Secretary Clinton's Interview in India with Bloomberg Radio
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesperson
May 8, 2012
INTERVIEW
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
With Indira Lakshmanan of Bloomberg Radio
May 8, 2012
Taj Palace Hotel
Delhi, India
QUESTION: Thank you so much, Secretary Clinton, for being with Bloomberg
Radio today. We really appreciate it.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Indira.
QUESTION: I wanted to start out by asking you, last week in China you were
involved in a roller coaster ride of backstage negotiations over a blind legal
activist, Chen Guangcheng. Take us behind the scenes. Did your talks reach the
highest levels of China's government, and what leverage did you have to convince
President Hu Jintao to let a dissident leave for the U.S.?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, Indira, I'm not, at this point, going to be able
to go into the details. Right now I'm focused on the here and now, which is,
briefly stated, Mr. Chen remains in the hospital obtaining medical treatment,
some of which was suggested as being necessary based on examinations that our
doctors at the Embassy gave him. We remain in close contact with him. He is
meeting with Chinese authorities in order to pursue the necessary steps to be
able to leave to pursue his studies in the United States. And we're also on our
end expediting and making all the necessary preparations.
So my goal is to welcome him to the United States to pursue his studies.
There'll be plenty of time in the future for him and others to discuss how we
got to the point where we are today.
QUESTION: So you think it'll be a matter of weeks that he'll be in the
U.S.?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I'm not going to put any timeline on it, because we're
all working very hard. There are a lot of people engaged in both the Chinese and
the American governments.
QUESTION: Let's step back. This was an unusual case. Mr. Chen escaped from
house arrest and later was picked up by a U.S. Embassy car that was chased and
almost had to abort its mission. Was it you or President Obama who authorized
this plan, and do you worry that it might spark a run on U.S. embassies in China
and beyond?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, first this was an exceptional case with
extraordinary circumstances, and I do not anticipate seeing any case like this
again. But I am not going to discuss any of the details at this time. There'll
be an opportune moment to do so -
QUESTION: You certainly must have authorized it, or I can't imagine the
Embassy would have done it without you.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we'll let your statement stand. (Laughter.)
QUESTION: All right. Human rights have been a defining issue of your
career. Would you have left China if this case had not been resolved? And did
you indicate to the Chinese that you couldn't leave without a deal?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I'm not going to answer a hypothetical, because
thankfully it was resolved. And we actually resolved it twice, but the second
resolution was acceptable to Mr. Chen, who, as I said repeatedly, we were
working hard to honor both his choices and our values.
QUESTION: What assurances have the Chinese demanded that this case not be
repeated? And are you amazed that China even agreed to a second deal after the
first one fell through?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I'm not going to characterize our negotiations or
any decisions that were made, but I would just underscore that we really have
stated clearly that this is an extraordinary case with exceptional
circumstances. And it is not something that either we or anyone anticipates
occurring again.
QUESTION: What's different in U.S.-China relations that China actually
agreed to this deal? Could you even have imagined something like this being
negotiated a couple of years ago?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, without really commenting on any understandings
that were reached, I will say that the intensive work that I have been doing
along with our American team through the mechanism of the Strategic and Economic
Dialogues, plus all of the interim meetings and consultations that we have
established over the last three and a half years, created a level of personal
relationships and understanding between individuals and our government
institutions that is absolutely critical for us to be able to discuss the full
range of challenges we both face.
As I've said, and it was interesting because every high-level Chinese
official I met repeated back to me from a speech that I gave at the U.S.
Institute of Peace in Washington that what we are trying to do - the United
States and China - is unprecedented in world history. We're trying to find a way
for an established power and a rising power to coexist. The United States is
going to remain a power, the predominant power economically, politically,
militarily, for a long time to come, as far as I can imagine. We recognize that
China is a rising power. There will not always be a convergence of our interests
or even our perceptions about what is happening in the world. So how we manage
this relationship is absolutely critical to peace, security, prosperity,
individual freedoms - you name it. And therefore I have invested a lot and
argued strongly for combining what were dialogues and meetings on the economic
side with disparate dialogues and meetings on the strategic side underan overarching umbrella. Because we have to be working across our
governments and we need to be sure that no issue predominates or undermines the
potential for reaching agreement on other equally important issues.
