Transcripts For CSPAN Secretary 20240704

To north korea, ukraine, and the u. S. Relationship with china, this is the security form in colorado, this is around 35 minutes. Good morning, everyone. His its wonderful to be back in aspen, especially after such a Great Program all week, much to do with secretary blinken. I think this is your first time here since becoming secretary, so that is a wonderful treat for all of us. It is not as though a lot has not been happening and you have been traveling all over the world, around the world several times just in the last two weeks and you are about to part to depart again. We are glad we caught you in between. Me ask you a couple of things about things that have been breaking most recently this week. We have all heard about private 2nd class travis king in north korea. I want to know if there is anything new about where he is being held. Have there been any new communications between us or our allies who have Better Communications with pyongyang about his conditions and how they are treating him . Secretary blinken first, it is wonderful to see you, as always. It is particularly great to be back in aspen with the security form. I have spent many happy and informative hours here with many ends and colleagues, so thank you for that. With regard to travis king, unfortunately, i dont have any further information to share. We are very concerned, of course, about his wellbeing. We like to know his whereabouts. We have communicated to north korea seeking that information. I dont have anything more at this point. We all recall the tragedy of auto warm beer otto warmbier. Their concerns he could be tortured . North korea has rapidly increased their missile and Nuclear Programs. When was the last time we had any communication . Secretary blinken we have channels of communication. We have used them. We made clear that we were prepared to have negotiations with north korea on the Nuclear Program with no preconditions. We said that message several times. Heres the response we got one Missile Launch after another. We have not stood still. The partnership, the alliance we have with japan and with south korea has grown even stronger, even deeper, and we have taken further steps to make sure we can defend ourselves, defend our allies and partners, deter any aggression coming from north korea. In effect, the response that north korea has elicited with these repeated provocations has only been to solidify the work that the United States, korea, and japan are doing together to make sure we can defend ourselves. Ms. Mitchell there was a time not long ago when china was actually helpful behind the scenes when an american crossed the chinese border. Is there any hope now that china , with relations not that close, might helpful . Secretary blinken this is a conversation i have had directly with my chinese counterparts, particularly what chinas role could and should be in helping to bring north korea to the table on its Nuclear Program, helping us advance a shared vision for denuclearization on the korean peninsula, and what i have shared with chinese counterparts is this we believe that you have unique influence, and we hope that you will use it to get better cooperation from north korea, but if you cannot or if you will not, we will have to continue to take steps that are not directed to china but that china probably will not like because it goes to strengthening our differences but those of not only our own defenses but those of north korea and japan. We have seen an extraordinary relationship develop over several administrations now on a trilateral basis among the United States, japan, and korea. That has only gotten stronger. Ms. Mitchell speaking of china, the chinese pack china has hacked Nicholas Burns emails. Im told reliably by former cyber officials and other experts that 90 of the government is done in unclassified space. They were able to learn in a novel way, which is very alarming, a lot about our business. Is there some indication that this was going on for quite some time because of how novel their approach was . That they could learn our strategy as you were approaching a reestablishment of relations on your trip to beijing. Secretary blinken first, you are exactly right, i cannot speak to the direct impact of any particular incident, but i can say the incident in question affected only our unclassified system. Ms. Mitchell thats a big deal. The unclassified system is huge. Secretary blinken we have an ongoing investigation. As soon as we detected, which goes back sometimes, we took steps to make sure we were strengthening our defenses. We reported immediately to microsoft, to make sure they were doing everything possible. I have had opportunities to speak directly to chinese counterparts about the deep concern we would have over anything targeting the u. S. Government, targeting u. S. Companies, targeting u. S. Citizens, and the fact that we will take appropriate action if we need to in response. Ms. Mitchell are you concerned about our vulnerabilities . Secretary blinken this is a constant effort, as you know. As we all live in cyberspace. So much of our life is in cyberspace. Of course it is a constant concern. There is an ongoing effort quite literally every single day to make sure all of our systems are as strong and protected as