u.s. and others closer to their border. we have to work hard with the chinese to make clear those are not the things they need to be concerned about. they need to be concerned about their neighbor, essentially a neighbor they try to protect but one also they have fairly significant influence when it comes to the crunch and hopefully maybe we are seeing more of that positive influence. we may be seeing the neighbor moving from its 2-year-old kicking the feet on the floor stage to a more serious effort to see whether, in fact, some kind of progress can be made in negotiations. that remains before us. that is in the nature more of a pious hope now but let's see, in fact, whether this is a swing back in that direction and whether we can make something of it. >> ambassador thomas pickering, thank you very much. making a list, checking it twice. there were a lot of picks for