QUESTION: I need to switch to South Asia. U.S.-Pakistan talks are stalled
over reopening supply lines to Afghanistan and allowing drone strikes. Why is
the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan leaving early at such a critical time, and can
the U.S. continue counter-terror operations and achieve peace with the Taliban
as U.S. troops draw down from Afghanistan even if Pakistan is unwilling to
help?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I don't, as a matter of course, comment on
personnel matters. But I will say that the ambassador has served ably and well
under very difficult circumstances. And it's not unusual in these very difficult
assignments that we have now - Afghanistan, before that Iraq, Pakistan, others -
that the intensity of the work that is required, it leads someone to say I'm
going full out for two years and then I am going to need to step off this fast
track. So I'm very understanding of that. It was totally his request, and we're
going to honor it.
QUESTION: So the U.S.-Pakistani negotiations which continue over GLOCs and
drone strikes, how do you see those playing out and the U.S. getting the vital
cooperation it needs? What if Pakistan says no dice? Can we still continue doing
what we need to do?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we've made clear what our redlines are, and we
stand ready to negotiate over areas of concern between Pakistan and the United
States. They've had, as you know, some difficult political issues. We've waited
patiently for them to be resolved. There are still some outstanding ones,
apparently, that have not yet been so. But we have negotiations from our Embassy
and teams going over on a regular basis.
QUESTION: Do you see any breakthrough now?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think it's a matter of continuing to persevere.
QUESTION: Here in India you've been talking about a range of strategic
issues, including cooperation on Iran. Now, Indian Government officials have
told me that they are cutting orders for Iranian crude by 20 percent this fiscal
year. Did Indian leaders pledge the same specific cuts to you, and will that be
enough to win them an exemption from U.S. sanctions?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, we are aware that refineries have cut their orders
and the actual purchases have been reduced. So we're encouraged by what India
has done. I'm sending my energy coordinator, Ambassador Carlos Pascual, with a
team of experts here to India next week, and they will be discussing the full
range of energy issues. Because I fully appreciate the Indian Government's
concerns about fueling their economy. They still have an enormous amount of work
to do. They still have to extend electricity. They still have to keep it going
at affordable and predictable rates. They have a lot of economic challenges they
have to address.
So I think what they are doing is certainly noteworthy. We think they can
do more, but we think it's only fair that we sit down and discuss with them how
they can meet their legitimate energy needs while supporting the international
consensus of which they are part to end Iran's nuclear weapons program.
QUESTION: Last question on today's news, the terror plot that has been
exposed. When did you know about that, and how does this fit into your view of
the continuing U.S. counterterrorism efforts. You mentioned al-Zawahiri, you
believe, is hiding in Pakistan. So is that - explain how this fits into U.S.
efforts to continue fighting terrorism (inaudible).
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I mean, I've known about this for some time. I've
certainly known about the efforts to do something like it even longer. So I've
been someone who's followed it closely. Look, I mean, you're dealing with such
evil, perverse human beings, who sit around plotting about ways for people to
kill themselves and kill others at the same time. I mean, it is so sick, Indira,
truly.
And yet we have to remain vigilant and attentive and quick and agile in our
response, which thankfully we continue to be, and working closely with the
countries that I visited this week. Counterterrorism is always on the agenda
because we have to defeat those who would use this tactic that is just designed
to sow death and destruction. It's not a political agenda really. It's not
intended to provide anybody with a better life. It's a terrible vestige of an
attitude that somehow violence is a substitute for participating in a legitimate
political process.
QUESTION: So we can expect a strike on al-Zawahiri next?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I was very sad to see the video produced by
al-Qaida of Mr. Weinstein, who was kidnapped, is being held by al-Qaida in
Pakistan, we believe in the tribal areas. He was living in Lahore, Pakistan,
from which he was abducted. He was there doing development work to help the poor
people of Pakistan, and it's just tragic. But since Zawahiri inherited the
mantle of leadership from bin Ladin and we continue to believe he's in Pakistan,
we are going to pursue him and all those who threaten Americans and our friends
and allies.
QUESTION: Secretary Clinton, thank you so much for your time.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you, Indira. Good to see you.
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State.)
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