General (Retd) James Mattis, Secretary of Defense, United States
Well, you can always count on some straightforward questions here, can’t you?
As far as the rule-based order, obviously we have a new president in Washington DC – we are all aware of that – and there are going to be fresh approaches taken. But just take a look at the President’s first trip outside the United States. It was straight into the heart of one of one of the most bewildering and difficult challenges that the world faces in terms of how do we restore stability and peace into the Middle East, where the discussion was about how do we work together – in this case with the Arab League and with other organisations – in order to reduce the threat of terrorism.
I think that we have been engaged in the world for a long time. I think historically the Americans have been reluctant to see themselves in that role. We were quite happy between our two oceans, just to stay there. The 20th century took us out of that. But at the same time we recognised, especially with the greatest generation, as we call them, coming home from World War II, what a crummy world if we all retreat inside our own borders. How many people deprived of good lives during the Depression? How many tens of millions of people killed in World War II? Like it or not, we are part of the world. That carries through for all the frustrations that are felt in America right now, for the sense that at times we have carried an inordinate burden. That is still very deeply rooted in the American psyche, that engagement with the world. I think that, to quote a British observer of us from some years ago, bear with ; once we’ve exhausted all possible alternatives, the Americans will do the right thing. We will still be there and we will be there with you.
The fact that President Trump went to Brussels, he speaks with actions too. He was there to show our statement that we are standing with the NATO allies 100%. He sent me on my first trip after I was nominated to Tokyo and Seoul in order to make certain there was no misunderstanding within weeks of him taking office that we stood with the democracies of Japan and Korea. We are there and I can give you absolute optimism on this issue.
I would just say about China, as we talked about whether or not there is any adjustment to One China: no, there is not. The policy remains. We believe in the peaceful resolution of the situation between China and Taiwan, and that is where we have stood for some years, and the One China policy holds.
I would also say that in regards to China and whether or not the North Korea issue outweighs the South China Sea and this sort of thing, there is a lot more between the United States than just two issues. There are many areas, as I noted, of common interest, and certainly on terrorism, on nuclear proliferation, there are any number of issues where we have common ground with China. To put it into a binary option of either we have to walk away from our values and what we stand for on freedom of navigation and all because we need to work with China on North Korea – we are working with China on North Korea, ladies and gentlemen, because that is also a problem for China. I do not choose to send Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) to South Korea to protect the South Korean people from an imaginary problem. This is a real problem, and the problem is not South Korea putting a fully defensive system for the defence of their own people into position. The problem is North Korea, and if we want to stop bringing more military capability into the northwest Pacific, then we have to address the problem that is a threat to Japan, to South Korea and all of the other nations. So we have many areas that we can work with China, but at the same time, North Korea is a problem that has to be addressed, and we can do so. We believe that right now China is working this issue.
But I hope that addresses each of the four questions there, John.
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