Secretary Pompeo Delivers Remarks at the Hudson Institute’s Herman Kahn Award Gala 
美国国务院
发言人办公室
华盛顿哥伦比亚特区（Washington, D.C.）
2019年10月30日
国务卿迈克尔·蓬佩奥（Michael R. Pompeo）在哈德逊研究所（Hudson Institute）赫尔曼·卡恩奖颁奖晚会（Herman Kahn Award Gala）就“中国的挑战”发表讲话
JW 万豪（ JW Marriott）酒店
纽约市，纽约州（New York City, New York）
谢谢诸位如此热情友好。我往往希望在讲话结束后得到掌声（笑声），因为到时候才能知道——到时候才能知道表现得好不好。鲁帕特（Rupert），你谈到参议院（Senate）竞选和出书的事。我可以肯定地说，如果我谈这些情况，两者都属于不可饶恕的罪过。（笑声）所以我今晚对这两件事都闭口不谈。
多谢鲁帕特以诸多溢美之词发表的引言。
尊敬的来宾们、女士们、先生们，今天很高兴能与诸位在此共度良宵。我能与基辛格博士（Dr. Kissinger）和汉克·格林伯格（Hank Greenberg）、斯特恩（Sterns）父女同席而坐，令人颇为荣幸——他们都是为美国做出杰出贡献的优秀人物。多谢你们提供了卓越的服务。我有幸认识基辛格博士。他已经90多岁高龄。国务卿舒尔茨（Shultz）也已经90多岁。我还有很多年才能赶上。（笑声）一定是雾谷（Foggy Bottom）的关系才使你们如此长寿。
还要谢谢肯（Ken）以及在场的董事会成员对我关爱有加。你们的宽容和今晚颁发的这个奖项使我感到当之有愧。我儿子经常提醒我，有很多事情可以令我感到惭愧。他——我实际上已经对他说了这件事，他上网查了一下，查看以往所有的获奖人。他怀疑贵所是否看走了眼。（笑声）
他还在我旅行期间向照顾我的整个团队发了一封邮件，闹得满城风雨。这份邮件写道，“我爸爸今晚下飞机时看上去半死不活的。能不能有人给他化化妆？”（笑声）当时我在远方某地，凌晨3点钟。
我想我先用几分钟时间回顾一下我心中萦绕已久的一些事。我记得，我曾经希望在2017年1月特朗普总统（President Trump）就职后几小时，立即宣誓就任美国中央情报局（CIA）局长。但是参议员怀登（Wyden）对就职时间有不同的设想。所以我的事被推迟到星期五。
但当时我已邀请总统在星期六上午去位于兰岭（Langley）的中央情报局总部。当天我到场的时候，当天总统到场的时候，我仍然是堪萨斯州（Kansas）第4选区的联邦众议员，希望在星期一能获得51张确认票。
我提到这件事是因为，我永远不会忘记特朗普总统高度关注的问题。他在宣誓就职后不到24小时，就与我和负责反恐怖主义事务的资深人员在中央情报局进行座谈。他谈到3件事。他说，我会为你们提供你们工作所需要的一切；我会为你们提供你们为保障美国安全从事的这项工作所需要的授权；我希望保证我们能够摧毁哈里发（caliphate）。我希望抓住伊斯兰国（ISIS）的头目。同时，（掌声）我们为此进行了两年半的努力，这个团队十分优秀。以往完成的工作绝对可以为美国的国家安全做出重大贡献。总统主导了这方面的工作。他对此坚持不懈。他支持我从事的所有工作，然后是我的继任者哈斯佩尔（Haspel），以及国防部（Department of Defense）和所有团队的杰作，最终使巴格达迪（Baghdadi）难逃法网。（掌声）
我希望诸位都知道，当你们有机会看见身穿军装的人，或者遇到一名情报官员，你们可能都认不出他们。其中有些人今晚就坐在这里。你们都不认识。请对他们表示感谢。他们做出了很了不起的贡献，至关重要。
还有很多工作需要做。激进伊斯兰极端主义构成的威胁诚然尚未消失，但在此之前已经完成的工作展现了我们在美利坚合众国（United States of America）拥有的卓越性、独特性，并达到以前谈到的优越性的程度。
我认为，我们的确不妨认真地回顾走过的历史。半个世纪前，你们的创始人为贵所制定的方针是，以非常规的方式对未来进行思考。特朗普总统在任命我担任国务卿的时候，中央情报局局长当然是对某些事物进行非常规思考的人物。谁会想到这个在南加州（Southern California）长大的孩子会得到如此殊荣？
他还知道，赫尔曼也知道，为了未来的利益，为了维护我们所称的美利坚合众国取得的伟大和崇高的成就，没有任何使命比做好这方面的工作更重要。
正因为如此，今天我想在回答问题前用几分钟的时间重点谈一些问题。特朗普政府正在进行的工作不同于历届政府，我想重点谈谈其中的核心问题。这并不涉及政治。我们仅——我们已顺应时代的要求，迎接来自中华人民共和国的挑战。
请看，我们拥有与中国人民一贯保持友好的传统。我们今天继续如此。在美国，我们有美国华人群体，我们喜爱和重视这个群体。我通过工商界和个人联系对他们有所了解。我还认识其中的很多人。
但是，我必须强调，今天中国的共产党政府并不等同于中国人民。他们力求和正在使用的各种方式对美国和全世界构成了挑战。
我们需要以共同的努力，我们所有人，直接对抗来自中华人民共和国的这些挑战，并且是从各方面。
当然，存在许多机会，但是，无视我们两种体制间的根本差异及影响——这两种体制带来的影响，它们的差异对美国国家安全的影响——不再是现实的。
无疑，这是一种改变。也许会被认为反常规。这不是过去二十多来你们从领导人那里听到的说法。坦率说，我们对中国的风险——对它给美国国家安全带来的风险——认识迟缓，因为我们从一开始就希望与人民共和国建立友谊。因为我们，作为美国人，总是不断希望友谊。
