Otherwise known as a National Security adviser. I want to welcome all of you here who are able to join us and the audience watching on livestream from the hudson web site but also a special welcome to our cspan audience who will be following this event on cspan2 today and we are to have you here if only virtually and delighted to have everyone who could participatete in this discussio. As i think is going to be one of the most interesting and significant events that we have done here at hudson particularly given the fact that we are less thanan a week away from the election. So many of these issues we are going to be talking about today the question of what americas going to do and where americas going to go from here those issues are going to be decided very soon and so what happens in our discussion here i think will help us to understand the guide to what takes place regardless of who it is who will be sitting oval office come january january 21. I want to say a few words about our distinguished guests. Robert obrien was born in los angeles graduated from university of californiaberkeley with a law degree. Fromom there he founded the law firm of Larson Obrien lmp. Between 1996 and 1998 obrien was a legal officer with the u. N. Security Council Compensation division in geneva switzerland. He served in a number of whatmm akel positions for bush the obama and the Trump Administration and was civilian observer or the Pacific Council onas International Policy and te pretrial hearings for Khalid Sheikh mohammed. President george w. Bush named him as the u. S. Alternate representative to the 60th session of the united and cochair of the u. S. Department of states Publicprivate Partnership for Justice Reform in afghanistan which is where he also served in the same position during the president obamas first term. Then on may 10, 2019 President Trump appointed ambassador obrien is special president ial envoy for hostage affairs, 2018 im sorry not 2019 and one year later he was given the title. Ambassador obrien to the office of 28 United StatesNational Advisers on september 18, 2019 so has been in that position for a little bit more than a year. Today he serves as senior advisers to the president of international affairs, chairs the National Security council and overseas the National Security staff. Ambassador obrien has done his share of writing. I do want to recommend to you his look published in 2016. The book while america slept is in many ways a prescient collection of essays about many of the challenges in 2016 and during that time which have very much come home to roost and its a really good but. A particular like section 3 which has the title to rule the waves and im not sure how you got the title for that look but anyway its well worth reading and a good reminder that our guest today is someone with a real vision about National Security and about where americas place in the world is and where it should be and thats why we are delighted and its a privilege to have him here today. Ambassador obrien. [applause] c its a pleasure to be with you and i think we are socially distance so i will take this mascot. Sometimes i think the cough i cough because the mask is on. I was one of the early adopters of wearing the mask and i came down with covid this summer and was fortunate enough to get through. An honor to be here with Arthur Herman i have his book to rule the waves. That chapter was named by the editor. I dont want to get a letter from your counsel. He is a great writer and a great historian and a Great American so thank you. Thank you to john walters for hosting today. Its a privilege. Four years ago President Trumpes was elected and he had a very different idea of how peace and prosperity in the world could be achieved and how the American People could be served by foreign policy. President trump had no higher priority than putting the needs the rights for safety and the values of the American People first and thats where the term America First comes from. The president believes National Security is best obtained on a piece or strength philosophy and the president deals with the world awaited is. We deal with dictators not in a way that we hoped and to be we dont turn a blind eye to their conduct. Expecting them to change if we ignore their conduct. Hes done the hard work of straightening out alliances and is put substance over and hes been criticized for that. We think his actions have demonstrated that he will no longer be a party to arrangements and Organizations International conventions and treaties where our sovereignty is not respected but we also think its better for other countries in the world as well. The president puts America First but he also believes other countries put their own interests first and thats how it should be. In such a world our roads has led to demonstrable results that have made American People safera so for example early on administration we took over the white house there was a caliphate the size of great written stretching, spanning acrossss iraq and syria the ices caliphate in that caliphate has destroyed the leader vices of talk are all baghdadi the man who kept Kayla Mueller as a. He was removed from the battlefield and justice is brought to him almost a year ago today, i think a year ago this week are the leaders of. Al qaea in north africa and yemen have been moved to the battlefield. Over 50 american hostages and detainees around the world up and brought home. Nafta has been replaced by the much improved usmcj better for the American Worker and farmers and it has created and strengthened the most profitable nott only for the United States but also our partners around the world. Since march of this year notwithstanding the pandemic the coast guard and navy and the antidrug operation in the crib in an eastern pacific of the california Mexican Border they seized over 4 billion in cocaine and marijuana and denied those drugs to traffickers. 4. 