Press Roundtable Wuhan

Ambassador Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.
Press Roundtable
Wuhan
February 4, 2010

 

 

Ambassador Huntsman:  Thank you.

This consulate represents the true meaning of the U.S.-China relationship.  This is about movement of people.  It’s about people to people exchanges.  It’s about learning from each other culturally, politically, historically, and sharing our individual experiences.  It’s all done by moving people back and forth.  We have an excellent example of that in our Fulbright student program here.  We have some Fulbright scholars, and they’re an excellent example of students who have come here to learn more about China.

The most powerful tool that we have in the U.S.-China relationship is our young people in both the United States and here in China.  I have yet to speak to a student here in China from the United States whose life hasn’t been changed and transformed by their experience here.  I have yet to meet Chinese friends in the United States who are either there studying or who have returned here to China who, based on their experience in the United States, didn’t have a life-transforming experience.

So despite our differences, and we have them in the relationship; and despite our challenges, and we will always have them as any relationship does; it’s very encouraging to note the movement of people back and forth.  Particularly the focus on young people.  Today we have more Chinese students than ever before in the United States, and a plan to bring more American students here than ever before with President Obama’s plan to increase to 100,000 students.

Our youth bring a sense of vitality and newness and freshness to the relationship and soon, as I tell students in China when I speak at universities, they will inherit the U.S.-China relationship and they must infuse new thinking and new ideas into the relationship and new ways to problem solve.  It’s an enormously important responsibility when you look at the most important relationship in the world, the U.S.-China relationship.  And I have every confidence that young people in the United States and here in China are ready to meet that challenge.

I’m delighted to be with Diane Sovereign, our Consul General here in Wuhan, in Hubei.  I think it’s very important to note that we have very few locations, Consulate locations, in China and they’re all located in very important regions.  We are here because Wuhan is an extremely important destination -- economically, from a trade standpoint, from a cultural standpoint -- and we have every belief that in the years to come this Consulate will be a very important part of our overall bilateral relationship.

This year in the U.S.-China relationship we have some challenges ahead.  I’m a believer in the idea that for over 30 years we have built the U.S.-China relationship, both Republicans and Democrats alike, into a relationship that is bigger than any one issue.  We are made up of a multitude of issues between us and a multitude of points of connection that make the U.S.-China relationship the most important, the most complex, and the most dynamic relationship in the world.

So the question is: are we putting the U.S.-China relationship to the test this year, over the next few weeks and number of months?  I believe we are putting the U.S.-China relationship to the test.  And I think the U.S.-China relationship will survive this test over the weeks ahead.  I think we will emerge with a deeper understanding of each other’s interests and we’ll be able to proceed with a $400 billion trading relationship and people who in greater numbers are going back and forth and our two countries who are able to focus on the global economy, regional security, clean energy, climate change, nuclear safety, and all of the issues that people of the world feel strongly about.  If we are not successful then I feel that I will have let down my daughter Gracie who is from China and cares deeply about the future of the U.S.-China relationship for the sake of her generation.  She’s only ten years old.

So whenever we talk about the issues between us, some are difficult and some are challenging, some are easy, we should always have a picture of the next generation in front of us to be reminded about what our work is really all about.  Our students here are an example of what the relationship is about.  It’s about their future.  They’re about to inherit the U.S.-China relationship and move it forward.  We want to make sure that whatever we give them is strong and durable and is based on peace and understanding and shared interests.

Thank you.  I’ll let you ask whatever you’d like.

Question:  From Wuhan Ribao newspaper, Mr. Ambassador.  I’d like you to say a few words about the cooperation between the United States embassy and the Wuhan municipal government on water protection and resources, especially in the Dong Hu area and also what cooperation is being considered between the U.S. government and Wuhan in these areas.

Ambassador Huntsman:  This is an excellent question and gets to I think the second most important part of our relationship.  The first, I think the most important part of the U.S.-China relationship is all about people.  People to people exchanges that are active; people to people understanding.  Deepening and broadening our exchanges.  Because 35 years ago we had very little and today it’s building up into something quite substantial.

The second part is exactly what you talked about which is trade and commerce, which I believe always represents the currency of peace.

