Today. I am honored you asked me to inaugurate this center for freedom and democracy. Lets see if i cant solve this feedback problem myself. Ready, i wastting reminded of a line from emerson. He said an institution is lengthened by the shadow of one man. There is no man who did more than reagan to restore americas confidence and human freedom in the post world war ii era. There is no better event than continuing that work by launching this institution 40 years after america sent our 40th president to the white house. People watching online and those in this room are students of president reagan. As a kid growing up in california, i got to see him in action as the governor. It was a very different california then. [laughter] was ronald but it reagan as governor who believed in the promise of america. He believed no other nation under god was conceived in liberty quite the way that we are. His deep, innate understanding of americas exceptional place in the world gave him the strength to face down the soviet scourge. He was confident that every threat he faced we have many threats that remain, but i am equally confident america will overcome any challenge from communist china to the terrorist regime in tehran. We solve problems. We win, they lose. We execute our Foreign Policy confident that we are the shining city on the help. I know you all believe in the promise of americas freedom. President trump believes in it. Our nations story isnt about dehumanizing critical theory. It is not about oppressors and oppressed. It is not about materialism and even that mike makes might makes right. It is that all men and women are made in the image of god with certain godgiven rights despite the virtue of our humanity. These truths, and the declaration, really are indeed selfevident. Never before in all of recorded history was a nation founded on the present it is what makes us so good. It is what i get to see every day as i work with my team and travel around the world. It is what made our lives so attractive to those seeking a better world. I must say you dont see individual families trying to migrate to iran or russia or venezuela. Those countries offer abuse, not the opportunity free nations can afford peoples. I talked about american exceptionalism. I did in brussels, in jakarta. Every opportunity i had in my public life, sometimes it was met with a resounding thud. I walked out of quiet workrooms. President reagan talked about americas founding promise every chance he got to. He reminded the audience what kind of people they were, worthy of freedom and determined to not only help others gain their freedoms as well. President reagan put his belief in freedom at the very center of how he thought about Foreign Policy. So has the Trump Administration. It was a halfdozen years after his westminster address. President trump president reagan returned to england and executed division he outlined in 1982. He said his foreignpolicy was one of strength and candor. Both principles guided president trumps policy too. Take a look at the things we have done so far. In the middle east, americas strength is replaced. We killed baghdadi and soleimani restored the effort against the islamic iran. Ic of american diplomatic strength conveyed our relationships with our gulf partners, the closest they have ever been. Recognizing the Golan Heights is part of israel. To the chagrin of some in town, he delivered peace through the abraham accords. But we are not finished yet. Strength are of also the foundation for americas policy for the Chinese Communist party. I have spoken about this at great length and followed president reagan in how we think about this challenge. Steered ars plus, we course for action. We changed. We ignored all the contrary evidence that showed the regime in beijing is authoritarian, british, and and brutish, and antithetical to human freedom. We have said United States relations will not be dictated by exceptions. But by simple and powerful standards expected of any nation. That means what we told our counterparts in china, the ability to have transparency and reciprocity for beijing is what president reagan demanded from moscow. No more stealing of intellectual property and no more ignoring fundamental human rights violations. This challenge requires not only diplomatic effort, but the luke perry strength to keep the peace. This administration has made historic investments to enhance our armed forces, to focus their bolster our privacy in the region. I have been the secretary of state for coming on 30 months. Andaveled around the world spoke about the ccp. I reminded them the west is winning, that we will prevail. The good news is the free world and sovereign nations are now rallying to this cause. I often hear, we do not want to [indiscernible] the fight is between authoritarianism on one side and freedom on the other. So we have begun to strengthen institutions so we can achieve this objective from [microphone feedback] we have woken them up to the threat posed by this marxist leninist monster. Precisely the traits president reagan spoke of. The urgency of this matter is excepted across the political spectrum and shows the Trump Administration succeeded [indiscernible] National Security and for the freedoms of all humanity. It is an accomplishment that will steer a generation of american Foreign Policy makers. We should approach this challenge and deed every challenge confident in our nations purpose. Sure of our values and determined to protect our way of life, because we believe so deeply in americas promise. Just like president reagan, we have every reason to be optimistic. America itself is a continentwide reminder that freedom is the superior alternative to tyranny. Our policies are grounded in the love of america, that we are ind eed an exceptional nation of founding principles and our future promise is special. If we get it right, our friends and allies will see america leading. We will emerge stronger, more confident and face the china challenge. President reagan knew this. Appeasement and blind engagement makes us weak. Beijing, tehran take advantage of weakness. We