Remarks by
Vice-President Joseph Biden at the John F. Kennedy Forum at Harvard’s Kennedy
School, Boston Massachusetts, October 23 2014.
* * *
. . . Folks, “all’s
changed, changed utterly. A terrible
beauty has been born.” Those are the
words written by an Irish poet William Butler Yeats about the Easter Rising in
1916 in Ireland. They were meant to
describe the status of the circumstance in Ireland at that time. But I would argue that in recent years, they
better describe the world as we see it today because all has changed. The world has changed.
There’s been an incredible diffusion of power within states
and among states that has led to greater instability. Emerging economies like India and China have
grown stronger, and they seek a great force in the global order and global
affairs.
Other powers like Russia are using new asymmetrical forms of
coercion to seek advantage like corruption and “little green men,” foreign
agents, soldiers with a mission but no official uniform. New barriers and practices are challenging
the principles of an open, fair, economic competition. And in a globalized world, threats as diverse
as terrorism and pandemic disease cross borders at blinding speeds. The sheer rapidity and magnitude, the
interconnectedness of the major global challenges demand a response -- a
different response, a global response involving more players, more diverse
players than ever before.
This has all led to a number of immediate crises that demand
our attention from ISIL to Ebola to Ukraine -- just to name a few that are on
our front door -- as someone said to me earlier this week, the wolves closest
to the door.
Each one in its own way is symptomatic of the fundamental
changes that are taking place in the world.
These changes have also led to larger challenges. The international order that we painstakingly
built after World War II and defended over the past several decades is
literally fraying at the seams right now.
The project of this administration, our administration at
this moment in the 21st century, the project that President Obama spoke about
last week at the United Nations is to update that order, to deal with these new
realities, but also accommodate and continue to reflect our enduring interests
and our enduring values.
And we’re doing this in a number of ways. First, by strengthening our core alliances;
second, building relationships with emerging powers; third, defending and
extending the international rules of the road that are most vital; and
fourthly, confronting the causes of violent extremism. But all of this rests on building a strong,
vibrant economy here at home to be able to underpin our ability to do anything
abroad.
So tonight I want to talk to you about our efforts and
provide, as best I can, an honest accounting of what it’s going to take for
America to succeed in the beginning of the 21st century.
The first thing we have to do is to further strengthen our
alliances. Many of the challenges we
face today require a collective response.
That's why we start from a foundation of the strong alliance we’ve had
historically in Europe and in Asia, a feature of American strength unmatched by
any other nation in history and built on a sacred commitment to defend one another,
but also built on shared political and economic values.
One of the cornerstones of our foreign policy is the vision
we share with our NATO allies of a Europe whole and free, where every nation
can choose the path it wishes with no interference. But that vision has been recently
challenged. We’ve seen aggression on
Europe’s frontier. And that's why we’ve
moved to mobilize our NATO allies to step up and provide significant security
assistance to Ukraine.
Each of the 28 NATO allies has now committed to providing
security assistance to Ukraine, including over $115 million from the United
States. And as we respond to the crisis
in Ukraine, we are determined that NATO itself emerge stronger from the crisis
thrust on us by Russia. With our allies,
we are increasing deployments on land, sea and in the skies over Central and
Eastern Europe.
And at the most recent NATO Summit in Wales, the Alliance
agreed to create a Rapid Response Force to make sure that NATO is ready and can
respond to any contingency. And we’re
increasing exercises and capacity building with non-NATO nations, countries in
European -- on Europe’s eastern frontier to ensure that they too can exercise
their right to choose their own future, and that NATO’s door remains open.
But beyond mutual defense, we’re working closely with Europe
on everything from trade to counterterrorism to climate change. But we have to be honest about this and look
it squarely in the eye, the transatlantic relationship does not sustain itself
by itself. It cannot be sustained by
America alone. It requires investment
and sacrifice on both sides of the Atlantic, and that means ensuring that every
NATO country meets its commitment to devote 2 percent of its GDP to defense;
establishing once and for all a European energy strategy so that Russia can no
longer use its natural resources to hold its neighbors hostage. Reaching a final agreement on the so-called
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the new mechanism to try to
strengthen the economic engines to sustain our mutual efforts in Europe and at
home.