We have a very important trade delegation that is in Wuhan today representing some of our very best technologies in the area of water treatment.  We know that Wuhan has some very ambitious environmental protection goals because it is innately a very beautiful, a very historic part of the world.  We hope that by this interaction with American and Chinese companies and NGOs that we’re able to find solutions for some of Wuhan’s challenges going forward, not because America has all of the answers.  We don’t.  But we have a little bit of experience in dealing with years and years of industrialization.

People like to say that America is a “developed” country and China is a “developing” country.  I can tell you as a former Governor of one state in America, that America is also developing.  We’re always developing new ideas and new approaches and innovating new solutions.  And this is a perfect example of where we can cooperate.  We can show a little bit and teach a little bit and then we can in turn learn a lot from you and your experiences and the experiences of Chinese cities and companies and private entities.  We can learn together.

But we are very focused in the United States on the environmental health and well being of our cities and our states.  We don’t have all of the answers.  We’re still looking to figure out how to leave a better legacy to the next generation, and we know that’s exactly what’s happening here in Wuhan and other parts of China.

So this is a perfect opportunity for the United States and China to bring out the very best in humanity and in technology and private sector cooperation.

Finally, let me just say that the most important thing that President Obama and President Hu Jintao accomplished during their meeting in November was an understanding on how we proceed together in the area of clean energy which includes energy efficiency.  It includes energy efficient buildings; it includes battery operated automobiles -- electric cars, and carbon capture and sequestration for coal-fired power plants, just to name a few examples of what together the United States and China have embarked upon.  It’s a beginning, but I think that between the United States and China in these very important areas, we will without question leave the world an extremely important legacy by the work we do together.

Question:  Ambassador, good afternoon, and welcome to Wuhan.  I’m a reporter from China Daily.

As you said, the U.S.-China relationship is very important and the face is changing this year.  But I want to make a contrast.  The first question, what do you think about President Obama’s approach to the Taiwan issue?

I have some questions, first maybe you can answer them one by one, or I can just put all the questions out and then you can answer it together.

Ambassador Huntsman:  In answer to your question about President Obama’s approach to Taiwan, let me just make very clear that from the beginning of this relationship going back to 1972 when President Nixon stepped off Air Force One and started talking with Zhou EnLai and Chairman Mao about bringing the two countries together, it was based on some very fundamental understandings including one China, the One China Policy.  Including what then played out in later years as the three joint communiqués and the Taiwan Relations Act.  And whether Republican or whether Democrat, for almost 40 years this policy has been the same by the United States.

Question:  The One China Policy has never changed in American hearts, including One China Policy.

Ambassador Huntsman:  Let me understand your question.  You say has the One China Policy changed?

Question:  A lot of things happen between China and the USA about the Taiwan issue, about the military.  So do you think it may be an obstacle between China, Taiwan issue is an obstacle between China and the U.S. relationship?  Do you think it’s an obstacle?

Ambassador Huntsman:  Well, not any more of a challenge than it has been traditionally for more than 30 years.

I think what we need to focus on is not the most recent announcement but what years and years of U.S.-China policy has done to the region.  When you look at the region, all of East Asia, particularly the Taiwan Strait, is it safer today?  Is it more predictable?  Are there more people going back and forth?  More direct contact, san tong, than 30 plus years ago?  Absolutely.  I lived in the region 30 years ago.  I remember what the region was like 30 years ago.  It was very fragile.  Today it’s very friendly, and I compliment the leadership of China for embarking upon a dialogue with their friends in Taiwan, with the Taiwan, people, to bring people closer together, to promote trade and to promote interaction, which today is I think more successful than ever before.

So why is it more successful today than ever before?  I think years and years of studied policy on both sides which will always accommodate in the future an evolving region has led to a situation today that is based on peace and based on trade and based on the exchange of people and not war.  I think for all people in America and in China, that’s a very good outcome.

Question:  I’d like to ask about people here [inaudible] in Wuhan [inaudible].  He’s asking about the schedule, timetable.

Ambassador Huntsman:  It’s a very good question.  In fact we had this very conversation with Mayor Ruan this morning.  I told Mayor Ruan that we would work together in bolstering, in strengthening our staffing needs here in the consulate in all areas including consular affairs, which we very very much want to do.  But we have to do it in step with certain approvals and relationship building with the local government.  The Mayor responded by saying he very much wants to work with us in developing a more substantial presence here, particularly in the area of consular affairs.

So we hope that in the years to come we’re able to address the needs of the movement of people and the consular requirements of this very important region.