但是，坦率说，在我们努力达到这个目标的过程中，我们几十年来成全和鼓励了中国的兴起，即使是在——即使是当这种兴起是以美国的价值观，西方的民主，以及安全和正当的常理为代价。
我们把与我们长期的朋友台湾的关系降格，以和平解决“台湾问题”作为条件，同北京关系实现正常化。
当发生矛盾冲突时，我们过于经常地回避直接在那边谈人权问题和美国价值观，我们淡化意识形态差异，即使是在发生天安门广场大屠杀和其他重大践踏人权情况以后。
我们鼓励让中国成为世界贸易组织（World Trade Organization）和其他国际组织成员，前提是他们承诺进行市场改革和遵守这些组织的规则。但太常有的情况是，中国未曾予以兑现。
当中国威胁像越南，像菲律宾这样的邻国时，当他们声称对整个南中国海（South China Sea）拥有主权时，我们犹犹豫豫，远没有作出我们应有的行动。
坦率说，我们为让中国兴起出了太多的力，期待共产党中国会变得更加自由，更加市场导向，最终可望变得更加民主。
我们这样做了很长时间。
还有另一个原因使我们采取上述方针：我们没有认识到中国在如何演变。坦率说，美国人民未能看到全部情形。
我与许许多多商界领袖交谈过。在中国做了大量投资的美国公司被强迫就范中国的规定。这包括几乎任何被中国共产党视为有争议的话题。
北京的顽固不变使它在美国形成了一个永久的中国游说班子。他们的主要使命就是兜售同中国领导人和与商业伙伴建立关系的渠道。
坦率说，每当出现争端或关系紧张，我们的许多学者都认为是美国曲解了中国共产党的本质。
与此同时，北京控制和限制我们的外交官、新闻工作者和学术人员在中国大陆旅行时的接触机会。他们今天仍在这样做。如果你们能看到这种差别——如果你们能看到中国外交官受到何种待遇和美国外交官受到何种待遇以及他们的接触机会，你们也会发现这种与美国价值观极其相背的不对等情况。
中国国营媒体和政府发言人弥合这种差距，经常诬蔑美国的意图和政策目标。他们今天仍在这样做。他们歪曲美国人对人民共和国的看法和他们对习总书记的评论。
这些不良后果完全可以预料。它们是与不尊重公平、法治和互利的暗箱作业政权打交道所产生的必然附带结果。
今天，我们终于认识到中国共产党真正敌视美国和我们的价值观的程度，以及它的更恶劣言行和对我们的影响。我们能够做到这点是因为有特朗普总统的领导。
总统自从上任第一天起就提出了这个问题，这个警告。我记得他当初在宾夕法尼亚州（Pennsylvania）的一次讲话中，将中国成为世贸组织成员称作“历史上最大的工作窃取”。当时有很多人笑。我想如今看到现实，没有那么多人在笑了。
现在我们知道，中国通过大规模窃取知识产权，削弱美国的制造业。上周我在办公室里接待了一组财富500强企业（Fortune 500）的主管。那些经历令人吃惊。
现在我们还知道，中国以强迫我们的公司进行自我审查才可保持在中国的市场准入的方式，威胁美国人的自由。我们都看到了最近NBA的经历。道理是，北京应可自由进行它自己的公关运动；他们是主权国家。但是如果我们有不同观点，我们的公司应被允许保持其不同观点。压制异议声音是完全不可接受的。
现在我们知道——现在我们知道，中国发展不对称武器，威胁美国的国家安全，也威胁我们的战略财产。
还可以列举更多。
这些不仅是我们的问题。他们是和我们拥有同样价值观的所有国家的问题。
当我们看到北京把胁迫作为优先的国术手段时，这对我们相信民主和主权是基本常规并应以此主导世界商务和国家往来方式的国家来说，是不利的。这些观念，通过在像南中国海和台湾海峡（Taiwan Strait）这些地方作出法律程序以外的领土和海上主权伸张，威胁自由和开放的国际秩序。
我们还知道，北京将邻国和其他国家卷入它国家主导的经济模式，经常用贿赂达成达交易，往往致使许多国家债台高筑，丧失能力，自身主权受到威胁。
现在我们也知道而且能看到中国政权践踏其本国公民——伟大崇高的中国人民——的最基本的人权。我们在香港看到了这一点，他们在那里需要履行他们的保证和承诺；我们还从对新疆少数民族的人权的严重侵犯中看到了这一点。
我们也知道中国共产党正在向其人民及整个世界提供一种完全不同的治理模式。在这种模式中，一个列宁主义政党（Leninist Party）进行统治，而且人人都必须按照共产党精英的意愿来思考及行事。这不是一个我所希望的未来，我想这也不是一个在座的任何人所希望的未来，这不是一个其他民主体所希望的未来，也不是一个中国人民——热爱自由的中国人民在任何地方都不希望有这种模式。
特朗普总统的《国家安全战略》（National Security Strategy）阐明了这一点，指明中国是一个战略竞争者。这意味着存在种种挑战，也存在切实的机遇，而且我们希望我们能以建设性方式同他们接触。但这是现实。这是事实。
我们并没有选择其中某些问题，这也是事实。中国将它们强加于我们。
在今后几个月中，我将发表一系列讲话。我将更加具体地谈到其中每一个问题。
我将谈到相互竞争的意识形态和价值观，及其对美国及全世界的影响。中国共产党是一个着重于斗争和国际统治的马克思-列宁主义政党（Marxist-Leninist Party）。我们只需要听听他们领导人的话。
我还将谈到他们是如何干预我们在美国这里认为最理所当然的事情的。该党的情报机构，统一战线工作部（United Front Work）及其宣传分支已经发起一场把公众舆论导向倾向于北京的全球运动。我们要维护我们的自由——我们的言论自由，而且我们要确保信息在每一个地方都自由地流动。
而且我还会谈到国际秩序受到的影响。北京正在积极地创造它自己的国际空间，而且它参与国际组织以使其专制体制得以存在并扩大其范围。而我们在美国，我认为属于哈德逊研究所的优秀人士，要维护现有的自由及开放的国际秩序，这种秩序是美国帮助创建并继续引领的。