To the East, for six decades, America’s alliances in Asia
have made possible the security and stability that has flowed from -- that has
allowed the economic miracle. When I met
not long ago and I met many, many hours with President Xi -- I probably had
dinner alone with him over 22, 23 hours over two five-day periods, talking
about -- I mentioned that America -- I made clear that America is a Pacific
power and we will remain a Pacific power.
And us in the area is the reason for the existence of a stability in
Asia for the past 50 years. That’s why
it’s essential that we modernize our Pacific alliances, updating our posture
and expanding our partnerships to meet the new challenges we face.
America today has more peacetime military engagements in the
Asia Pacific than ever before. By 2020,
60 percent of our naval assets and 60 percent of our air power will be
stationed in the Pacific. We’re
supporting Japan’s efforts to interpret its constitution to allow it to play a
larger security role. We’ve signed
enhanced defense cooperation agreements with the Philippines. We’re strengthening our missile defense
capabilities in the region to deter and defend against North Korea. And three years ago, we had no forces in
Australia; today, we have more than a thousand Marines rotationally deployed in
Darwin. And we have a growing
partnership with Vietnam, in no small part -- by the way -- to the work of
Tommy Vallely and his colleagues actively engaged in regional organizations
like ASEAN.
We have an historic opportunity as well to build a new
relationship with Burma if we get lucky.
But our Asian allies also have tough choices to make. We cannot do this on our own. It will relate to their willingness to work
closely and more closely with one another.
As the President and I have done in meetings with the leaders of Japan
and South Korea, we’re going to continue to promote trilateral cooperation
among our allies and partners in the Pacific to make the most of those ties
that will benefit the entire region if we succeed.
In the Middle East, our alliances are also crucial. We will never waver from our steadfast
support for Israel, and we’re working alongside a coalition of Arab partners
and countries from around the world to confront ISIL.
So even as we strengthen our traditional alliances, we’re
building wider coalitions to bolster the world’s ability to respond to these
emerging crises.
Take Ebola. A
horrific disease that is now a genuine global health emergency. Our Centers for Disease Control, USAID and
our military have taken charge of that world epidemic. We are organizing the international response
to this largest epidemic in history. The
President rallied the world at the United Nations last week, mobilizing
countries from all around the world to act, and to act quickly. We’re deploying over 3,000 American soldiers
to West Africa to support regional civilian responses and advance the effort in
fighting the disease of Ebola.
The second thing we have to do besides strengthening our
alliances and cooperation, we have to effectively manage our relationships with
emerging powers of the 21st century. And
that means putting in the effort to realize the potential of America’s
friendship with emerging democratic partners like Brazil and President Dilma,
President Peňa Nieto in Mexico, Prime Minister Modi in India, who just made a
historic visit to the United States this week.
Each of these relationships has a significant potential to
genuinely, genuinely promote shared interest and shared ideals. But each one has to overcome domestic
politics, bureaucratic inertia, and a significant legacy of mistrust over the
last century. But there is great
potential here, but there is no guarantees.
There is no substitute for direct engagement and an unstinting effort to
bridge the gap between where we are today and where we can and should be
tomorrow.
The world in which emerging powers and responsible
stakeholders promoting common security and prosperity has yet to arrive, but
it’s within our grasp to see that happen.
That’s why we’ve embraced the G20 as a model for economic
cooperation. That’s why it’s also
important that we fully support international institutions like the IMF, fund
them and reform and modernize them to better serve all nations.
But managing our relationship with China is the single most
essential part of the strategy at which we must succeed. Even as we acknowledge that we will often be
in competition, we seek deeper cooperation with China, not conflict.
Nowhere is it written that there must be conflict between
the United States and China. There are
no obvious, obvious impediments to building that relationship. And we’re committed to building up that
partnership where we can, but to push back where we must. The President plans to visit China this fall
as part of his second trip to Asia this year.
This is the kind of engagement that is necessary for us to come together
and do consequential things.