they can be. Ms. Mitchell isnt this a basic attack on our sovereignty . Where do you draw the line . Secretary blinken again, what we have had occasion to share more than once with china is the concern that anything targeting the government, targeting citizens, targeting companies is a real concern for us, and we have in the past and will in the future take appropriate action necessary. I cannot say more at this point, especially as we have an ongoing investigation. We need to learn the full impact even as we have taken steps to ensure our information is protected. Ms. Mitchell speaking again of china, secretary kerry just completed his mission and has failed to get china to agree to any copper misys agree to any reduction of emissions. This makes it clear that before the big global summit in the emirates in november, there wont be any progress towards the goals that are much delayed. Secretary blinken first, the purpose of johns trip was not to get an agreement, not to get some concrete deliverable. The purpose was to renew the conversation, the dialogue have been having with china on the planet. They are the Worlds Largest emitter. We are number two. The only place where im happy to be number two to china. Ms. Mitchell they alone are emitting more than all the developed nations combined. Secretary blinken thats right. Which only underscores the importance of china taking urgent action to deal with its emissions. I think what secretary kerry, what john conveyed was a sense of urgency. We are in a position where every g7 country has adopted plans that if implemented would hold Global Warming to 1. 5 degrees celsius. The same cannot be said of the g20, the g13, beyond the g7. We are trying to help countries, encourage countries, prod countries to make the necessary progress to adopt the necessary targets and plans and implement them. We have made the single largest investment in history in combating Climate Change through the inflation reduction act. We have demonstrated that we are serious about this, and we will have the tools to make good on our commitments. Heres what i think when it comes to china, if it wants to be seen as a responsible leader globally, it has to be responsive to the signals it is getting from the region from around the world. One of those demand signals, and certainly that will be the case at cup 28, is for it to take the necessary actions to curb emissions and to do what is necessary to get to 1. 5 degrees celsius. This is an important conversation. I think it is important john went and renewed dialogue but also conveyed a sense of urgency. The last thing i will say is this i think if youre sitting in beijings shoes, you are looking at this challenge on the one hand and on the other hand, i think the imperatives they feel to focus on growth, on economic growth, they did not have the rebound they anticipated getting out of covid. I think for china right now, that is job number one, but there is a real tension between that and the absolute imperative dealing urgently with the climate challenge. Ms. Mitchell which we are all feeling in the u. S. And all over the world is becoming reality. Let me ask you about what russia is doing, bombing grain silos, canceling the grain agreement. This is going to increase famine around the world. Food prices are going to go up, and theres real concern about russia claiming a false flag as they mind the black sea mine the black sea. Is there anyway that nato can escort ships through . How do we get the grain out quickly . Secretary blinken lets first put this into perspective. The black Sea Green Initiative never should have been necessary in the first place. The only reason it had to happen was because russia invaded ukraine and having invaded ukraine decided to blockaded sports decided to blockade its ports. So the united nations, turkey helped initiate this effort. The results over about a year was to get 35 million tons of food product out to the rest of the world, predominantly to the developing world. 50 of the Food Products at least going to the developing world. 2 3 of the week. That meant people were getting food on the table. It meant even countries that were not directly receiving Food Products from ukraine were getting lower prices because it is a world market. Russia, by weaponizing food, is doing something truly unconscionable. Throughout this period when the initiative was working, that 35 million tons equates to about 18 billion loaves of bread. Imagine what that means every single day to People Living throughout the developing world. I hope the world is watching this and seeing how russia is cynically manipulating food in order to advance its objectives in ukraine. To your question, we are working with allies and partners in ukraine to look at other options, but i have to tell you, i dont think its possible to make up the volumes lost by ending this Initiative Group other routes, so we are going to do our best, but this has put a deep chill on shipping. In the four days since they have ended their participation in this arrangement, what have they done, russia . They bombed every single day the odessa port. They laid more mines. They threaten shipping in fact, they did an exercise just yesterday that they publicize where they simulated an attack on a ship. What does that tell you about their intentions . What does that tell you about the lack of any basic decency when it comes to getting food where it needs to go . Ms. Mitchell theres no way commercial shipping can proceed. Secretary blinken it is very difficult because for the shippers and insurers, given the threats more than the threats, the actions russia has taken over the last few nights, it would be very hard to operate in that environment. We are looking for solutions, but i just dont think we can make up the volume. Ms. Mitchell what about the false flag . Secretary blinken we have raised real concerns about that. I think you have heard bill burns talk about that, john kirby. This is part and partial of the part and parcel of the russian playbook. At the united nations, we laid out in detail the kind of false flag operations they would conduct in anticipation of the attack. It is exactly what they did. We called them on it. The world knew about it. We want to make sure people see what this is if it happens for what it is. Ms. Mitchell how concerned are you about the counteroffensive, which is bogged down . Secretary blinken these are still relatively early days. We have said from the start we have known from the start this would be hard going. You have heard a number of people talk about that. The russians have laid serious and significant differences when it comes to mines initially. Ukraine is working their way through that. I believe they have what they need to be successful. As they deploy and as they actually put into this effort all of the forces that have been trained in recent months, the equipment that we and some 50 countries have provided them, i think that will make a profound difference, but here is what makes the ultimate difference the ultimate difference is unlike the russians, they are fighting for their land. They are fighting for their country, for their future, for their freedom. That is the single biggest difference maker that i think we have already seen. They have taken back 50 of the territory russia already seized. Ms. Mitchell how weakened do you think Vladimir Putin is by the aborted rebellion . Secretary blinken it is hard for us to know for sure and hard to and probably wrong to speculate. I think what we can say safely is we have seen cracks emerge in the facade. The fact that prigozhin made at that to putins authority and publicly questioned the reasoning for the invasion of ukraine, we have seen that play out. We have seen their forces moved to belarus. Wherever wagner goes, exploitation, death and destruction inevitably follow. We dont know how this will play out. If i were mr. Prigozhin, i would remain very concerned. Nato has an opendoor policy. Russia has and opens windows an openwindows policy. They need to be concerned about that. [laughter] [applause] ms. Mitchell are there any signals from moscow that they are open to a trade for paul whelen prior to the inevitable conviction on false charges and sentencing, which would be months and months to come . Evan gershkovich has been held already and paul has been there already five years. Secretary blinken one of the things we have found dealing with countries that have arbitrarily detained american, is that even if we have profound differences, we are still often able to work discreetly and separately on efforts to bring americans home. Since President Biden has been in office, we brought 29 americans who were being arbitrarily detained home from eight or nine different countries, all countries with which we have very different public relations. This is something on which we continue to work irrespective of what else is going on and we will continue to do that. Ms. Mitchell is another country offering someone now that might be helpful in a trade . Secretary blinken we are constantly looking at what it might take, what it might involve to get the result we want. I cannot go further than that, but i can tell you this is something we are doing day in, day out. Our determination is to bring people home. Ms. Mitchell the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair is calling for President Biden to appoint a special envoy for peace talks over ukraine now. Are you open to that . Secretary blinken if we saw any evidence that russia was interested in having meaningful peace talks, we would be the first to jump on it well, maybe the second because i suspect the ukrainians would be first. No one wants this over more quickly than the ukrainians. They have been on the receiving end of russias aggression every day. Unfortunately, i see zero evidence of russias interest. Present putin continues to believe he can outlast ukraine and all of ukraines supporters. It is vitally important we disabuse them of that notion. I goes to the support we provide right now and so goes to something we did just a couple weeks ago at the vilnius summit. Countries came together to say they were going to make a longterm commitment to ukraines security, help them build up over time its deterrent and defense capacity so russia could not repeat this exercise. That sends a very strong signal to Vladimir Putin that we are not going anywhere. Ukraine is not going anywhere, and it will have the means to defend itself. If there is a change in president putins mindset when it comes to this, maybe there will be an opening. Right now, we dont see it. Ms. Mitchell