Full Video Transcript:
Secretary Kerry: Good morning, everybody.
I want to thank my good friend of almost 40-plus years,
the Vice President of the United States, for coming today.
I don't think there's ever been a Vice President
who is as steeped in foreign policy, as knowledgeable,
and his instincts are as honed as Vice President Joe Biden's.
And he, believe it or not, began his visits to China
as a young senator
on the first visit to meet with Deng Xiaoping in 1979.
And he has been many times since and has received
many Chinese leaders here.
I will tell you that the Vice President,
on so many different issues in the discussions that we have,
has just an inherent native sense of direction
with respect to foreign policy.
And I won't say too much more here
except to say that we who had the privilege
of working with him in the Senate --
I think I was there with him for 26 years --
saw a person whose word is good, whose instincts are sound,
and whose principles and values are just as basic
and as based in America
and in common sense as you could desire.
So, ladies and gentleman, without further ado,
the Vice President of the United States, Joe Biden.
(applause)
The Vice President: Vice Premier Yuan, I hope you understand
not to believe a word of what the Secretary just said.
The one thing I do know for sure,
that this strategic and economic dialogue is essential.
It's essential to get it right for both our countries.
There's no more important relationship.
State Counselor Yang, it's good to see you again.
I am honored to be with you.
I point out the State Counselor,
we've known each other for awhile.
His allocution and his mastery of English exceeds mine,
and so I seek his advice occasionally on speeches.
(laughter)
But honored to welcome your delegation to Washington.
I want to start by expressing my sadness.
The sadness, quite frankly, of the American people
in the loss of two beautiful young lives,
young Chinese students in the Asiana plane crash on Saturday.
Our sympathies to their families and to your country.
It was remarkable to see that plane in the state it was in,
but the loss of those two young lives is, for families,
the most devastating thing that happens in their lives.
You know, we meet at a time of transition on both sides.
China has a new president and new leaders.
I've had the great pleasure and honor of spending
a fair amount of time with President Xi
when President Hu and President Obama
thought the two Vice Presidents could --
should get to know one another.
And we ended up spending about 10 days together,
five in each of our countries, traveling around,
and you get to know someone fairly well.
When I congratulated him on his elevation,
I asked if he could possibly help me.
(laughter)
But he made no commitment whatsoever.
But all kidding aside,
we welcome and look forward to the transition
that's taking place on both sides.
And, Vice Premier, I want you to know that in the persons
of John Kerry and Jack Lew,
as part of the change in the guard here,
we have sent you, in this case, in this meeting,
two of the best, most seasoned, qualified public servants
that this nation has to offer, and that is not hyperbole.
They generally are.
I think Jack's had every job
in the administration in every administration,
and he sometimes in our meetings gets confused
as to whether he's supposed to be calling
for spending less money or more money
based on whether he's the director of OMB
or the Secretary of the Treasury.
But all kidding aside, we --
this transition that's taken place
in the last six months or so is important
in that I think it's vitally important that the relationships
among the four men behind me
are deepened and become more personal.
I look out and see our trade rep.
He's heard me say that there's a famous American politician,
a former Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neill, and he used to say,
"All politics is local."
Well, I think a significant part of international politics,
foreign policy, is personal.
Trust -- one of the most important things
that we need to continue to establish and deepen
between our peoples and between our governments is trust.
We don't have to agree on everything,
but you have to trust.
And I think it's -- in building these relationships,
both our countries will be much better for it
in the years ahead.
The stakes are very high because it's fair to say
that the dynamic that emerges between our nations
will affect not just our people, but, quite frankly,
have a significant impact on the entire world.
And let me be blunt.
There are strong voices on both sides of the Pacific that talk
about a relationship in terms of mistrust and suspicion.
They still exist in both our countries.
Our relationship is subject to all kinds of caricatures.
I've heard the U.S.-China relationship described
as everything from the next Cold War to the new G2.
And the truth is, neither are accurate.
The truth is more complicated.
Our relationship is and will continue to be, God willing,
a mix of competition and cooperation.
And competition can be good for both of us,
and cooperation is essential.
For two nations as large and influential as ours,
it's only natural that there be competition.
And if the game is fair, healthy and political
and economic competition can then marshal the best energies
of both our societies.
But this mix places an added burden on both of us.
The relationship -- a relationship like ours
will work only if the leaders and citizens approach it
with the sense of vision and a spirit of maturity.
We will have our disagreements.
We have them now.
But if we are straightforward, clear,
and predictable with one another,
we can find solutions that work for both of us.
I made clear on my last visit to China
that we are a Pacific power.
We have been and we're going to remain one.
That should be viewed, and one of my discussions in China
was viewed by many as a stabilizing influence.
But as we implement President Obama's policy of rebalancing
toward the Asia Pacific, it's important that the United States
and China communicate clearly and work closely
with one another on what is going on.
We have big issues to deal with.
We each have important contributions to make
to global and economic stability.
My country -- my country has been the last four years
grappling with such challenges as infrastructure, education,
or our fiscal picture.
Too many Americans still remain out of work.
But China faces serious challenges as well.
It needs to create high-skilled jobs for young people,
deal with grave environmental problems,
reform China's banking sector, respond to market forces,
and bring its shadow financial sector to heel.
The United States is making progress.
Our economy has now added private sector jobs
for 40 consecutive months.
Not enough, in the view of this administration,
but 40 consecutive months.
The manufacturing sector is once again growing,
growing at the fastest pace in decades,
and our deficit next year is projected to be less than half
of what it was in 2009 as a share of our economy.