我还将——还将谈到经济。中国从事不公平的掠夺性经济行为，而且利用国有资产在全世界各地打下其经济足迹。我们希望中国成功。我们希望它有一个成功的经济。我们希望有一个透明的、有竞争性的、由市场驱动的惠及所有参与方的体系。
你们从我们接近签署的第一阶段协议中可以看到为此迈出的第一步。我对我们将能达成感到乐观。这是一件好事，是我们能够共同努力的一个领域。我们希望确保我们做得正确，而且我们希望确保经济关系在我们之间是公平的、对等的以及平衡的。我认为这将显示出存在着可以有的共同之处，而且特朗普政府将不辞辛劳地在我们力所能及的任何地方都找到它。
我还将有机会谈到我们的军队是如何竞争的，以及中国所建立的远远超出他们的自卫所需的有关能力。
关于美国和中国的关系在未来几年及几十年会是什么样子，将有很多谈论，很多智库的讨论，很多学术界的讨论。我将阐明美国希望的是什么：我们不希望同中华人民共和国对抗。而且事实上，我们所希望的恰恰相反。
我们希望看到一个繁荣的中国，同本国人民及其邻国和平共处。
我们希望看到一个昌盛的中国，中国的工商企业界根据我们都知道、都理解的一系列公平的对等规则同全世界其他地区进行商务往来。
我们希望看到一个自由化的中国，允许其人民的聪明才智得到充分发挥。
而且我们希望看到一个尊重其本国人民的基本人权的中国，正如其本国宪法所保障的。
但最重要的是，作为美国人至关重要的是，我们同中国接触要基于其现状，而不是我们所希望的状况。
赫尔曼·卡恩曾提醒我们，他曾敦促我们以非常规的方式进行思考，得出有说服力的政策论据，并始终一致地向美国人民说明这些论据。
我们必须以全新的、非常规的思维方式来思考中华人民共和国。
我希望你们都和我一起这么做。我们将共同学习，而且我们将在这两个国家之间发展一种牢固的关系。
我就讲到这里，现在回答几个问题，这位先生——肯（Ken）。
谢谢各位。上帝保佑大家。（掌声）

Michael R. Pompeo, Secretary of State
Hudson Institute’s Herman Kahn Award Gala, JW Marriott
New York City, New York
MR MURDOCH: Ladies and gentlemen, I’m delighted to be here with you tonight to honor a man of many, many achievements and titles: Captain Pompeo, Editor Pompeo, Chief Executive Pompeo, Representative Pompeo, Director Pompeo, Secretary Pompeo, Senator Pompeo. (Laughter and applause.) President Pompeo. (Laughter and applause.) That’s really for the speech in 2025. I’m sorry. (Laughter.)
Your founder, Herman Kahn, was an extraordinary scholar whose provocative insights challenged conventional wisdom and helped shape the destiny of our nation and the world. Mike Pompeo is also unafraid to confront the status quo, dauntless in dealing with intractable problems. Secretary Pompeo is meeting the great challenges of our time with an extraordinary background in public and military service, in private sector success, and, well, he’s certainly the Renaissance man. You cannot get any better than first in your class at West Point. As a cavalry officer, he served along the Iron Curtain, of course, which Herman Kahn worked so hard to tear down. From his time in the military, Secretary Pompeo went to Harvard and later founded Thayer Aerospace and was president of Sentry International, before being elected to Congress from Kansas. His time in the House and as CIA director no doubt serve him very well as America’s 70th Secretary of State.