President Biden has made a very Public Statement by inviting tom friedman into the oval office and basically saying that Prime Minister netanyahu should not pass those Supreme Court changes. I should point out that air force reservists are for the first time not even showing up duty. This is something that has never happened before. And that he should think about the threat to israeli democracy with such a divide. Why was it so important for President Biden to make such a Public Appeal to the Prime Minister . Secretary lincoln the president is saying publicly what he shared privately on several occasions with different leaders in israel. Ive had the opportunity to do the same thing. We come to this from a place where, of course, we have the unique relationship, unique partnership with israel spanning decades. President biden more than anyone i know is in his gut committed to israels security, and that will never change, but as such close partners and friends, we share the concerns we have with israel, and i think it is also one of our own experience as democracies. This is what joins us together fundamentally. As democracies, we know we are trying to make major changes that have a big societal impact. The best way to do it is by trying to build consensus or as close as possible if you want those changes to be durable. I think you have seen israeli democracy in all of its vibrancy , it is telling a remarkable story right now. Thats playing out, and im confident the system will be able to deal effectively with it. Ms. Mitchell when we first went to that first nato meeting and President Bidens message was america is back, and now we see such division, so much partisanship, no longer the bipartisanship that i grew up with on Foreign Policy as you look back at what you have accomplished in the first two years and look forward to doing this in an election climate, what are your overall goals, the bigger goals . Secretary blinken first, that me say from my perspective in terms of our strength at home and standing around the world, we are unquestionably in a much better place than we were a few years ago. The investments we have made it home on a bipartisan basis in infrastructure, in technology and chips, in technologies that will power the 21st century economy, including climate, those investments have resonated not only in the United States but literally around the world. Every place i go, people see the United States doing what is necessary to strengthen ourselves at home, to sharpen our competitiveness, to make sure that we are the leading country Going Forward to do this in the 21st century. Second, we have spent a huge amount of time, especially in the first year, working to reenergize, rejuvenate our alliances and partnerships because we are convinced that all the unique strengths we bring to bear, most of the problems solved for the American People are best solved through partnerships. Recently cannot do it as effectively alone. Having done that, we have seen the benefits play out in real time over the last year or two. The coalition we built to deal with russias aggression against ukraine, that is a product of that initial investment. The work we have done to build convergence in a practical way and how to approach china, that is a product of that initial investment. Going forward, youre going to see, i think, all of those investments pay off in our efforts to deal with two big political challenges we face that is russia and its aggression against ukraine and the challenges it poses more largely and, of course, the incredibly complex question of how most effectively to deal with china. Putting that aside, theres a whole other subset of problems that are critical to our future and the wellbeing of the American People, and that is a series of transnational, global issues that have a huge impact here at home. In each and every one, we have either used existing alliances and partnerships we have rejuvenated or we have created new ones, fit for purpose to tackle them. We started with covid. We got 671 million vaccines to the rest of the world, 115 countries, free of charge, no political strings attached, and we built a group of countries to make sure that plan was implement it effectively. We have done this with food security, building a global call to action, and we have put significant resources into that and had the right countries coming together not only to deal with the emergency situations but also to help countries build productive capacity. We have done that most recently on the number one killer of americans, age 18 to 49, synthetic opioids, fentanyl. Think about that for one second. The number one killer of americans age 18 to 49 is fentanyl. We have taken the responsibility not just for the work we are doing at home to try to reduce demand, increase treatment, increase care, not just the work we are doing on our border to make sure that the drugs coming in 95 of which are coming through legal ports of entry and we have technology to help detect that. Not only the work we are doing bilaterally with mexico on taking down the criminal enterprise. We have no globalized this. The state department put together with other departments a Global Coalition to deal with synthetic opioids. We had our first meeting about two weeks ago. Almost 100 countries joined in this