The State Department on Monday defended Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s remarks in China that some said were a rhetorical concession to Chinese leaders and said Tillerson only meant to signal the desire for a cooperative relationship.
“I think the message he is sending or he tried to send in his visit to Beijing, writ large, was that we want a cooperative, productive, forward-looking relationship with China,” acting State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters.
Tillerson communicated that idea by endorsing “an understanding of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect, and win-win cooperation” — language favored by Chinese leaders in part to signify American deference to China’s status as a rising power. It was a more conciliatory message than U.S. leaders, such as Ambassador Nikki Haley, had signaled Tillerson would take to China.
“I’m not going to parse out the language that he used or whether that mirrored similar language from the Chinese except to say that we’ve also been very clear, and he’s been very clear on the record, that there are areas of cooperation, there are areas that we agree on that we really believe we can make progress on,” Toner said.
He added that Tillerson’s language should not be seen as an effort to reduce pressure on China on issues such as human rights.
“There are areas we need to make progress on and deal with and address, such as North Korea, and there are areas we disagree on, and that includes trade and frankly human rights,” Toner said. “We’re not walking away from our concerns about human rights, personal freedoms within China . . . there’s no backing away from that, I want to be clear about that.”
Chinese state-run media hailed Tillerson’s remarks, saying his “reiteration of the important principles originally proposed by China in 2013 is a positive sign for China-U.S. relations, in which cooperation should always prevail.” North Korea’s nuclear weapons program is one of the most pressing foreign policy issues between the two countries, as China is retaliating economically against South Korea due to the U.S. deployment of a missile defense battery to the Korean peninsula.
Tillerson criticized that retaliation before his arrival in China. “While we acknowledge China’s opposition, its economic retaliation against South Korea is inappropriate and troubling,” he said while traveling in South Korea. “We ask China to refrain from such action. Instead, we urge China to address the threat that makes that necessary, that being the escalating threat from North Korea.”