He has been at President Trump’s side during many historic moments on the international stage, offering advice and steadfast principles in grappling with the complexities of the Middle East, of China, and, of course, of North Korea. It’s reassuring to know that a man in whom so much responsibility is placed is someone who himself has spoken so clearly about the value of humility. Wisdom comes from a humble disposition, he has said, warning that pride can get in the way of what he calls an honest analysis of the facts.
There is no doubt Mike Pompeo – of his strong faith, and which informs him, his outlook, and he’s certainly helped inspire its work for religious freedom around the world, and also propelled his commitment to protect the dignity of every human soul.
In that regard, Secretary Pompeo has warned of the danger of totalitarianism not only for our security, but of our basic freedoms. When the state rules absolutely, he said, moral norms are crushed completely.
As accomplished as Mike Pompeo has been in his illustrious life, I’m sure there’s much more to come. Secretary of states usually do quite well once they move on. (Laughter.) I haven’t – and actually I’ve got a good publishing house if he wants to decide to write a book. (Laughter.)
And of course, look what happened to secretaries of state. I remember Jefferson, Monroe, Adams, Van Buren, and Buchanan. So who knows what the future holds. What I do know is that you deserve this Herman Kahn Award tonight, and I’m honored to introduce you here. Thank you. (Applause.)
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, that’s very kind. I always prefer if I get the applause after I speak – (laughter) – because then you know how – then you know how you did. And Rupert, you reference the Senate race and book publishing. I’m pretty sure those are both felonies if I talked about them – (laughter) – so I’m not going to mention either tonight.
Thank you so much for those kind words, Rupert, for your generous introduction.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, it’s great to be with you all tonight. It’s remarkable I’m sitting at the table with Dr. Kissinger and Hank Greenberg, the Sterns – amazing people who have done amazing things for America. Thank you all so much for your remarkable service. I’ve been fortunate to get a chance to know Dr. Kissinger. He’s in his mid-90s. Secretary Shultz is mid-90s. I’ve got a lot of runway left. (Laughter.) Must be something about Foggy Bottom that keeps you going.