7 million. Working together with leaders of el salvador on a mullah hunter is mexico prison camp has reduced undocumented immigration byed 85 . We strengthened our relationships in the hemisphere working closely with the largest democracy of brazil. I was just there last week and we signed three deals to investment deals in one trade deal in those deals will be great for brazil and great for the United States and manufacturing here. We have given thousands of loans in the western hemisphere. That initiative we call growth america increases our neighbors and prosperity here at home and in her neighborhood. The Presence Campaign is brought irans economy to its knees and he has cut off well over 150 billion in sanctions that the iranians were using not just help from people but to spread war across the middle east weather was hezbollah or hamas or the assad regime are hutus or hezbollah in iraq. On the burden sharing. The president kerger nato allies to spend over 40 billion in additional defense spending through 2024. That makes not only her european allies better but safer but it wakes the world safer. That increase defense spending was accompanied by burden sharing and other places. There are 6100 Coalition Troops most of them from nato in afghanistan so the first time the afghan conflict we have more of our partners sharing the burden of the work in afghanistan in the United States and the same thing as have been in iraq. After years of sequestration that was decimating our armed forces under the obama by demonstration we got to the point where the Smallest Army since 1940 and key munition shortages low readiness ratings in our combat teams and an urge to rebuild their nuclear deterrent. After 2. 5 trillion being of the past three years all of this is being addressed. Thee progress is impressive. Munitions are being restocked and troops increase. We elevated u. S. Cyberrecommending created the joint Artificial Intelligence and to establish the u. S. Space command in the space force. The space forces the first branch. Of the u. S. Armed forces sincear 1947 and the service captured the imagination of our young men and women who serve and they are signing up and lining up in droves to join the space force. Weov accelerated the 2019 missie defense review and are insuring small Missile Defense to protect our homeland against adversary state to threaten us. Were moderating modernizing the Missile Defense. We converted the summer in launch life Extension Programs over existing Nuclear Stock oils. We have been sure to test readiness capability remains viable and we funded the an nsa appropriately to meet the necessary infrastructure of billions and billions of dollars in additional funding through the department of energy to make sure we actually have saved secure and ultimately Deadly Nuclear weapons and thats what ensures the fact that well never have to use them. We have also funded longrange missiles to submarine at the 21 built in florida those places groundbased Strategic Deterrence or the gbs d. Every aspect of her Nuclear Enterprises under modernization to meet a credible deterrent for years to come for theet next generation of americans or kids or grandkids grandkids. Or developing new capabilities in space on land and in the sea and the air with Hypersonic Weapons direct energy Artificial Intelligence enhanced weapons and platforms that will ensure American Military superiority. Under President Trump leadership we have more defense or research than we have in 70 years and that is what is required to stay ahead of competitors and her of her series in these critical emerging technologies and to lead the way when it comes to new developments in Quantum Manufacturing a new applications for ai Machine Learning. As adobes capabilities is essential to protect their Critical Technology from adversary theft. We cannot spend billions on new Weapons Systems only to have them compromise by the time they are in the field. The worst that future are likely to be different than the short commercial wars Counterterrorism Operations that we fought in the soviet union. Also in space and cyberspace dramatically increased the complexity as well as the speed and philosophy of warfare. Amber President Trump leadership we are building amid low to a capable competition one that will deter disturb her series but being prepared to fight and win today and in the future. President trump respects america in order to achieve peace. We believe in President Trump believes that weakness is provocative. Ve in the end of Pacific Region the cooperation of american treaty allies were working with Australia New Zealand japan the philippines and thailand. The relations with the worlds most populous democracy india has never been better. We are working on issues took counter maritime counterterrorism tomb maritime to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea the East China Sea in the taiwan straits. In afghanistan we sent a Peace Agreement in february with the taliban after 19 support with the afghan negotiations last month we expect the Afghan People are on a path towards lasting peace. It will not easy for the afghans be necessary when well be there to support them in negotiations and afterwards. President trumps commit american troops but he would like them to come home as soon as permissions permit. Like many other past president s theyd like them home by christmas. Americanho troops are coming out of the good news ica have the ns i have to since the Peace Agreement with the taliban was signed in february we have not lost an in american to combat death in afghanistan during this year since february. Last month President Trump achieved a truly historic peace treaty between the unitedd arab interacts United Arab Emirates by rain and i was fortunate toes be on that first flight from the airport in y tel aviv to the Abu Dhabi International airport in it was a moving and Emotional Experience especially for israeli colleagues. The captain of the plane announced it was the first time an israeli plane had been invited over saudi arabia and it was on its way and in habla davi the emirates literally laid out the red carpet for us. It was some ways almost like being at a Family Reunion with cousins who havent spoken or seen each other in many years coming together. Most recently sudan in israel agreed to make peace and ended a war. They were still a state of war so just over a month or month and a half we had three countries normalize the countries to make peace. This is something that we in the foreignpolicy world cup would never happen. Nations in the middle east embrace a Better Future based on shared interests and shared values and this development was spurred by President Trump leadership. He did something that was unusual for