At Sunnylands, when he met with President Xi last, they
reached an historic agreement on the super pollutant known as HFCs,
hydrofluorocarbons. And our hope is that
this year we can continue to expand our cooperation with China on climate and
environment, but also be very direct about our differences. That’s why in a five-hour meeting I had with
President Xi this past December -- after they had several days earlier
announced unilaterally an air defense identification zone, contrary to
international law -- I sat with President Xi and I told him bluntly, Mr.
President, understand one thing. We do
not recognize it, we do not honor it, and we’re flying a B-52 through it. Understand. (Laughter.) No, I’m serious. I’m not asking you to do anything. I’m not asking you to renege. Just understand -- we will pay no attention
whatsoever to it. It’s important. It’s important that in emerging relationships
there be absolute, frank, direct discussions.
That’s why we’ve made clear as well that freedom of
navigation must be maintained in the South China Sea. But that’s also why President Obama has been
direct in public and private with China’s leaders on cyber theft. And as the world watches Hong Kong’s young
people take to the streets peacefully to demand respect for their own rights,
we’ll also never stop standing up for the principles we believe in that are
universal -- democratic freedoms and human rights.
President Xi asked me, why do we focus on human rights so
much? I’m serious. And I gave him a direct answer -- which is
almost unique to the United States; it doesn’t make us better or worse, but
unique to the United States. I said, Mr.
President, even if a President of the United States did not want to raise human
rights abuses with you to have a better relationship on the surface, it would
be impossible for him or her to do that -- for the vast majority of the
American people came here to seek human rights and freedom. It is stamped into our DNA. It is impossible for us to remain
silent. Again, he took it on board --
and it’s important to understand why we do it.
It is not a political tool. It is
who we are.
To build these robust relationships with emerging powers, we
also have to demonstrate staying power -- which is hard and costly -- in places
that will do the most to shape the world that our grandchildren are going to
inherit. That’s why our rebalance to the
Asia-Pacific region depends in no small part on completing a trade initiative
known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
And that’s the whole Pacific -- from Peru all the way to Japan.
It’s a partnership that will stitch together the economies
of 12 Pacific nations, stretching from South America to Asia, united behind
rising standards regarding labor, the environment, and fair completion. Once completed, these trade agreements we are
negotiating across the Atlantic and the Pacific will encompass nearly two-thirds
of the global trade in the world, and can shape the character of the entire
economic global economy.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership also has a profound strategic
-- not just economic -- strategic element to it. Because deeper economic ties cement our
partnerships but, most of all, help small nations resist the blackmail and
coercion of larger powers using new asymmetric weapons to try to achieve their
ends in other countries.
And this brings me to the Western Hemisphere, a vital part
of the Pacific equation, but where there’s another great opportunity. The President asked me to oversee our
hemispheric relations. And for the first
time in history, you can truly envision a Western Hemisphere that is secure,
democratic and middle class, from northern Canada to southern Chile, and
everywhere in between. But we have to
overcome centuries of distrust. We can
no longer look at the region in terms of what we can do for it. The question is what can we do together in
this hemisphere. And the possibilities
are endless.
On energy, North America is literally -- not figuratively --
the epicenter of energy in the world today.
There are more rigs, gas and oil rigs in the United States pumping today
than every other nation in the world combined.
Combined. North America will
account -- meaning Mexico, China and Canada -- for two-thirds of the growth of
global energy supply over the next 20 years.
By 2018, the United States will be a net exporter of natural gas, and
most projections show North America will be totally energy independent by 2020,
and the United States shortly thereafter.
Look at the hemisphere in terms of trade. Forty percent of all our exports stay in this
hemisphere -- 40 percent. We have $1.3
trillion in trade in a yearly basis just in North America, including $1.3
billion per day with Mexico alone.
On security, we partnered with Colombia and Mexico and
others to combat the scourge of drug trafficking. We’re helping Central American countries
address the root causes of poverty and violence and migration.
But to realize the potential of our partnerships in the
region, we have to be present, we have to build that trust -- which is why I’ve
made five trips to Latin America just in the last -- and to South America as
well -- just in the last 18 months.