Thanks, too, Ken, and the board of trustees here for taking such good care of us. I’m humbled by your generosity and the receipt of this award tonight. My son often reminds me there’s much for me to be humble for. He – I actually told him about this, and he got online, he looked up all the previous recipients, and he wondered if the institute hadn’t might lost its way. (Laughter.)
He’s also famous for having sent out a note to the entire team that takes care of me when I travel saying, “When my dad got off the plane tonight, he looked like he was half dead. Would somebody put makeup on him?” (Laughter.) It was like 3:00 in the morning in some far-off place.
I thought I’d take you back just a minute to talk about something that’s very much on my mind. I remember I had hoped to be sworn in on January 20th, 2017 as America’s CIA director right – a few hours after President Trump’s inauguration. But Senator Wyden had a different idea about timeline, and so I was held up on that Friday.
But I had asked the President to come out to CIA headquarters on Saturday morning, out to Langley. So when I showed up there that day and the President showed up there that day, I was still the congressman from the 4th District of Kansas hoping that I could scrounge 51 votes on Monday.
I mention that because I will never forget what President Trump was focused on. Literally less than 24 hours after he had been sworn in, he was sitting with me and the senior counterterrorism team at the CIA, and he told – he said three things. He said: I’m going to give you everything you need to do; I’m going to give you the authorities you need to conduct this campaign in a way that will keep Americans safe; I want to make sure that we destroy the caliphate, and I want to get the guy who’s the leader of ISIS. And – (applause) – and we worked for two and a half years – the team was fantastic. The work that was done will absolutely make an important contribution to America’s national security. The President led that effort. He was committed to it. He supported everything that I did and then my successor, Director Haspel, and the amazing work of the Department of Defense and all the teams that brought Baghdadi to eternal justice. (Applause.)
I hope you all know when you – when you get a chance to see someone who is in uniform or someone who is an intelligence officer, you wouldn’t know. There’s actually some of you all sitting out here tonight. You wouldn’t know. Please thank them. It was amazing work that they did and important.
There’s still much work to do. The threat from radical Islamic extremism certainly is not gone, but the work that was done to lead that shows the excellence, the uniqueness, and to the point that was mentioned earlier, the exceptionalism that we have here in the United States of America.
I think it’s true that we can think long about history. Half a century ago your founder charged your institution to think about the future in unconventional ways. President Trump, when he selected me to be the Secretary – the director of the CIA was certainly thinking about something unconventional. Who would have predicted that this kid from Southern California would have this amazing privilege?
He also knew – Herman knew – that in the interest of furthering and protecting this great and noble experience that we call the United States of America, that there was no higher mission than to getting that right.
That’s why I thought I’d focus in the few minutes today before I take some questions, I thought I’d focus on something that is central to what the Trump administration is working on that is different from previous administrations. That’s not political, we have just – we have taken on the challenge from the People’s Republic of China in a way that the time is calling for.
Look, we have a long-cherished tradition of friendship with the Chinese people. We continue to do so today. We have a Chinese American community here in America that we love and treasure. I’ve known them through business and personal ties; I’ve known many of them.
But I must say that the communist government in China today is not the same as the people of China. They’re reaching for and using methods that have created challenges for the United States and for the world.
And we collectively, all of us, need to confront these challenges from the PRC head-on, and along each of the many facets.
There are many opportunities, to be sure, but it is no longer realistic to ignore the fundamental differences between our two systems and the impact, the impact that those two systems have, the differences in those systems have on American national security.
This is a departure, for sure. It might be viewed as unconventional. It’s not what you’ve heard from leaders for the last two decades plus. Frankly, we’ve been slow to see the risk of China – the risk that it poses to American national security, because we wanted friendship with the People’s Republic from the very start. And because we, as Americans, always continue to hope for that.
But frankly, in our efforts to achieve this goal, we accommodated and encouraged China’s rise for decades, even when – even when that rise was at the expense of American values, Western democracy, and security, and good common sense.
We downgraded our relationship with our long-time friend, Taiwan, on the condition that the “Taiwan question” would be resolved peacefully, to normalize relations with Beijing.
We all too often shied away from talking directly about the human rights issues there and American values when they came into conflict, and we downplayed ideological differences, even after the Tiananmen Square massacre and other significant human rights abuses.
We encouraged China’s membership in the World Trade Organization and other international organizations, premised on their commitment to adopt market reforms and abide by the rules of those organizations. And all too often, China never followed through.