effort and International Organizations to make sure we are cooperating, coordinating, acting together around the world, particularly to prevent the diversion of illicit precursors or legal chemicals diverted into the illicit production of opioids, to make sure that does not happen, to share best practices. These are just a few examples of where in different ways we are creating new coalitions, new partnerships to actually tackle the problems that are having a real impact onms. Mitchell whem foreign leaders as they are concerned going into the election that this could be a detour of multilateralism and that it could be a real return to isolation, depending on who gets elected. Secretary blinken first off, i dont to politics. Heres what i can say, do i hear that concern, sure. All those of us who are engaged in this moment, and what this work can do is say, we have to do the best we can possibly do in the moment that we have. If we do that, if we demonstrate that we can achieve results, that we can make life better for our fellow citizens, then the likelihood goes up that they will want to sustain that approach, they will want to sustain those policies. Thats the best i can do to make sure the work we are doing continues. Ms. Mitchell i want to ask you about the Artificial Intelligence meeting that was today at the white house, the private sector on standard. A how are you doing on your goal internationally with other governments, on achieving some standards, especially going into elections in a number of countries, not only ours, where misinformation can become a major factor. Just look at what happened in 2016 without ai. Secretary blinken this is an urgent goal for us right now. The first thing we want to do is get our own house in order. We have responsibilities because the Companies Leading the way on a are american companies. American hardware. The work that weve done in the work that the white house has done on getting the Foundation Platforms to agree on a voluntary basis to some guidelines, or how this technology will be developed, particularly, trying to take steps tos to make sure its safe and secure and to build trust with users, we are not taking that going global. A lot of work to expand the voluntary commitments internationally, to work with g7 countries to see if we can develop codes of cduct for companies, and regulatory principles for countries, to then broaden the conversation even more, particularly with other countries that are very sophisticated in ai, to see if we can come up with a common assessment of risk and what are the things we can do together to limit those risks. Finally, making sure we have the voices of developing countries. Finally, this is a product of what the white house is done with the Foundation Platforms, we want to make sure that ai maximizes potential for the extraordinary good for it can do around the world. This will be Foundational Technology for every project progress we want to see. Whether its dealing with disease, whether dealing with climate, weather expanding access to education. I can go down the list. The mortgage channeled for good, the more we can mitigate it and control it for the negative consequences it can have, the better off we will be. The United States will lead that effort around the world and you will see that play out in the weeks and months ahead. Ms. Mitchell do you have anything on the calendar in terms of International Meetings . Secretary blinken stay tuned. Ms. Mitchell stay tuned, you heard it here. Secretary blinken we have g7 meetings coming up, the u. K. Is doing an important conference in the fall on ai safety, i suspect you will see work done around the uns General Assembly as well. Ms. Mitchell i have personal experience. I believe we were in romania the last time use out what we would call football when it was the u. S. Versus iran. Ive never seen such single focus as we watch that match. Secretary blinken i think i aged 10 years. Ms. Mitchell you are now headed to wellington, new zealand. You watch them play against the netherlands and see whether they can have a repeat and its Megan Rapinoes last hurrah. You have a young daughter in Megan Rapinoe and how women have done so much for equal pay as well as bringing home such glory to america. Talk to me about womens soccer in your hopes as you head to new zealand, australia on this next big trip next week. Secretary blinken we have a vitally important Strategic Dialogue thats taking place with new zealand next week, coincidentally. Ms. Mitchell you just happen to be in wellington, new zealand. Secretary blinken if im able to scalp a ticket, we will get there. Ive watch the Womens National team for decades. Its one of the most exhilarating and exciting things. I remember being at the edge of my couch and my wife whos the cabinet secretary at the white house, was at that match. Ms. Mitchell i seem to remember something when we were negotiating with secretary kerry and i was watching it in german and austria. Secretary blinken one of the big mistakes we made in the past, i think it was during the last womens world cup, yes, it was the last one. Being in the white house situation room, there are Television Screens and somebody made a mistake of projecting the game unmute in the situation room. All i could tell you was any Productive Work stopped. But