politicians. The president created political capitol in israel by moving our embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem the capitol of the state of israel had that something president ial candidates prep promised to do in the past and never have. He recognized the Golan Heights and gave us a lot of credibility and rather than sitting and looking at his political capitol maintaining and protecting it he used it in negotiations and it was through that process that he was able to bring these partners together to achieve historic peace. Not just those con complex the middle east. Hes also approached the balkans with similar determination. Serbia and kosovo took a huge step forward in mobilizing their economic relations. Again this is something europe had been working on for 20 years but through President Trump syndication and tough negotiations with both sides were able to have a major breakthrough. Americas days of bleeding from behind are the days of strategic patients are over. President trumps leadership style has been key against china. The present was the first major leaders recognize the old conventional Wisdom Holding was only a matter of time before china would liberalize verse economically than politically was wrong and instead we watched china become more merckk bullets mercantilist more authoritarianism and they have not become more like us. Under the semesters newest standing up to chinese aggression in all of its forms. President trump refused to accept the status quo on status quo on the trade. Other mercantilist tactics to the Playing Field in beijings favor when they trade than it is for the president brought they to the table and signed the trade of that prohibits china from forcing u. S. Companies to transfer technology opened Chinese Markets to tens of billions of dollars of u. S. Cyberculture sales and Financial Services firms and addressed the currency manipulation. So far china seems to be abiding by the deal. The covid19 pandemic has limited the impact in their enthusiasm for the trade deal but it shows it was only by standing up to the prc thatit te United States could achieve a real improvement in trade. Trade. The Trump Industries and is working toadst prevent companiee Chinese Party their intelligence and security and huawei from stealing personal and private data interNational Security secrets bigamist ration has imposed restrictions on Semiconductor Companies from exploiting their technology to huaweiei and others. The doj is actively investigating and prosecuting chinese, economic espionage aggressively. The fbi directorga wray stated every 10 hours they open up an investigationn took chinese espionage. Ethe administration has limited the Peoples Liberation army to misappropriate our Technology Internet intellectual property and weapons information weapons information. For time a time we believed there were more Chinese Military officers Peoples LiberationArmy Officers in america studying for advance degrees in the stem married than American Military officers and they were coming in through phony claims to be students when in fact they weree Chinese Military officers to take our ingenuity and creativity for free to take it back to china so they can strengthen our National Defense and their offensive capabilities against United States but also to improve the without paying aen lease license fee and doing the right thing withor technolo. It threatens u. S. National security and has placed restrictions on Chinese Government entities companies that are complicit in Human Rights Violations and abuses especially in hong kong and shins song. Our democratic partners are taking similar actions against china. Sweden removed chinas confucius institutes from its university. The uk the Czech Republic the Slovak Republic of garriott kosovo macedonia slovenia taiwan lithuania latvia romania sweden have all committed to using trusted providers for their new 5g networks. Carriers such as telesco in australia ntt in japan and others are prevented the use of huawei equipment in their networks. Australia has expose covid in cropped influence and interference in its political system and called for an independent investigation into the origins of the china virus. Australia has over 2 of gdp on National Defense including purchasing the most advanced u. S. Weapons the naval patrol the f18 growler Electronic Warfare platform and fighter jets. Japan is spending more money defense but incentivizes Manufacturing Companies to return from china or the countries where the supply chain will be more secure. Both of these steps will help deter chinese aggression in the area. Beyond those areas that i have already noted the u. S. Faces a diverse and concerning national from venezuela to extremist terrorism and evermore strengthening transnational criminal organizations. Under President Trump leadership where standing up together with our allies and our country is rising to the occasion. Will meet those challenges in the new wins that emerge with confidence in the days ahead. The results of the present policy speak for themselves and say we are safer than when the president took office. May god bless you and may god bless the United States of america. Thank you. C thank you mr. Ambassador. A nice look at where america is and where it was in terms of National Security but also in terms of relative military strength. I was thinking about this since the last president ial debate which was supposed to be about foreignpolicy and National Security and i think the sickly a clear 10 minutes to talk about both. I know it must have been frustrating for the president and for the team because here was a chance to recount a lot of those successes that you just outlined for us. At the same time i thought maybe it was a success that there werent these big outstanding problems issues in foreignpolicy or National Security and defense posture that the media was able to focus on are the Biden Campaign could harp on. I think if you were to ask americans now do you feel safer than you did four years ago i think the answer would be overwhelmingly yes right now. The issue with islamic terrorists threats and fear about car bombs or random shootings has really diminished a great deal. Worries about who could be the next person to be kidnapped by isis, american hostages and islamic terrorist. All these kinds of things