cannot afford to return to the days of america sacrificing its National Leadership to multilateral institutions that erode american sovereignty. [indiscernible] we cant sustain an empty dialogue with regimes that have no intention to respect the free and open order that we worked so to the delete worked so diligently to build. Offer us reagans life incredibly valuable lessons. It was in 1952, the start of the cold war, Ronald Reagan the actor went to the middle of america, not far from kansas. He had delivered his iron curtain speech a few years earlier. From there he said, america is an idea that has been deep in the thoughts of man ever since man started his long trail from the swamp and is nothing but the inherent love of freedom in each one of us. That idea, the inherent love of freedom, led millions in Eastern Europe to tear down the berlin wall years ago. And the iron curtain in the months that followed fell too. We have seen this desire for peace across the world. We see it in the people of hong kong waving the american flag. We see the people of venezuela, tired of nicolas maduros destructive regime. We see it in nicaragua. Iranians and belarusians. We have debated and will continue to debate how to approach the china challenge. I think that is healthy in a democracy. Our true north, to which we must always return a more Perfect Union and greater human freedom in the world must remain. This special place, the Reagan Institute will play a key part in that. Today, youre reaffirming americas belief in the great things at the heart of an amazing nation. I am glad you are focusing your work on that westminster address, when president reagan spoke about fostering the infrastructure of democracy and leaving communism on the ash heap of history. Bold. What he says is true. It was grounded in americas first principle. It was optimistic. Reagan knew those principles were right. This center will continue to march on. It will continue that march of freedom and democracy and you will keep lengthening the shadows of the man that reminded america that we are in fact special and that the world needs us to live up to our nations providence. It is an amazing honor to be here. I look forward to following your work and taking questions today. May god bless the United States of america. Thank you all. [applause] thank you, mr. Secretary. I was about to tell you how to put the mic on, but you are capable of handling that. We have time for a few questions. For those in the room and online, i think you will agree that was a remarkable set of remarks. Inspiring the way you integrated president reagans legacy with the work you have done as secretary of state and Trump Administration. Lets start with the Chinese Communist party. That was a big piece of your speech. You referenced president reagans speech in missouri. Many people look at churchills iron curtain speech of the beginning of the cold war. Your time in this administration, have you witnessed a moment where you had that iron curtain moment, where you recognized the Chinese CommunistParty Presented a challenge that the only frame of reference was going back to the cold war . Sec. Pompeo if you look at the president s remarks from his campaign and before that, he identified a number of the challenges of the Chinese Communist partys behavior. As we developed our National Security strategy, you see the bones being put beneath it. I got to see firsthand every morning what these characters were up to. You get a chance to have a glimpse inside of the apparatus and its intent, which is critical. Regimesd with communist in the world. They dont impact the world in the way xi jinping intends to impact the world. This combination of capacity and intent on behalf of the leadership of the chinese commonest party, it became clear this was the central communist party, it became clear this was the central challenge america will face in the years ahead. The apparatus in the state department to fundamentally shift how we think about the world. In the are an ambassador democratic republic of congo or , you know the Chinese Communist party is intent on impacting that country. Those remarks at the nixon library, where we for the first time took a complete laid out scope with the challenge presented and how the Trump Administration laid out both the american response and the response collectively. This will take a Global Response as well. More onto drill down fhina, we see this image o president reagan in front of the berlin wall. Uite controversial then you you think about china, think about the great firewall, which reflects what china is doing in the digital age. Obviously wrestling how we manage competition with china, some would suggest we reinforce that wall and keep the free world outside of this and let china live within its great firewall. Give me your thoughts. Maybe we should take down the great firewall in the same fashion we wanted the berlin wall to come down. Sec. Pompeo in the end, the people of china will ultimately be determinative of the course of history in that country. It is our fundamental effort to make sure the Chinese People have access to information, data, so they too can share in these freedoms we care so much about. The analogy of the cold war is imperfect. We can talk about the places is different. There is an innate desire for freedom, for human dignity, just as reagan said, rests in the souls of each of us. For each of us to have the capacity to tear down this firewall that has been built around china would enable the people of china to make a much different set of decisions than their current leadership is taking. Separating the people from the party, big emphasis of your remarks. Recently i had the opportunity to have a conversation with a famous dissident from the soviet union which impacted the reagan administration. Almosted about viscerally about the concept of linkage and how president reagan no his secretary of state, matter what the conversation was with the soviet union, the plight of people seeking freedom always began the conversation. Talk to me about the importance of linkage as described by president reagan. Do