im really looking forward to cheering them on. We go on to australia from there and this is very significant because the Partnership Relationship that weve been building with the secretary of defense will be there in will work with our and ministerial meetings between Foreign Ministers and defense secretaries to further the partnership in alliance with australia. And we will stop in tonga. Weve been spending a little bit of time in the pacific islands. We will do more of that. We will open a new embassy there. Ms. Mitchell all of this has a lot to do with china. Secretary blinken it has a lot to do with building these relationships with countries that have been neglected in the past. Ms. Mitchell and it has a lot to do with soccer. How would you rate the womans team . Secretary blinken i think the challenge they face is there has always been additional pressure. But i think no better team, in terms of this combination of experience in new talent at the same time, i think they blended together a remarkable cast of players. Ms. Mitchell in addition to football, you spent so much time as a musician. Ive heard you play. Secretary blinken im sorry for that. [laughter] ms. Mitchell some would say with an incredibly memorable note, weve lost a Great American musician today. Someone i heard live here many years ago, tony bennett. I want to ask about your thoughts on the extraordinary career of tony bennett . Secretary blinken thats just it, what an incredible career that has spanned decades and that rejuvenated, in many ways, in the last couple of decades of his life with these incredible collaborations with new artists, lady gaga comes to mind. If its gershwin or hammerstein, thats tony bennett. In the wonderful thing about what he did is connected people so powerfully through what i think is the greatest connector, music, and something that will endure. Those recordings are forever. Ms. Mitchell certainly is timeless. With that, we have some great barricade yelled leaders here and i want to leave time for questions. We have a microphone coming. With our friends from aspen. Thank you so much. Good morning, thank you for being here. I am a Public Diplomacy practitioner and i work on the International Program in denver, colorado and i have a question about the officer exam. There are adjustments made to the exam process over the last couple of years to show the Foreign Service more diverse and representative. Are we seeing the results in increased equity in the Foreign Service at this time. Do we still need time to receive the results of those changes . Secretary blinken thank you and thank you for your hard work. Just to quickly put this in perspective, we are working to build a state department that reflects the country that represents, for two reasons. First, its the right thing to do. Beyond that, its a smart and necessary thing to do. We are operating in the most interconnected and diverse world that anyone can imagine. One of the strengths we bring to the world as our own diversity, to bring different experiences, different perspectives, different ways of solving problems to the challenges we are facing. If we leave so much of that on the sidelines, we are shortchanging ourselves. Thats wife and determined to try to make sure the Safety Department represents what weve represent. Part of that is making sure we attract people to the department and we want to make sure that when we look at their qualifications, we are taking everything into account, not only the work that they do, which anyone who has taken the exam knows its a pretty unique beast. In terms of result theres a lot that weve done and we put into motion. You will see this play out over a number of years, not just months. We have a place a plan in place that we are implementing to make sure we have a diverse partner in retaining people. One thing we experiences you get people through the doors, but then some folks, disproportionately from underrepresented groups, leave. If we cant retain them, it doesnt do much good. We want to make sure the most Senior Rights of our department reflect to we are. All of that is whats happening and im convinced that as you look out over the next five or six years, you will see that play out. The most gratifying thing to me as we have more and more people taking the exam. It kind of went through the floor for a few years, its now built back up. We had the two largest classes, the largest weve had in the last decade. Ms. Mitchell another question from our front group. Youve got a great head start. We love the Foreign Service. Im in ops right now but im a Foreign Service officer. Secretary blinken thank you for connecting the calls. I want to get your take on what are your concerns with iran these days . The unprecedented photos over the course of six months. Domestically with their connection with russia . Ms. Mitchell should the u. S. Do more to help the land or would it not be helpful. Secretary blinken thank you, thank you for making sure that we are connect we are connected. We have a lot of concerns. We have the concern that after having put the Nuclear Program in a box, with that agreement no longer enforced force, iran has speeded ahead with the material for nuclear weapon. Everything the agreement effectively did to stop that has now been lost in the efforts that we were