seem to have faded from our minds and dont occur to us on a daytoday basis. A lot of that had to do with the way the Trump Administration is handled policy. He talked about some of those key aspects of it. Isolation of iran iran becoming a pariah state at the end of the very dangers in my opinion very Dangerous Nuclear deal worked on by the previous administration. One of the most significant ones has to be the way which the u. S. And israel have formed a new level of partnership with the opening of the capital in jerusalem very much President Trumps initiative but also the normalization of relations with key arab states. The question of course on my mind and the mind of a lot of our audience and the united emirates, we have got for rain and whos next on the list . Maybe you can not give us an indication of that but it would be really great to give the audience a real understanding which the media has not done of just how important these normalization of relations are for the future of the middle east. Again thank you for having me. I think im your first about foreignpolicy and that is come up in the debate its too bad the president has done terrific things and the closest to that was Ronald Reagan. Ronald reagan took a in approach to National Security and rebuild our military and as a result of that a hostage rescue of a medical student and Armed Conflict there were no new war started under president reagan. We use covid action Political Warfare with the soviet union across the world but there were no new war started and i think that was because of the posture. President trump is the first president since Ronald Reagan to have not initiated a war a military conflict in the world. Its a Pretty Amazing record. Not only that but ending wars. We are ending the american involvement in iraq and afghanistan. If you look afghanistan where he had 50,000 troops we are now down to 4500 troops. We have one urges the patient efforts there and on the pathway to bring them home after the amazing sacrifices that they have made over the past two years. You have a demonstration of the fact that the peace and strength were rebuilt in the American Military and we are deterring deterring our prisoner is unable to bring folks home and that ties into what what what has happened in the levees that goes to the last part of your question. Theres a sea change occurring with our allies are allies in israel are allies in bahrain and other nations in the region. Because america was banned behind President Trump in one forces red lines if necessary that the prior demonstrations did not that allows space for them to engage in these negotiations with israel. I think this is going to be a warm peace peace. Its not going to be a cold peace like we have with israel and jordan in the past. There was a lot of interaction and not a lot of economic and action. We are seeing a dramatic increase in tourism between the uae and israel between bahrain and israel and we are seeing Economic Opportunities that are staggering. Its a hightech center. Uae has tremendous banking and finance and tremendous sovereign wealth. Israeli tech an entrepreneur ship with a Financial Center in dubai and abu dhabi i is somethg that is a huge opportunityy for young people in the middle east young israelis and young arabs and as that develops other countries are going to see it and want to become part of whats happening. Its an blossoming of a very warm and so far its going well. This was something that was created by President Trump taking a different a pursuit piece in the least. Other words the old conventional wisdom was that you had to solve the palestinian problem first and you couldnt have peace between israel and its neighbors until you solve the palestinian problem. Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. We put out ait great opening pie gambit for the palestinians and the israelis and the palestinians ignored it. Once they ignored other arab countries looked and said the palestinians should at least negotiate and maybe get a better deal which i think is possible but if theyy are going to come o the table where going to continue to deny our young people opportunities in business and commerce and tourism and all the things available to them. We are going to make peace with israel. The president laid the Foundation Getting out the jcpoa which was a big part of that. The uae felt comfortable and secure under the American Security pledges. Recognizing sovereignty of the Golan Heights and in that unique set of circumstancese we have peace right now. Another country i will mention and wont filibuster your question orr problem when you give the lawyer microphone and ask them questions kosovo was a muslim majority country in the balkans. Kosovo recognizes israel and normalize relations with israelv and announced the First Embassy in jerusalem. Three arab muslim majority countries and european muslim majority country have all recognizedro israel in the past two months is pretty astounding. Same at the other big area where the Trump Administration and chomp himself really brought major sea change in how americans see the world this with regard to china. Now more than ever americans realize that china represents not just an economic competitor but now a real serious geopolitical threat as well as the serial human rights violator , and intellectual property piece on a global scale not to mention, not to mention their responsibility for covering up and spreading disinformation about the covid outbreak. All of sea these things add up a change with regards to china and the need for a new approach to china in dealing with and confronting competition. One of those areas that ive been writing about is in the hightech sector. In the struggle between the u. S. And its allies in china over 5g at advanced Wireless Technology and what are the things that ive noticed in the time that youve been the National Security adviser is that there really has been a change. I sense a real change in the way in which chinas stocking corson huawei has been able to spread its network and its agreements with other countries to build a network which has huge National Security concerns for those countries as well as United States. What im sensing is in the struggle over 5g maybe we have turned the tide here a bit and we are going to see much more of a consolidation of resistance