We hesitated and did far less than we should have when China threatened its neighbors like Vietnam, and like the Philippines, and when they claimed the entire South China Sea.
Frankly, we did an awful lot that accommodated China’s rise in the hope that communist China would become more free, more market-driven, and ultimately, hopefully more democratic.
And we did this for a long time.
There’s another reason we adopted these policies: We didn’t realize how China was evolving. Frankly, the American people didn’t get the full story.
I’ve talked to so many business leaders. U.S. companies that invested heavily in China were forced to comply with China’s terms. This includes just about any topic that the Chinese Communist Party deemed controversial.
Beijing’s intransigence creates a permanent class of China lobbyists in the United States. Their primary job is to sell access to Chinese leaders and connect business partners.
And frankly, whenever there was a dispute or tension in the relationship, many of our scholars blamed the United States for misrepresenting the nature of the Chinese Communist Party.
Meanwhile, Beijing controlled and limited access to our diplomats, journalists, and academics to the main – when they were traveling to mainland China. They still do that today. If you saw the difference – if you saw the difference in how Chinese diplomats are treated and how American diplomats and the access they have, you too would find the absence of reciprocity deeply inconsistent with American values.
And China’s state-run media and government spokespeople filled the gaps, routinely maligning American intentions and policy objectives. They still do that today. They distorted how Americans view the People’s Republic and how they review General Secretary Xi.
These bad outcomes were all too predictable. They were predictable byproducts of dealing with a secretive regime that doesn’t respect fairness, the rule of law, and reciprocity.
Today, we’re finally realizing the degree to which the Chinese Communist Party is truly hostile to the United States and our values, and its worse deeds and words and how they impact us. And we’re able to do that because of the leadership of President Trump.
The President sounded this issue, this alarm, since his very first day. I remember one speech he gave back in Pennsylvania when he called China’s WTO membership “the greatest job theft in history.” A lot of people laughed. I don’t think so many of them are laughing now that they can see the reality.
It’s the case that now we know China weakens America’s manufacturing base by conducting massive intellectual property theft. I had a group of Fortune 500 CEOs in my office last week. The stories are staggering.
Now we know too that China threatens American freedoms by demanding our companies self-censor to maintain access to that Chinese market. We’ve all seen the stories recently of the NBA. The truth is Beijing ought to be free to run its own PR campaign; they’re a sovereign nation. But if we disagree, our companies ought to be permitted to have that disagreement. Silencing dissent simply is not acceptable.
And now we know – now we know that China threatens America’s national security by developing asymmetric weapons that threaten our strategic assets too.
The list goes on.
And these aren’t just our problems. They’re problems for all nations that share our values.
When we see Beijing use coercion as a preferred tool of statecraft, it’s not good for those of us who believe in democracy and sovereignty as the fundamental norms that ought to dominate world commerce and the way nations interact. These ideas, they threaten the free and open international order by making extrajudicial territorial and maritime claims in places like the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.
We know too that Beijing entwines its neighbors and others in its state-led economic model, often closing deals with bribes, often trapping many in debilitating debt levels, threatening their own sovereignty.
And now we know too and we can see China’s regime trampling the most basic human rights of its own citizens – the great and noble Chinese people. We’ve seen this in Hong Kong, where they need to live up to their promises and commitments, and we’ve seen it in the gross human rights violation of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.
We know too that the Chinese Communist Party is offering its people and the world an entirely different model of governance. It’s one in which a Leninist Party rules and everyone must think and act according to the will of the Communist elites. That’s not a future that I want, I think it’s not a future that anyone in this room wants, it’s not a future that other democracies want, and it’s not a future that the people of China – the freedom-loving people of China everywhere don’t want this model.
President Trump’s National Security Strategy lays this out. It recognizes China as a strategic competitor. That means there’s challenges and there’s real opportunities, and we hope that we can engage with them in ways that are constructive. But it’s reality. It’s the truth.
It’s also the case that we didn’t choose some of these issues. China forced them upon us.
In the coming months, I’m going to give a series of sets of remarks. I’m going to talk about each of these in some more detail.
I’ll talk about the competing ideologies and values and the impact that has on America and the world. The Chinese Communist Party is a Marxist-Leninist Party focused on struggle and international domination. We need only listen to the words of their leaders.
I’ll discuss too how they interfere with the things we take most for granted here in the United States. The party’s intelligence agencies, the United Front Work, and its propaganda outlets have embarked on a global campaign to change public opinion in favor of Beijing. We want to preserve our freedoms – our freedom of speech and we want to make sure that information flows freely everywhere.