we need more of it . How do we continue advancing that, whether you are dealing with the Chinese Communist party or our friends . Sec. Pompeo a complicated topic. Two things in the state department. I put together a commission. Attempt to reground american Foreign Policy in fundamental understandings about human dignity. I think the foundation did a phenomenal job of going back to the universal declaration of human rights and accounting for prepolitical rights that were provided by god, not by government. It refocused our effort in the state department. Second, we spent a lot of time working on religious freedom issues. A baseline too as answer, because it is the case no matter what country we are , the horrors inside of china, catholic churches being criticized, seeing Christian Faith stamped out, mongolia. Ow northern everyplace humanity wants to flourish, the Chinese Communist party is resisting. Each time we have a conversation at every level between the United States and china, we raise these issues. , we have a fundamental obligation to do this on behalf the american people. We only have a few more minutes. You addressed international ftennizations and how they o sought to erode our sovereignty. You did that in your speech talking about strength and candor and the need to have a Foreign Policy that speaks that way. At the same time, International Organizations are necessary despite their critique in your in manynd conservatives view, whether dealing with iran through the Security Council or with covid and the need to engage with International Organizations. Give us your thought how you have come to think and appreciate the role of International Organizations. Sec. Pompeo appreciate, not appreciate. Some of each, to be sure. It comes back to our central understanding, our nob. S. Understanding. Institution 100 years on, is it still functional . This is what every business does. Does the institutional structure permit us to get to the place we are intending . The very statement of mission the institution has. If it is broken beyond repair in spite of Great American efforts, i give you the Human Rights Council of the United Nations at some point i dont want to be connected to that. I will create something outside of that that will deliver on human rights. There are other things you try to fix. The World Health Organization. We have been through three, mayb e four efforts at reforming the World Health Organization. Significant american efforts. Epic failures. The president concluded on my recommendation we ought to build an infrastructure that will deliver the outcomes the World Health Organization is designed to deliver. Does it work . I will give you an example where we made one better. There is an Organization Called the world intellectual property organization. Turns out this matters an awful lot to american jobs at home. It was run by someone controlled by the Chinese Communist party. The state department built out a team. We got someone who cared about Property Rights running the world intellectual property organization. Stunning. [laughter] that seems like we are bragging about this. Turns out it was a close call. It was a hotly contested race. We said this is an institution that matters. Lets make sure we get the right team, the right structure in place. So we did. We built up the counterisis coalition of 90 countries. Almost 50 nations who refused to put Chinese Telecom and for structure in their country infrastructure in their country. I pitched my first country giving up huawei. Epic failure. But it turns out good work, rational thought, candor, data, has now led 50 countries and dozens of Telecom Companies around the world to say we will not let this happen. National infra structure matters. We should never permit ourselves to be in these situations where one organization has no possibility of delivery a good outcome. That framework, the models,the approach models, the approach. Lets wrap up with this question. The organizations that came out of president reagans westminster speech and all those umbrella organizations, those are nearly 40 years old. They continue to do great work. We have people here who led some of those organizations. At the same time, the world changed dramatically since then. What is your thinking about what we do as a country to sharpen, modernize, in terms of how we as a country promote and advance freedom and democracy in the world . Sec. Pompeo anytime something is 40 years old that includes me it often needs a makeover. A lot of these institutions need makeovers. We all know voice in america. We all know these institutions that delivered in powerful ways across the world. But times have changed. The capacity for nations to screen information has changed. I am not convinced we have it right yet. I think we made progress in our four years, but there are places that have an Important Role to play around the world in advancing democracy. We have to make sure we empower them with the right leaders and tools so they can deliver on those objectives. I would be remiss without commentating you are the embodiment of peace through strength diplomacy with your socks, being a footsoldier. [laughter] thankingin me in secretary of state for launching our center for freedom and democracy. [applause] announcer cspans washington journal. Every day we take your calls live on the air on the news of the day and we will discuss policy issues that impact you. Wednesday morning, a Washington Post political reporter will join us to talk about the latest developments in the postelection standoff between the Trump Administration and the biden campaign. Then on veterans day, a talk about military issues affecting veterans and the fallout from defense secretary mark espers termination. Watch washington journal 7 00 a. M. Eastern wednesday. Join with your phone calls, texts, and tweets. Announcer wednesday is veterans day. President donald trump will lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at Arlington National cemetery. Watch live beginning at 11 00 a. M. Eastern on cspan, online at cspan. 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