against chinas effort to dominate really the future of the digital age and you hit it on the head. 5g with the internet of things and telecommute asian moving in the 21st century 5g is critical in if the chinese control the 5g networks aroundd the world and the major countries the major democracies they will have access to every bit of personal data every medical record transaction every email and every interaction you have with your home with your dishwasher your refrigerator or your power system or your Security System of your home. The amount of personal private data that the chinese will have access to through the back doors of huawei is unlimited. Persont china but every world with the huawei backbone in place and that something was to to be concerned about. There was a time when it would matter. East germany had these warehouses full of files and trying to get the information and make it valuable was very hard to do but with quantum and Machine Learning and Cloud Storage all of that data has become accessible to the chinese who can get access to it. They put it together for their own people social Credit Scores so every chinese person has the equivalent of a credit score to a mortgage they have the social Credit Scores so whether they can buy a plane ticket or a train ticket or get a job or travel overseas or go to university or live in a certain area all of that depends on how high their social credit score is another words how reliable are there and if he orders the communist party of china. They want to do that externally and the Washington Post had an article on the profiles of them fled to americans hundreds of thousands and millions of people around the world comparing profiles on all of them. Dont be mistaken they will have social Credit Scores forever in the world and if you think youre an american and as a matter think about the general manager with Houston Rockets criticizing the chinese over the way they were handling protesters in hong kong people trying to protect democracy in hong kong and you saw how the markets were canceled and the nba had to come to base themselves to try to get their games broadcast again in china. The rockets are finally going to be on tv again in china. Its a real problem. I felt like ive been an unpaid spokesman for nokia but what we have pushed folks to do in countries around the world is that they are coming your way and i think you are 100 right arthur. They realize their personal private data of their citizens is by china and huawei who reports to the ccp we. They are coming along and realizing its not safe to have their chinese backed bond in networks. I think what you are seeing is a real life geopolitically. There was a time when most of us grew up the ussr and the maligned movement from 72 countries. The kind of floated between the two. That has changed. Now we have a group of authoritarians russia iran and china may be some others are moving in that direction do you have a group of democracies great and popular democracies the United States western europe , the uk india brazil indonesia malaysia. I think well will start having is the divide in the world between a democracy countrys democracies who believe in human rights and authoritarian countries are offering a different approach to the world a rule by a party or a strong man. They dont have a sick human rights and they dont have the ability to position their government. I think you. Are going to see a grouping of democracies led by countries like brazil and he and the United States and others in the group of authoritarian countries and i think you will see that divide with respect to who pics huawei and who doesnt. Of course the other point is with regard to china and that data that flows through 5g come all that dave and i matter how innocuous it may seem to us like tik tok its all grist for the Artificial IntelligenceMachine Learning mail run by the Chinese Military intelligence. This isnt just a business plan, this is a different strategic plan. That raises the question. And with genes as well. They are offering free genetic e world to try to do gene mapping get the gene maps of countries all over the globe. Not only does it help their pharmaceutical companies to give them the ads but it also gives them a tremendous for nefarious purposes targeting circuit and Group Certain ethnicities and that sort of thing. Thats another thing we are looking at that is a concern. Very interesting which raises a larger question which is in our competition with china are we in a new cold war . Is it a new cold war and will be different than the one of the soviet union were so going to be in many ways. I think its going to be different. Er what i said time and again as we want great relations with china. The Chinese People are wonderful people. We have many im americans of chinese descent. China has traditionally been an american ally and we fought together world war ii. We would love to have a great relationship with china but the problem we have is the Chinese CommunistParty Efforts to spread their tentacles not just across china but across the globe and to control is the way they control their own people. And they continue to steal her intellectual property. Christopher wray said chinese theft of American Intellectual property is the weakest wealth grab in history and theres no analog in history. Eits just not fair. China is a great country with hardworking people and smart people and incredibly capable people. Do your own innovation. Your own technology. Dont steal itov from us without paying for it. That is not honorable under any moral circumstance. Wherever technologies developed take it back to china. Dont pay for it and use it to subsidize those products back to the country from which you stole the technology and put the folks in the business who develop the technology to begin with. Its a horrible cycle. You are getting clobbered twice if you are an inventor. Its stolen with no license fee and no patent fee and no conversation and then your market is undercut by a product that comes back using your own technology and either you or your licensee is put out a business. That is the sort of thing that has to stop with china. Great countries dont build themselves on theft and we have to put an end to that. It that you think American Businesses are realizing this . I think the idea that doing