making to make sure the breakout time it would have if they made a decision to have the material for such a weapon having push that past year is now down to a matter of weeks. Im really concerned about that in regard to the program. I have a lot of concerns about the actions they are taking throughout the region to support various groups that are engaged in profoundly destabilizing activities. And, we were talking about ukraine a while ago. This is now a global enterprise. Its provided to use and ukraine are having a real and terrible impact. Its a twoway street. We now see russia provide a wrong with equipment and technology theyve used for the action taken in the region. We have seen the extraordinary protests led by women, led by girls, standing up for basic rights. And we see the regime the Iranian Regime has taken, we have to try to help people who want their voices heard. Not only in this sanctions, not only in spotlighting, but i work that weve done to provide technology to people in iran who make sure they can stay connected to each other and stay connected with the world. This is an ongoing concern but not only our concern. The concern of countries around the world. One of the benefits of working to get back into it is that we are back in alignment with our european partners, which germany and france. And we are working very closely together to deal with some of the regime. One final point is, the other way theyve gone global is to try to take repressive actions against people halfway around the world who are saying and doing things that they dont like, included in the United States. We are pushing back against that. Ms. Mitchell weve got time for just a couple of more. The fix is in. As long as secretary blinken as young as you are, steve. Great young leaders. Tony, thank you so much. Im interested in the highlevel u. S. Business to china and whether china has done anything to justify how kissinger told you how his trip was and that you know how his trip was. Ms. Mitchell has henry debriefed you . Secretary blinken henry is truly extraordinary, one of the benefits of this job is that i get to speak to him every few months, overwriting things and every single cup conversation i learned something and get new insight. Im looking forward to speaking with him probably next week to get a debrief and weve been in regular communication. From our perspective, its very simple. It was important to us to put some stood put some stability back into the relationship. To make sure it would not be in our interest or anyones interest and that starts with engagement. It starts with talking, it starts with having the conversation. To make sure, at the very least, you are understanding each other, you are clear about intent, and that misunderstandings and misperceptions dont escalate. And weve been able to do that. Theres a demand signal clear and powerful around the world. The demand center on china in the United States is that lisle each work to responsibly manage the situation. Literally on the entire world. Weve heard that loudly and clearly in china demonstrated its doing the same thing. We have details, intense conversations. When i was in china, probably 13 hours conversations with president xi. Secretary yellen, john kerry. Lam chinese counterparts coming to the United States. I think these contacts are essential and it would be earth bonsall it would be irresponsible not to pursue them. We are seeking ways to cooperate and if we dont do it, thats on us. I would be important to see if china will cooperate with us. The chemical precursors are going into the manufacture of mexico and the United States. We like to have a partnership with china. If we are engaged, it wont happen. We have detainees in china, how will we get them out if stan not talking. John kerry pursuing climate, global health, i could go down the list. Making sure we are responsibly managing the relationship in dealing with our differences. If we were engaged we would be rightly. I have no illusions about where that goes, is a most consequential and complicated relationship we have. As to the whereabouts of my senior officials i leave that to my chinese counterparts. Ms. Mitchell very quick question that ask and this will be 30 seconds. , on china, which is this whole audience loves to make burns. I hope you save and productive. Questions about whether weve approached turkey to help with ukraine pearman carter warm was try to be a good citizen by letting sweden into nato. And if he wants to be in the eu, shouldnt he be helpful to us here . Secretary blinken im in violent agreement with you about one of the great diplomats of our time. Someone well known helping with the strategy. Turkey was instrumental in getting it off the ground. Working closely with the secretary over the terrorists. They did it terrific job at keeping it going when the russians were pulling back. The president has said that he is engaged with president putin to see if he can bring them back to the agreement. We look to turkey to play the leadership role it has already played. Making sure people around the world can get the food they need at reasonable prices. Ms. Mitchell we are out of time but i cant think of time better spent them with secretary blinken. My greatest things for letting me do this today former secretary of state conger lisa