It’s why we have to pass immigration reform here in the
United States. It’s one thing to say we
respect the rest of the Americas, the majority of which are Hispanic. But it’s another thing to say I respect them
and yet not respect the immigrant population that’s the Hispanic community of
the United States. It does not connect.
The single most significant thing we can do to fundamentally
change the relationship in terms of trust and commitment is to pass immigration
reform. Those of you who travel to or
are from Central and South America know of what I speak. Because respecting immigrants from the
Americas is part of how we show that we really have changed our view, that
South and Central America is no longer our back yard; it is our front
yard. It is our partner. The relationship is changing. And when it changes fully the benefits for us
are astounding.
The third thing we need to do -- and are doing -- is to
defend and extend the international rules of the road and deal with asymmetrical
threats that are emerging. The
international system today is under strain from actors pushing and sometimes
pushing past the limits of longstanding important international norms like
nonproliferation and territorial integrity.
That's why we insisted that Syria remove its chemical weapons stockpile
and the means to manufacture them. So we
assembled under great criticism a coalition with Russia and others to remove
Syria’s chemical stockpile. That's why
have made it clear to Iran that we will not allow them to acquire a nuclear
weapon. So we’ve put together the single
most effective, international sanctions in history to isolate Iran, and to push
them back to the negotiating table.
Elsewhere, actors are subverting the fundamental principle
of territorial integrity through the use of new asymmetric tactics, the use of
proxies to quietly test the limits and probe the weaknesses across boundaries
and borders on land and sea; the use of corruption as a foreign policy tool,
unlike any time in modern history, to manipulate outcomes in other countries in
order undermine the integrity of their governmental institutions. That's exactly what’s happening in Ukraine
today.
Putin -- President Putin was determined to deny Ukraine and
the Ukrainian people the power to make their choices about the future --
whether to look east or west or both.
Under the pretext of protecting Russian-speaking populations, he not
only encouraged and supported separatists in Ukraine, but he armed them. He sent in Russian personnel out of uniform
to take on the Ukrainian military, those little, green men.
And when that
wasn’t enough, he had the audacity to send Russian troops and tanks and
sophisticated, air-defense systems across the border. But we rallied the world to check his
ambitions and defend Ukrainian sovereignty.
We didn't put boots on the ground.
Putin sought to prevent a free and open election. We rallied the world to help Ukraine hold
quite possibly the freest election in its history. Putin sought to destabilize Ukraine’s
economy. We provided a billion dollars
directly from the United States and worked with the IMF on a $27 billion
international rescue package to keep them from going under.
Putin sought to keep Ukraine weak through corruption. We’re helping those leaders fight back
corruption, which by the way is an issue that demands our leadership around the
world, by helping them write new laws, set up a new judiciary and much
more. Putin sought to hollow out
Ukraine’s military the last 10 years, and he was very successful. But we rallied NATO and NATO countries to
begin to build that military capability back up. Putin sought to keep secret Russian support
for separatists who shot down a civilian airliner. We exposed it to the world, and in turn
rallied the world. And remember this all
began because Putin sought to block Ukraine’s accession agreement with the
European Union. Well, guess what: That agreement was signed and ratified several
weeks ago.
Throughout we’ve given Putin a simple choice: Respect Ukraine’s sovereignty or face
increasing consequences. That has
allowed us to rally the world’s major developed countries to impose real cost
on Russia.
It is true they did not want to do that. But again, it was America’s leadership and
the President of the United States insisting, oft times almost having to
embarrass Europe to stand up and take economic hits to impose costs. And the results have been massive capital
flight from Russia, a virtual freeze on foreign direct investment, a ruble at
an all-time low against the dollar, and the Russian economy teetering on the
brink of recession.
We don't want Russia to collapse. We want Russia to succeed. But Putin has to make a choice. These asymmetrical advances on another
country cannot be tolerated. The
international system will collapse if they are.
And to state the obvious, it’s not over yet. And there are no guarantees of success. But unlike -- the Ukrainian people have stood
up. And we are helping them, leading and
acting strategically.