businessre in china isnt goingo produce that marvelous wideopen market in which you can compete on an even Playing Field. Youre basically going to be looted in order to support and bolster your domestic chinese competitors. The whole idea was if i can sell everybody hamburger once a week thats a lot of hamburgerss to sell and if you want to insert the numbers you realize its not a great Business Opportunity or an investment and to teach them the skills and the Franchise Network and that sort of thing invented taken from you. Thats the idea. Its been too big of a market not to be involved with but the president is of administration has stood up for American Businesses and i think the American Business appreciates it and the American Workers appreciated. Youve seen manufacturing return country. Peopleou said would never happen and that was a thing of the past and we had to get over it. There was no way we could compete with the chinese on what we are showing is americans are every bit as competitive as the chinese. It either way for those of you in the audience watching livestreaming or on cspan if youd like to cement the question to the ambassador you can go to our web site, go to the email address for this event at hudson. Org and we look forward to getting questions about regard. But we ask you about two areas where critics in the Trump Administration have sometimes been pointed to as weaknesses and problems. One is north korea. There was a lot of expectation after President Trumps personal visit meeting wither kim jongun that maybe we were going to see some real or a curious were a lot of pledges made about the nuclear thing or starting the process. We seem to stalled out there in and it doesnt seem to be really going anywhere. What is your view on what could happen in north korea . We had a difficult situation in north korea. It has spanned many administrations going all the way back to the Clinton Administration when the North Koreansd made up raise an effort to develop Nuclear Weapons and the means to deliver them. It wasnt just d Nuclear Weapons but the warheads and the fact that they could potentially deliver them againstro south koa u. S. Bases and allies in the region and ultimately the continental u. S. This is the problem that has bedeviled American Security councils for almost 30 years now. When the president took Office President obama told them the number one National Security threat we have is north korea. There were a number of people who thought we were going to go to war and there was no other option. He put on a maximum Pressure Campaign in as much as we talk about sanctions on north korea in the past and there were some sanctions on north korea in the. Both democrat and republican maximum pressure has not been put on north korea so the president has placed pressure on sanctions regimes and rally their allies and encouraged them to the other thing you did is he put American Military in the region and again it was the strength approach to the turing north korea showing aircraft carriers can operate in a yellow sea. If o you take action against the United States or our allies in south korea or japan we have the means to finish the fight and there were some strong rhetoric on both sides. If you remember the rocket man and to some extent that was derided at the foreignpolicy establishment for what it did is it brought north korea to the table for the first time and the president met with kim jongun and chairman kim and the president as he does with all four leaders even if they are ever soaries he is very cordial with them. Kissinger said the president did a very hard line that he did it in a friendly manner the hardline was you have to end your weapons programam and you have to end the Ballistic Missile program and that was something that d chairman kim agreed to in singapore. There is a long way and we believe the president as Ronald Reaganbe did to trust and verif. Unfortunately we have had a tough time since singapore and making progress on the denuclearization of the peninsula and a lot of concerns with the North Koreans to get the kim family give them their Nuclear Weapons. When you are asking a counterpart in negotiators to do something that could result in their demise that is a very difficult negotiation to have. What the president tried to paint for chairman kim and the people iso an alternative visio. Somewhat like were talking about the middle east that the Nuclear Weapons arent going to bring you prosperity of and they arent going to bring you security but if you get ready for Nuclear Weapons theres a potential for north korea that is limitless. If you look at south korea and the amazing economy they have there is no reason that the North Koreans the same people, they are hardworking and. This Weapon Program with their sanctions and with little money and little trade goes to the fact that they are smart and hardworking and they are creative. If they channel that into a real economy north korea could be rich and they could be prosperous and chairman kim could be viewed as someone who has brought peace and prosperity. Thats the vision he attempts to lay out the results of singapore ande hanoi just like reykjavik with the soviets and the brief meeting at the dmz as we have not had a long range and are conjugal Ballistic Missile since singapore and we havent had a nuclear test this singapore. Both of those outcomes are viewed as wildly successful underpass of restrictions. The media would have touted that as a great outcome. Instead the standards the president hasd held two is he didnt get rid of all the Nuclear Weapons in north korea and chairman kim did not live up to his commitment to denuclearize. Sanctions, with deterrence, with some stopping of nuclear tests, with stopping the longrange Ballistic Missile tests. Hes not been given credit for that. But its not surprising. Can you imagine, any other president that achieved what the president has achieved in the middle east or the balkans, again, nobel peace nominations s flooding his way. Plthink, you know, we live in a very polarizedded political world. But i think when historians, when the next generation of historians are writing about this administration, theyre going to take a look at some of these accomplishments with a more distanced view. This was a very incredible time in American Foreign policy. a wider lens