00:00have imposed upon themselves.
00:01How are you thinking about that, about the unintended
00:03consequence of Russia being driven closer to North Korea,
00:07China, and Russia?
00:09How are you thinking about that Axis alliance?
00:12Like, what's the term you're using?
00:14Well, I think we've seen two things.
00:15We have seen that, although that was something that was
00:17in the works for a long time, and maybe some of it's
00:20accelerated as a result of the war in Ukraine.
00:23But we've also seen something else that's
00:24been quite remarkable.
00:26I've been doing this for more than 30 years.
00:29I have not seen a time when there's been greater
00:31convergence between the United States and our European
00:34partners and our partners in Asia in terms of the approach
00:39to Russia, but also in terms of the approach to China than
00:42we're seeing right now.
00:43We built convergence across the Atlantic, we built it
00:47across the Pacific, and we built it between the Atlantic
00:50and the Pacific.
00:51So I would take our team and the countries that we're
00:54working with than anything that Russia's been able to
00:57put together.
00:58Beyond that, I think they're going to be, and we've already
01:02seen a lot of strains in these groupings.
01:05It's not particularly good for your reputation to be
01:09working closely with Russia and helping it perpetuate its
01:11war in Ukraine.
01:13So I think China's very uncomfortable in the position
01:16it's in, but for now, we do have a challenge, which is
01:20China is providing not weapons, unlike North
01:24Korea and Iran, but it's providing the inputs for
01:27Russia's defense industrial base.
01:2870% of the machine tools that Russia's importing come from
01:32China, 90% of the microelectronics come from
01:35China, and that's going into the defense industrial base
01:37and turning into missiles and tanks and other weapons.
01:40We've called out China on that.
01:43We have sanctioned Chinese companies.
01:46But more to the point, so have many others.
01:49And we just saw that in Europe a couple weeks ago.
01:53And China can't have it both ways.
01:54It can't all at once be saying that it's for peace.
01:58In Ukraine, when it is helping to fuel the ongoing
02:01pursuit of the war by Russia.
02:02It can't say that it wants better relations with Europe
02:05when it is actually helping to fuel the greatest threat to
02:07Europe's security since the end of the Cold War.
02:09On China, last year on this stage, you talked about your
02:14goal of putting stability back in the US-China relationship.
02:17I think you used the phrase putting a floor under it, and
02:21trying to make sure that competition
02:22doesn't tip into conflict.
02:25Have you succeeded?
02:26I believe we have.
02:29When we were last here, I guess it was after an initial
02:33trip that I made to China.
02:35And then many of my colleagues followed.
02:37Secretary Yellen, Secretary Raimondo.
02:41And we've done a number of things.
02:42And of course, President Biden, President Xi in late
02:45November in San Francisco.
02:48We've done a number of things that are critical.
02:50We have restored regular, high-level engagements between
02:53our countries.
02:54And that's vitally important, because if you want to avoid
02:57any kind of unintended conflict, you've got to start
03:01by talking, by communicating.
03:03And we've restored that.
03:04And there's a steady drumbeat of these engagements, these
03:07communications, including restoring critically these
03:09military-to-military communications.
03:11How often do you speak to your Chinese counterpart?
03:13I speak to him on a fairly regular basis.
03:16And I'll be seeing him next week, in fact, in Laos.
03:22But that's important.
03:23But it's important for two reasons.
03:25It's important, first, to make sure that, again, we have
03:27clarity, and we're not getting into something
03:31that's unintended.
03:33It's also important because, one, we're able to communicate
03:37very clearly on areas where we disagree.
03:38So at least China knows where we're coming from, just as we
03:41know where they're coming from.
03:42We have that on the South China Sea.
03:43We have that on Taiwan.
03:45We have that on overcapacity now.
03:47These are critical.
03:48But there's another aspect to this.
03:49I'll just mention it quickly.
03:52This relationship cannot be put on a bumper sticker, at
03:55least, if it can be, maybe a very long bumper sticker, a
03:59large bumper sticker.
04:01Because it's the most consequential and the most
04:03complex relationship we have.
04:05There are aspects of, really, competition, which is probably
04:09the fundamental way I define it, but also contestation, but
04:14also cooperation.
04:15And we found places where it's in our mutual interest to
04:18actually cooperate, even as we're competing very vigorously
04:22in shaping the future.
04:23Fentanyl is one of them.
04:25Single number one killer of Americans between the ages of
04:2718 to 45.
04:2940% of Americans know someone who died from an opioid
04:32overdose.
04:34We've, of course, been going at this for a long time and
04:37trying to make sure that when it comes to the chemical
04:39precursors, the ingredients that go into making fentanyl
04:43and that are mostly now manufactured in China for
04:46perfectly legal reasons, but then get diverted illegally,
04:49come to Mexico, get synthesized into fentanyl,
04:51come into the United States.
04:54We wanted to make sure that China is actually doing what
04:58it needs to do to curb the flow of those precursors.
05:01And this is something that President Biden negotiated with
05:03President Xi when they met in November in San Francisco.
05:07We've now seen it's a good start, but it's not enough.
05:10Cooperation, finally, on doing just that.
05:13On Taiwan.