Our movement of people from China to the United States has grown substantially in China.  When I look back just over 30 years ago when we started our formal bilateral relationship, we had a few hundred people that visited the United States.  Today we have over half a million, and a good percentage of them are students.  So it grows so very very quickly, and you have to remember that we are doing our best to grow commensurately because the needs are enormous.

If you go to visit Guangzhou and Shanghai and our new embassy in Beijing, you will see the finest consular offices and technology and procedures that exist anywhere in the world, and they’re all new in the last few years.  So we’re moving very very quickly to address the consular needs.

Which gets back to my initial point.  You need connection of people if the relationship is going to work.  If you don’t have connection between people, you don’t have a relationship.

Question:  I’d like to ask you, Mr. Ambassador, first of all I know that you are a Republican.  I wonder what special skills or charisma may have led President Obama to choose you, appoint you to such an important position.  [Laughter].

The second question is about your daughter who is a Chinese-American, what kind of a special connection she is providing you.

Ambassador Huntsman:  I’m sure that President Obama started with a very long list and he got to the end of the list and I was maybe there.  So probably no particular skills other than a great respect for the U.S.-China relationship and a deep love for China and the culture and the people here.  I’m a firm believer in this being the most important relationship in the world and it must be nurtured and our challenges must be dealt with realistically and not in ways that cause the relationship to go off track.  It’s too important, the work of this relationship.

I’ve always been dedicated to that end as a Trade Ambassador, as Governor, and I was delighted, although very surprised when the President asked me to assume this role which is not about politics.  It isn’t about being a Republican or a Democrat.  It’s about serving your country.  That’s what this position is about.  I’m honored to put aside politics and to represent all of the people in the United States and all of our interests here in China.

My daughter Gracie is a perfect representation of the U.S.-China relationship.  Or I guess you could say that I live with China every day of my life.  She reminds me of China every morning when I wake up.  She is beautiful, she is smart, she is energetic, and she has a very optimistic view of the future.  She also reminds me of the U.S.-China relationship because sometimes she gets mad at me for decisions that I make.  [Laughter].  But we always find peaceful and amicable solutions to all of those disagreements and misunderstandings.

Question:  I’m not going to ask about those issues.  I think like brothers we can solve this among ourselves, we can resolve them over time, across Straits can be solved.  So I’m going to ask something very practical instead about the future of exchanges between young people of our two countries because, for example, Wuhan has the second largest number of institutions of higher learning after Beijing.  And I’d like to ask how you plan to use your personal charisma and your role as an Ambassador and other influences in promoting more exchanges between young people to encourage more young Americans to go to China, to have exchanges in Wuhan, or for example other channels you might use.  For example you adopted a Chinese girl.  There may be other things as a former Governor of Utah.  You had exchanges between high school students or a summer exchange between families of Utah and Wuhan.  What other ideas would you have that you might like to implement in order to promote more understanding, connections between young people of our two countries.

Ambassador Huntsman:  It’s probably the most important question of all because the answer to the question is effectively what we do to ensure that there is a successful long term relationship.  Because if you don’t have young people that are acting with young people and engaging in exchanges and developing a deeper understanding and respect for different systems, political systems and cultures and different traditions, then the future looks pretty bleak.

I don’t want to over-simplify the answer, but I think the most important thing that we can do in the United States is to teach language and expand the access to Mandarin language study not just in college, but in the elementary schools, in junior highs and high schools throughout the United States.  The last generation in the United States everybody traveled across the Atlantic Ocean because everybody studied French and German, and their orientation was toward Europe and the European capitals and European culture and European history.  That was last generation.

That American world view is changing, and in some cases very quickly, toward a trans-Pacific world view where more and more Mandarin opportunities are being offered.  In my own state when I was Governor, we started a Mandarin language program in elementary schools and in junior highs and high schools.  That was very unique.  Today the state of Utah produces more language students at the younger level than any state in America.

But the amazing thing is, when they study language their brain opens to that culture and that country and they develop an interest in that area, and all of a sudden schools develop exchange programs, teachers come from China as we had in our state for the first time ever to teach Chinese.  It develops a whole new range of opportunities that I think over the next 10 and 20 years will transform the opportunities for young people, so we go from trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific.  So just like a generation ago, every young student will want to have a study abroad here in China to fulfill some class requirement.

Consul General Sovereign:  That’s all we have time for today.

Ambassador Huntsman: Thank you.

 

 

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