and a more objective lens. My colleague, rebeccah heinrichs, has a question. Thank you so much. Thanks for giving me the chance, arthur. Can you talk about the importance of President Trumps decision to pull out of the imf treaty and how we are exploiting that to produce these kinds of weapons to deter china, thats my first question. And the second one, where are we now with the russians on new s. T. A. R. T. , and you give us any insight . I know the russians have indicated they are interested in some kind of deal. Can you give us any insight yoout where we are on that . Its a great question. We had entered into a treaty with the russians that limited our ability to produce and deploy Weapons Systems, missiles that would travel in the intermediate range, kind of a range over 500 nautical miles, or kilometers. I could be off by a few miles or a few kilometers. So we stuck to that. Unfortunately, the russians didnt, and the russians continued to test and deploy missiles that violated the treaty, is so we had a violation on the russian side. But the chinese used the fact that we werent building these missiles to build literally thousands of missiles in china aimed at our allies, aimed at our ships in the indoPacific Region to create what they call an a2ad and air of denial antiaccess strategy to keep our ships and our navy away from our allies in the region and out of i china, out of the sphere of influence that china would like to have. T,t they did that, taking ouvantage of the fact that we were constrained by a treaty with russia that china was not a party of. And the president decided, listen, we cant compromise our National Security either in the indoPacific Region or in europe where the russians are violating the treaty. And the president just decided were not going to be part of treaties any longer where we awe abide by the treaties and the other side doesnt. It doesnt make any sense. And yet theres still a consensus that, well, its good to abide by because it shows our commitment to arms control. Thats just its almost mind boggling that people will tell you that with a straight face. So instead, we got out of the inf treaty, were developing Hypersonic Weapons, Delivery Systems that will keep america safe, our navy safe, our marines, our airmen, our soldiers who are deployed out in the indopacific, itll defend our allies, that will deter china and well deploy the same missiles if necessary in europe to deter the russians, the russian fed ration. And, again, its classic peace through strength. And we think that by deploying these weapons not only will we deter an attack, but it will also put us in the posture to have real arm control in the future just like in the 80she to europe to get the soviets to come to the table and have, and agree to the precursor, the zero option, the precursor to the inf tree few. So tree few. So, again, were not going to be parties to treaties where we abide and the other side doesnt Going Forward, and thats the message that everyone in the world should understand. And, number two, were always going to put america and americas defense first. What that does with respect to new s. T. A. R. T. Is it sets a new baseline, and it reorients the russians and the chinese for arms control, although theyre stuffarming any attempt to do arms control, but we want to get a good deal with the russians. The new s. T. A. R. T. Treaty is not a great deal. It was a treaty that President Trump would have never negotiated because while it limits u. S. And Russian StrategicDelivery Systems and warheads, which is good and we want that, thats a good part of the treety, theres no limit treaty, theres no limit to other Missile Systems or warheads, and the russians maintain, you know, a massive advantage in Nuclear Warheads over the u. S. Outside of the strategic category. And, look, if youre in paris and you get blown up by a warhead, nuclear warhead, youre not going to say, you know what . Im glad that was just a tactical nuke that took out our city as opposed to a strategic nuke. I feel much better about that nuclear blast. [inaudible] yeah. So, you know, what were attempting to do now is to show resolve. Weve made an offer to the russians, and i think theres been progress on this front. I went to geneva and met with my counterpart, had a very business like meeting with him, and we suggested that we renew or extend new s. T. A. R. T. For a year. And at the same time, the parties, both parties, russia9 and the United States,s, agree o cap their weapons productions during that year and see if that gives us time to negotiate a new really terrific longterm arms control deal with the russians. So i think were getting close. I think were going to work on a verify caution procedure for that verification procedure for that year time frame. I think were going to be able to get to a deal, and well have to see how serious the russians are about arms control. We think its in their interest, our interest, and wed like to get a great deal, so well see how that plays out over the next couple of days and weeks. Weve only got a couple minutes left. Should we talk for a couple minutes about africa . We have an online question. Ive got an online question which is about the spread of islamic extremism in various places in west africa. Particularly nigeria via isis and alqaeda. But africa also figures into that geopolitical competition with china, doesnt it . Because chinas been working for it, and ive written about this. Theyre working to establish are a kind of neocolonial regime in african countries in order to extract resources and extract wealth from those countries. Wherelt is the Trump Administration . Where are you now with building that strong u. S. africa relationship Going Forward . Both in dealing with the islamic terrorist issue, but also counterbalancing what chinas doing and trying to get done. Look, i think in africa, im very bullish on africa. I think its got a massive population, a very young population. So you have Tremendous Energy coming from africa. Youve got a lot of entrepreneur in africa. Just across the whole continent. And so i think its going to be an exciting plus to do business, and i think its going to in anmany ways, africa is the futue just based on the age and the youth and the population there. So, look, were taking a different approach than the chinese. Were encouraging