Hu Shuli, former editor of Caijing who currently edits Caixin Media, interviews U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton. The State Department has posted an English version of the transcript on their website:
QUESTION: Okay. Going forward, how can U.S. and China prevent some thorny issues from derailing the relationship, such as human rights?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I think we have to recognize that we are two different nations based on history and experience and perspective, so we are not going to see the world the same way, we’re not going to agree on everything. That would make it very boring, I believe. So what we best can do is honestly express our opinions. Nothing is off the table, nothing is hidden; everything is to be presented and discussed. And that’s what we’ve been doing.
And so certainly from our perspective, we believe that human rights is of important interest and it’s a value of the United States. We will continue to raise it and we will listen to our Chinese partners’ responses. We will encourage progress in this area. And we think it’s very valuable to make sure that the relationship is strong and stable so that when we have areas of disagreement, which we certainly will have, that we continue our talking and our working together despite that.
QUESTION: How do you define the path of U.S.-China economic relations?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think we have made great progress together. I personally believe that had it not been for cooperation between the United States and China, the world could have had a terrible great depression again. I think because Chinese and American leaders acted responsibly and cooperatively, we avoided that, and the world economy is slowly recovering from the very difficult times that existed when President Obama came into office.
So I believe that our economic relationship is deepening and broadening. Yesterday, we had a lunch with leading American and Chinese business leaders, and they were very open in describing to our leadership and the Chinese leadership what they thought was working and what needed to be improved. I like the level of very clear discussion and the ideas of solutions, which I think is always the best way to approach problems.