And I’ll discuss too the impact on the international order. Beijing is actively creating its own international space and it participates in international organizations to validate its authoritarian system and spread its reach. We in the United States, and I think the good people who are part of the Hudson Institute, want to preserve the existing free and open international order that the United States has helped create and continues to lead.
And I’ll too – talk too about the economy. China has engaged in unfair predatory economic practices and it’s utilizing state assets to build its economic footprint all around the world. We want China to be successful. We want it to have a successful economy. We want a transparent, competitive, market-driven system that is mutually beneficial for all involved.
You can see the first steps towards that in the Phase 1 deal that we are close to signing. I’m optimistic we’ll get there. It’s a good thing, a place that we can work together. We want to make sure that we get that right and we want to make sure that the economic relationships are fair, reciprocal, and balanced as between us as well. I think this will show that there is common ground to be had, and the Trump administration will work tirelessly to find it wherever we can.
And I’ll get a chance too to talk about how our militaries compete and the capabilities that China has built up that far exceed what they would need for self-defense.
There’s lots of discussion, lots of think-tank discussion, lots of academic discussion about what the relationship will look like between the United States and China in the years and decades ahead. I’ll be clear about what the United States wants: We don’t want a confrontation with the People’s Republic of China. In fact, we want just the opposite.
We want to see a prosperous China that is at peace with its own people and with its neighbors.
We want to see a thriving China where the Chinese business community transact business with the rest of the world on a fair set of reciprocal terms that we all know and understand.
And we want to see a liberalized China that allows the genius of its people to flourish.
And we want to see a China that respects basic human rights of its own people, as guaranteed by its own constitution.
But above all, it’s critical that as Americans, we engage China as it is, not as we wish it were.
Herman Kahn used to remind us, he would urge us to think unconventionally to create persuasive arguments for policy and make those arguments consistently to the American people.
We have to think anew, and unconventionally, about the People’s Republic of China.
I hope you will all join me in that. We will learn together and we will develop a strong relationship between these two nations.
I’m going to now stop and take a few questions from mister – Ken.
Thank you. God bless you all. (Applause.)
MR WEINSTEIN: Mr. Secretary, always an honor and a pleasure to be with – wait, am I – Mr. Secretary, always an honor and a pleasure to be with you. I guess the World Series isn’t going to be the big news headline tomorrow morning. Well, what a —
SECRETARY POMPEO: Depends if the Nationals win. (Applause.)
MR WEINSTEIN: Let me just throw out a few questions. That was a truly remarkable speech, clearly the first of several, as you indicated, on this important theme of the competition between the United States and China, the future of China, the future of our relations, and the future also of freedom in China. You said – that was an incredibly rich speech. Let me pick out one theme and ask you about it first, which is the question – you talked about how freedom-loving people everywhere reject the Leninist model – including in China – reject the Leninist model of the Chinese Communist Party, and you drew a distinction between the Chinese people and the Chinese Communist Party. How do you think about these issues?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, I always start with a fundamental proposition that President Trump speaks to very directly: Every nation is sovereign. They get to lead their nation in the way they want. We respect Chinese sovereignty; they have the right to lead it. I always – I stare at this and think about the – I think about this as we’ve seen governments with ideologies like this before. This is not new in terms of how countries operate in the world. And while I know what America wants, what we’d like our relationship with China to be, I’m always reminded – and we talk about this an awful lot of times in counterterrorism. In the counterterrorism world, when do you get to stop doing this? The answer is the enemy gets to vote, right?
We think about that. Our adversaries get a choice on how this will proceed. And I think we need to try to help China make good choices, because we – and if we do that well, we’ll create a set of incentives that will reward those choices. And when I say good, good choices for the world – this is a billion and a half people that they’re going to be an important, powerful country in the world. This is a certainty. We don’t reject that, we don’t think that’s improper. We want them – we want them to be successful and grow and prosper.
But there’s been this notion – there’s been this notion that the Chinese put forward about win-win, that every transaction can be win-win. And that’s true when you do a business deal, when I give you 50 cents and you give me a Snicker bar, you’re happier with the 50 cents, I’m happy with the Snicker. But it’s – right, that’s – right, it’s basic market underpinnings.