The fourth element of our strategy is countering violent
extremism. As you know, we’ve engaged in
a relentless campaign against terrorists in Afghanistan, in the so-called FATA,
in Pakistan, Somalia and elsewhere. This
campaign against violent extremism predates our administration, and it will
outlive our administration. But we’ve
made real progress against al Qaeda’s core and its affiliates since 9/11. But this threat of violent extremism is
something we’re going to have to contend with for a long time.
Today, we’re confronting the latest iteration of that
danger, so-called ISIL; a group that combines al Qaeda’s ideology with
territorial ambitions in Iraq and Syria and beyond, and the most blatant use of
terrorist tactics the world has seen in a long, long time. But we know how to deal with them.
Our comprehensive strategy to degrade and eventually defeat
ISIL reflects the lessons we have learned post-9/11 age about how to use our
power wisely. And degrading them does
not depend upon an unsustainable deployment of hundreds of thousands of boots
on the ground. It’s focused on building
a coalition with concrete contributions from the countries in the region. It recognizes outside military intervention
alone will not be enough. Ultimately,
societies have to solve their own problems, which is why we’re pouring so much
time and effort into supporting a Syrian opposition and Iraqi efforts to
re-establish their democracy and defend their territory. But this is going to require a lot of time
and patience.
The truth is we will likely be dealing with these challenges
of social upheaval not just in Iraq and Syria, but across the Middle East in
the wake of the Arab Spring, which will take a generation or more to work
itself out.
We can't solve each of these problems alone. We can't solve them ourselves. But ultimately -- and we can't ultimately
solve them with force, nor should we try.
But we can work to resolve these conflicts. We can seek to empower the forces of
moderation and pluralism and inclusive economic growth. We can work with our partners to delegitimize
ISIL in the Islamic world, and their perverse ideology.
We can cut off the flow of terrorist finance and foreign
fighters, as the President chaired the hearing in the United Nations Security
Council on that issue just last week. We
can build the capacity of our partners from the Arab world to Afghanistan to
solve their security problems in their own countries with our help and
guidance. The threat posed by violent
extremists is real. And I want to say
here on the campus of Harvard University:
Our response must be deadly serious, but we should keep this in
perspective. The United States today
faces threats that require attention.
But we face no existential threat to our way of life or our
security. Let me say it again: We face no existential threat -- none -- to
our way of life or our ultimate security.
You are twice as likely to be struck by lightning as you
around to be affected by a terrorist event in the United States.
And while we face an adaptive, resilient enemy, let’s never
forget that they're no match for an even more resilient and adaptive group of
people, the American people, who are so much tougher, smarter, realistic and
gutsy than their political leadership gives them credit for.
We didn't crumble after 9/11. We didn't falter after the Boston
Marathon. But we’re America. Americans will never, ever stand down. We endure.
We overcome. We own the finish line. So do not take out of proportion this threat
to us. None of you are being taught to
dive under your desks in drills dealing with the possibility of a nuclear
attack. And I argue with all of my
colleagues, including in the administration, the American people have already
factored in the possibility that there will be another Boston Marathon
someday. But it will not, cannot -- has
no possibility of breaking our will, our resolve, and/or our ultimate security.
Which brings me to the fifth and final point, the strength
of America’s economy. Without a strong
economic foundation, none of which I have spoken to is possible -- none of
it. It all rests on America remaining
the most vibrant and vital economy in the world.
And America is back.
America remains the world’s leading economy. I got elected when I was 29 years old, as was
pointed out, and I was referred to in those days as a young idealist. And I’m today -- if you read about me among
the many things that are often said, good and bad, I’m always referred to as
the White House Optimist, as if somehow, as my grandpop would say, I fell off
the turnip truck yesterday. (Laughter.)
I’m optimistic because I know the history of the journey of
this country. And I have never been more
optimistic about America’s future than I am today, and that is not
hyperbole. We are better positioned than
any other nation in the world to remain the leading economy in the world in the
21st century.
We have the world’s greatest research university. We have the greatest energy resources in the
world. We have the most flexible
venture-capitalist system, the most productive workers in the world. That’s an objective assertion. We have a legal system that adjudicates
claims fairly, protects intellectual property.
