But the president of the United States was bothered by the fact that not all nato members were keeping the commitments that theyd made in fiscal ways. As a result of that, he raised that and that really caused a lot of anxiety on the part of the europeans. Thats one of the first things they would ask me about. You know, the interesting thing is ive been going over there for almost a dozen years, giving the same message. Wed talk and wed have good points to talk about. Look, you guys, ladies, have got to step up. You know, you committed to do this and particularly from a financial basis and you wouldnt do it. They would pat us on the head, dont worry were committed, were working on it, well get it done. President trump raised this question in a little different way than those of us who deal in diplomatic language raised it. All of a sudden they were very upset. Most importantly, guess what . Theyre writing checks now. And so you got to give him credit for that. But they get concerned when the president says this that or the other thing. I tell them, well, take a deep breath. Were americans. Okay . We were born in revolution. We were born in angst. Weve been through a revolution, weve been through a civil war, two world wars, through a terrible depression. Were still standing. Weve had president s just as some of your countries, European Countries have had leaders that are different, but we americans will get through this. The strength of america does not lie with the president or any other Single Person here. It lies with us, the American People. And thats why were going to be here for a long, long time. Thats why well get over whatever these things are and well be able to get through them. Enough of that. Lets move to my prepared remarks where i talk about the relationship between us and europe and combined europe and the United States with china. Let me say that for our european friends, theres nothing wrong with our relationship. Just as president macron said recently, we need to do this together and he was particularly talking to his european brethren. We need to get together in europe and with the United States when it comes to our relationship with china. I couldnt agree more with him in that regard. As far as china is concerned, i can tell you that as i travel around the United States, i look here and see a lot of people who were very focused on these kinds of issues, who educate themselves on these kind of issues. Many, if not most people in the United States have no idea of the challenge that we are facing in many respects from china. We had the opportunity to travel in china in 1983. I walked around in china. I thought to myself, you know, this isnt going anywhere. They really had nothing there. Didnt look like they were moving in any kind of a direction. It was communism at its finest. And i thought to myself, you know, i dont have to worry about this. What theyve done is taken from us the best they could possibly take from us and have now set themselves on a path that is a very different path. And is a challenge to us and virtually to all of the other 200 countries on the face of the planet. So we need to deal with that. We need to deal with it well. Going to my prepared remarks. Fostering stronger european and u. S. Ties has been a Significant Interest of mine during the 11 years ive been in the senate. I have worked on numerous european related issues, including arms control, trade, Eastern European democratization and intelligence matters. Im on the intelligence committee. Im strong supporter of nato, the greatest Political Military Alliance in the history of the world. Im proud of the close cooperation and ties between the United States and europe over the last seven decades. Today the United States and europe face for the first time in generations a world that is seeing the reeergence of competito competitors, russia, iran and of course china everywhere in the world. If you dont believe me, travel anywhere in the world and youll see chinas footprints everywhere. Of these, china is the true global rival and represents the most consequential challenge to common american and european interests. We do have common interests. The United States and europe share a vital interest in addressing the challenges posed by china. We both recognize china is no longer a developing country. It is a global power. China is our economic competitor. We both rightly demand greater reciprocity and chinese adherence to the rule of law and International Norms. The European Union is correct to label china as a rival. Leaders have made clear that china must abide by its commitments and support an International System that is free, fair, and open. If china truly wants to be a Global Leader in the 21st century, china will find the United States ready and willing to cooperate. But until china pursues that path, the United States and europe must compete with china. We must do so with vigor. The United States and European Union have improved Foreign Direct Investment and have combined forces to expose the Chinese Governments horrifying oppression. These actions are an important start, but the challenges of china which are many and widespread will require the sustained commitment. This is and will be the principle struggle of the rest of our lifetimes. The United States and europe have had, like friends, had differences. Burt but it cannot distract us. We must insure the system we built together can withstand external pressures. Ic it will help us to work through our differences. China is a communist party state. Unfortunately, the partys values and interests dictate how china operates in the International System. Thus, chinas Political Economic goals are one and the same. Chinese coniane chinese leaders consistently assert the primacy of state owned enterprises and Party Officials are increasingly involved in the commercial decisions thinly disguised as private companies. Governments, businesses and Civil Societies have been slow to recognize how connected Chinese Companies are to the chinese coniane Chinese Communist role in the government. Chinas intellectual property theft and Cyber Espionage gave washington a wakeup call and revealed the resources the Chinese Government uses to advance its economic goals. In my home state of idaho, the worlds second largest memory chip maker, had its technology stolen by a Chinese State owned company. This happened after government officials made acquiring the Chinese Government made acquiring that technology a priority. They sued Micron Technology for Patent Infringement in chinese courts. Such thefts are a common chinese practice. European countries have suffered similar experiences. Chinas overreaching Foreign Policy goal is to take what tit believes is its rightful place at the center of the International System by 2050 and to insure the system functions according to chinas values and principles. To accomplish that, china is trying to displace the United States as a preeminent power in the endo pacific. China also wants to exert deep influence in every other region of the world to Shape International perceptions and steer Decision Making in its favor. China always demands deference. Meeting chinas demands often requires other nations to see their sovereignty in order to accommodate chinas interest. The effects of chinas influence are evident. One powerful example is the Chinese Communist 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 actually woke to the threat of chinese political influence in 2010 when china punched norway. As its global and commercial and political interests grow, china will need military power to protect those interests. We see that in europe with increased chinese commercial and military presence in the mediterranean. China may seem to cooperate in todays International System, its opposed to u. S. And european norms, values and institutions. Chinese looters preach that socialism with chinese characteristics is superior to the ideas advanced by western nations. They believe their philosophy is what makes china a truly Global Leader. China uses International Organizations to shape favorable narratives and Gain 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 languages on human rights and u. N. Governance to justify the 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 two systems with different visions of how the world should look. This competition touches on our political and Cultural Values a. 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 interests. 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 state craft and 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 strong