It’s not been the case that these have all been win-win. It’s been the case that we’ve had U.S. companies go in there and they have been given commercial access. I was pleased they made decisions on banking and insurance regulations that they’re – that are changed. These are really good signs. I’m encouraged by that. I hope they’ll continue to do that. I hope we’ll continue to open markets for them as well. The President has said if we can get to where there are no barriers – right, no – we want this to be fair, and we want there to be even more trade between the two countries. When you think about that, you have to lay it against the ideological overlay inside the country, and decide whether that is something that you can achieve, and more importantly, what are the things that we can do so that we’re more likely to achieve that outcome?
MR WEINSTEIN: So stay tuned for future speeches on this subject, surely.
SECRETARY POMPEO: We – President Trump has made clear this is a central relationship for the United States for the next 50 or 100 years. We are all still figuring out the right tactics and strategy to deliver against the objectives that I set out here tonight: a strong, connected relationship with China. How do you get there? How do you think about this? We’ll learn as we go along. The United States will iterate; it’s what we do best. We’re creative, we will adapt. But we think it’s absolutely essential that we do so in a way that reflects what’s really happening, and the risks attendant with that.
MR WEINSTEIN: Let me ask you about Hong Kong quickly. How – what should the United States be doing?
SECRETARY POMPEO: It won’t surprise you I think we’ve got our policy right. (Laughter.) Look, we’re hopeful that – the Chinese made a commitment that – we hope they’ll live up to that. And at the same time, we’re telling everyone that we interact with we don’t want violence. We want this – we think there should be a political solution to the conflict that’s taking place there. We say this to – I say this to my Chinese counterparts, I say this publicly when we want the protesters to hear this too. We don’t want them to engage in violence either. We hope they can find a path forward that is consistent with the idea of “One Country, Two Systems.” That’s the commitment that the Chinese Government made. We hope they’ll live up to it.
MR WEINSTEIN: And lastly, let me ask you about as you – as you balance your incredible responsibilities as Secretary of State and you look at the unbelievable turmoil around the world – I mean, we’re living in one of the most tumultuous periods certainly in recent history or if not in the last – certainly in the last few decades. How do you as Secretary of State set your priorities on a strategic level? You’ve got China, North Korea. You’ve got Iran. You’ve got the need for our allies to step up further, to do more. But we also need to make sure that we keep them engaged because of this geostrategic competition with China. How do you – at the – how do you balance these things?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Ken, that’s a long list. I feel bad for coming to New York tonight. (Laughter.) I need to get back to work. So a couple things. First of all, the President set out a framework and continues to set out a framework for how we think about these issues and prioritize them. It’s also a blessing that we have a country that is wealthy enough to support a State Department team that’s capable of doing many things at one time.
As for my time and attention, I try to spend my days pushing along those projects where it looks like I can get a high ROI on my time, while also making sure that I invest in the things that I know I’ll leave behind, sort of the institutional things at the State Department so that this team is in a place where we’ve got the right leaders and the right training and the right human capital inside the U.S. Department of State, so that when my time is up, the next set of – the next set of leaders will come along and have a talented, capable workforce that’s ready to engage and deliver American diplomacy around the world.
MR WEINSTEIN: Well, thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. It’s really been an immense honor. I’ll turn it over to our great board chair Sarah Stern. (Applause.)
MS STERN: Wow. I think he gets a standing O for that. He asked how about the – about the – (applause.)
Mr. Secretary, you said it would depend on the applause afterwards. I think that was an incredible talk. I think we in this room are all now insiders about what’s about to happen. I can’t wait to listen to the rest of your talks as they are unrolled. You certainly have paid attention to the views of our Hudson experts on China, so thank you for that. (Applause.)
I think freedom-loving people around the globe, starting in China but moving on to some of those other places like Venezuela, Iran, other places that are living under nondemocratic governments, would thank you for that. And I think that people who live in democratic governments, and particularly Americans, and particularly the people in this room, would say thank you. (Applause.)
So we give Hudson Institute’s award to celebrate farsighted leaders who have made exceptional contributions to the security, prosperity, and freedom of the United States and its allies. I cannot imagine anyone better suited than you to address the complex set of challenges that faces our country today.
Last week, on Hudson’s podcast, The Realignment, you mentioned that in dealing with China it is important to speak without emotion and with great clarity. As we heard tonight, these two characteristics do define your approach to China and also to other world affairs. As we’ve also heard tonight, you bring a powerful intellect informed by an understanding of history and fueled by creativity. In fact, I can think of no greater praise than to say you sound and act downright Hudsonian. (Laughter and applause.)
So it is my great honor to present you with the Herman Kahn Award.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you.