American Businesses to bee in africa. Were investing in africa. Were guaranteeing loans to the exim bank. I had the privilege of announcing just recently a new Pandemic Response program. Were going to build a center of excellence in capetown, south africa, to respond to global pandemics. Were going to put some of the money that we were otherwise spending on our programs that were inefficient, were going to redirect that money to africa, hundreds of millions of dollars. And then were pairing this center were going to build with historic clue black colleges and universities, with their med schools. Suggestion historically black colleges and universities that have med schools, and were going to power them with the center in south africa. Interesting. And take u. S. Expertise, give their students opportunities and their residents and doctors and scientists opportunities to work abroad, and were going to have i think were going to have a tremendous impact in africa. Weve spent 10 billion on pepfar, on antiaids, antirelate retroviral drugs and treatments in africa. Were laboratories it iss all or avrica. Weve done great things, we have wonderful friends in africa, but we dont get the same publicity that the chinese do when they go over and buy a port or take over an enterprise in africa. So wering working through the private sector, were trying to develop more trade and investment, and we think theres just a really strong future in africa. But were going to compete with theth chinese differently. Were going to use, you know, the best of the American Private anctor to be there. Now, i spent some time in niger and mali just before taking this job, i spent about a week and a half in the saw hell. Sahel. We had an american hostage there were working very closely with the french. Its a great example of burden sharing. We have about 90000 troops sporting them supporting them with some exquisite intelligence capabilities that we have. So were working hand in glove with the french. Theyre fighting hard. In fact, they rescued a south korean, an american and two french hostages about a year and a half ago and two french marines were killed. They saved the hostages lives, but two french marines were, sadly, killed in that raid, and i was able to go meet with their unit and thank them on the behalf of the president and the American People for saving our hostage in addition to the other nationalities they recovered. But while working hard there, the alqaeda affiliate, theres an isis element which is in that region, but its going to be a tough fight. Ultimately, the africans are going to have to fight this fight themselves, and were going to support them and to help them, but you also have islamic terrorism and extremism going all down the coast of east africa. Tanzaniaing were seeing an outbreak. So were going to haveni to come together with our partners and our friends and our allies. Again, this is an lawyer of burdensharing where we think our area of burdensharing where we think our european allies can come and we can support them the. Its going to have to be an african, European Response supported by the u. S. But, again, i think overall were bullish on africa. Were doing a lot, spending a lot of money there, but with we think were doing it the right waydo unlike the chinese that ae coming in seeking to dominate countries saddling them with enormous debt. Well, they bribe corrupt leaders. That money then goes to europe or it goes into a swiss bank account. Its never seen by the people in that country. The chinese then build a boondoggle, a sports stadium using chinese workers, no local workers, not improving the skill set of the Indigenous People of that particular country, and so and its built but some chinese stateowned enterprise. So the money really never leaves china. The money stays in china. It pays chinese workers, and then the country is saddled with often times a shoddy Infrastructure Project that starts falling apart almost as soon as its bullet, and theyve got a huge built, and theyve got a huge debt with massive interest payments. Weve had several african payments say, listen, please, pay off our chinese debt. Well never do anything with them again. Unfortunately, we cant do that. We cant bail these countries out because of bad deals they did with china, but african countries realize whats happened to them, and in some places its a state of colonialism there. The chinese talk collateral for their loans. This isnt where you give aid or grants. The chinese collateralize their loans with mines, with railroads, with ports, and if you dont pay, they come in and collect. They take the collateral. Theyre, its a nasty business. Yeah. Mr. Ambassador, our time is up. Thank you so much hey, thank you. For a really hugely instructive and very, very interesting discussion. And thank you again, hope youll come again. Wonderful to be witham you, thank you very much. And thank you to everyone here and to our audiences Live Streaming and also at cspan. Thank you very much for attending. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] take care. Good seeing you all. Take care. The president , available in paperback, hard cover and ebook. Biographies of every president , inspired by conversations with noted historians about the leadership skills that make for a successful presidency. As americans go to the polls next month to decide who should lead our country, this collection offers perspective into the delivers and events lives and events that forged each president s leadership style. Visit cspan. Org the president s and order your copy today wherever books are sold. The competition is on. Be a part of this years cspan student cam video competition. Muddle and high school students, be the start of a National Conversation by making a 56 minute documentary exploring the issues you want the president and congress to address in the 2021. Be bold with your documentary. Show supporting and opposing points of view and include cspan video. Theres 100,000 in total cash prizes including the grand prize of 5,000. The deadline to submit videos is january 20, 2021. Youll find competition rules, tips and more information on how to get started at our web site, studentcam. Org. Thats e what gives us the confidence to sit here and describe the universe like we were there. 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