And the next steps that China needs
to take for its own economy
happen to be in the interests of the United States as well.
Your own plans call for the kinds of changes
that have to take place that are difficult, like here.
But if they do, they will benefit us both,
including free exchange rates,
shifting to a consumption-led economy,
enforcing intellectual property rights and renewed innovation.
You know, it's easy for pundits to point out to us,
in both our countries, what we need to do,
but they're political realities.
These things are not easy to do quickly, but they must be done.
Some argue that China should continue on its current path,
enhancing some aspects of its free market system
while rising political openness gradually occurs,
maintaining the state's deep involvement
in the Chinese economy.
I do not pretend to know whether --
with any degree of certainty or precision,
what will allow China to rise above those economic challenges,
but I believe that history offers us both some lessons.
History shows that prosperity is greatest when governments allow
not just the free exchange of goods,
but the free exchange of ideas; that innovation,
which thrives in open economies and societies,
thrives in open economies and societies.
That is -- that's the currency of the 21st century's success,
that in the long run greater openness, transparency,
respect for universal rights actually is a source
of national and international stability.
As I've said before, I believe that China, presumptuous of me,
will be stronger and more stable and more innovative
if it represents and respects
international human rights norms.
But there are differences we have.
We also have significant challenges,
strategic challenges to discuss.
Together we need to be addressing
the longstanding disagreements,
and when sensitive issues arise,
work hard not to create new ones.
For example, our military is --
your military is modernizing and expanding its presence in Asia.
Ours is updating its global posture
as two wars come to an end
and we recalibrate and rebalance in Asia.
These trends will bring us into closer contact.
Leaving the military dimension
of our dialogue under-developed on both sides
causes us to run unnecessary risk.
So I welcomed yesterday the round
of strategic security dialogue and the enhanced dialogue
between our senior military leaders.
More of it must occur.
It's critical to expand
our military-to-military dialogue exchanges
in cooperation as we go forward.
We have to know what each other are doing.
The truth is, we have a common interest in defending
a wide range of public goods in international rules
that will only grow more compelling
as China looks beyond its borders.
For example, we both --
we both benefit from freedom of navigation
and uninhibited lawful commerce.
That will deepen and it will also become more apparent,
and it will depend on how China approaches its territorial
disputes with its neighbors and how we work together
to advance common interest.
We both will benefit from an open, secure, reliable internet.
Outright cyber-enabling theft that U.S. companies
are experiencing now must be viewed as out-of-bounds
and needs to stop.
The race to develop cleaner, more affordable energy sources
through a mix of competition and cooperation,
to state the obvious, can benefit both our people
and the people in the world.
So I welcome the new energy and climate dialogue
and our agreement to reduce the pollutants known as HFCs,
which make an outsized contribution to climate change.
And, of course, the security of both our nations,
as we have discussed privately and somewhat publically,
is threatened by North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
Neither of us, neither of us will accept a North Korea
that is a nuclear-armed state.
Our presidents have agreed that ending that threat
is a critical priority, not only to our relationship --
in our relationship, but for each of our nations.
We're determined to intensify our cooperation with China
to denuclearize North Korea.
Many of the most pressing challenges
will be very difficult to solve
unless we are willing to continue to work together
as we are doing today and have been doing
for some time.
China now has the second largest economy in the world
and, God willing, will continue to grow.
It's in our interest.
It's no longer the discussion, when I was a young senator,
of zero-sum games here.
We used to talk about if another nation grows
and benefits somehow that --
it's the exact opposite, to state the obvious.
With that new -- not new,
but emerging and continuing growth of the Chinese economy
and the second largest in the world now,
that's the good news.
The bad news is,
it comes with some new international responsibilities.
It's understandable that China wants to be involved
in international rule-setting, as you should be,
but is wary about taking additional
international burdens on.
Ultimately the two go hand in hand,
because in 2013 the world's environment
and rule-based economic order
cannot sustain an exception the size of China.
Your country is simply too immense and too important.
As John pointed out, I first visited China
in 1976 as a young senator.
It was already clear then that China stood
on the cusp of remarkable change.
I believed then and I believe now that your country's rise
would be and is good for America and the world.
That is just a simple statement of fact,
but it's never been inevitable.
The greatest cause for optimism is what happens
when our people come together.
We see a lot of ourselves in each other,
a striving entrepreneurial spirit,
an optimism about the future.
I see that when I speak to young Americans across this country,
and I saw it when I was accompanied by your President
and spoke to college students in Chengdu.
Mechanisms like the strategic and economic dialogue play
an important role in managing our complex relationship.
If together we get it right,
we can leave behind a much better future for our children
and for their children --
and, quite frankly, for the world.
That sounds somewhat chauvinistic,
just be talking about,
as we get our relationship right,
it has such a consequence to the world, but it does.
It does.
And nothing matters more.
So I welcome you.
I know this is not the first day,
but I welcome you on behalf of the President,
and I wish you a great deal of luck.
We have a great deal of work to do.
The promise is real.
The competition will, in fact,
as I said to President Xi when he was Vice President,
the competition is good.
It's good for us.
It's good for you.
We welcome it. We welcome it.
And we'll both be better for it.
As I said, as a consequence, if we get it right,
so will the world.
So thank you for the important work you're doing here today.
I wish you luck for the remainder of this discussion,
and I look forward to seeing you in China.
Thank you.
Obama White House - July 10, 2013