Don’t take my word for it. AT
Kearney has been doing a survey for over the last I believe 30-some years. They survey the 500 largest industrial
outfits in the world. They ask the same
question: Where is the best place in the
world to invest? This year, America not
only remains the best place in the world to invest by a margin larger than any
time in the record of the survey, but Boston Consulting Group right here, a
first-rate outfit, surveys every year American corporations with manufacturing
facilities in China and asks them what are they planning for next year. This year, the response was 54 percent of
those invested in China said they planned on coming home.
I don’t know how long I’ve been hearing about how China --
and I want China to succeed, it’s in our interest they succeed economically --
about how China is eating America’s lunch.
Folks, China has overwhelming problems.
China not only has an energy problem, they have no water. No, no, not a joke -- like California. They have no water. (Laughter.)
It is a gigantic and multi-trillion-dollar problem for them. We should help them solve the problem.
Ladies and gentlemen, raise your hand if you think our main
competition is going to come from the EU in the next decade. Put your hands up. (Laughter.)
I’m not being facetious here now, I’m being deadly earnest. We want -- it is overwhelmingly our interest
that the EU grow, and that China grows, because when they don’t grow, we don’t
grow as fast. But, ladies and gentlemen,
relative terms, we are so well-positioned if we act rationally, if we invest in
our people.
A recent study points out that American workers are three
times as productive as workers in China.
It matters in terms of where people will invest their money, where jobs
will be created. And one of my -- I was
in and out of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina over twenty-some times. As Maggie will remember, I was the voice that
kept hectoring President Clinton to lift the arms embargo and take on
Milosevic, which he did, to his great credit.
And one of my trips to Kosovo, I had a Kosovar driver,
meaning he was Muslim, a Kosovar driver and who spoke a little English. And I was going up to Fort Bondsteel, which
is right outside of Pristina, a fort that was being built on a plateau. And it was a rutted, muddy road, and we were
-- the tires were spinning to get up there, but there were all these cranes and
bulldozers and all these incredible movement.
And my driver very proudly sort of looked down like this and looked out
the window and he pointed at me and he said, Senator, America, America. And we were literally at a gate – and, Tommy,
you know, the old pike that came down across this rutted road in red and white
striped. And standing to the right of
the gate, stopping us, were five American soldiers. An African American woman, who was a master
sergeant; a Chinese American -- I forget the rank; an African American man; a
woman colonel, and a Hispanic commanding officer. And I tapped him on the soldier and I said,
no, no, and I meant it so seriously -- there’s America. There’s America. Until you figure out how to live together
like we do, you will never, never, never make it.
America’s strength ultimately lies in its people. There’s nothing special about being American
-- none of you can define for me what an American is. Can’t define it based on religion, ethnicity,
race, culture. The uniqueness of America
is that we are a group of people who agreed on -- whether we say it, whether
we’re well-educated or not, whether we say it in terms of basic agreements but
we really do believe without saying it, “We the People.” “All men are created equal, endowed by their
Creator.” Sounds corny. But that’s who we are. That’s the essential strength and vibrancy of
this country.
And that’s why it’s our obligation to lead. It’s costly.
It takes sacrifice. And sometimes
it’s dangerous. But we must lead -- but
lead in a more rational way, as I hope I’ve outlined for you, because we
can. We can deal with the present
crisis, and it is within our power to make a better world.
You’re a lucky group of students. I’m not being solicitous. You’re lucky because you are about to take
control at a time where one of those rare inflection points in the history of
the world, in this country. Remember
from your physics class in high school, if you didn’t have to take it in
college. I remember my physics professor
saying an inflection point is when you’re riding down the highway at 60 miles
an hour and your hands are on the steering wheel, and you turn it abruptly 2,
5, 10 degrees one way or the other, and you can never get back on the path you
were on.
We are at an inflection point. The world is changing whether we like it or
not, but we have our hands on the wheel.
The only time you get a chance to bend history a little bit are these
moments of great change. And if we’re
wise, if we have courage and resolve, and with a little bit of luck we can all
make the world a better place -- for real.
God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you.
(Applause.)
* * *
Remarks
by the Vice President at the John F. Kennedy Forum, The White House, October
3, 2014
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