美国务卿希拉里·克林顿访谈

GOLLUST: One of the more moving events, I thought, at the State Department a week ago, was your meeting with the prime minster of  Moldova. His comments about how grateful he was to become an MCC [Millennium Challenge Corporation] member and how proud he was about democratic reform. Is there something that the United States and/or other allies do about the territorial issue in Moldova that really has been an impediment to that country's progress?

CLINTON:   I discussed this at length with the prime minister. Moldova is struggling to consolidate democracy to improve its economy, it is eligible for Millennium Challenge compact because it is still a poor country in need of a lot of help.  Certainly the border disputes with Romania, the continuance of Russian troops on Moldovan territory are matters of concern.  But we want to assist Moldova in improving the lives of its people and hopefully over time the problems that it faces can be addressed.

GOLLUST:  Another subject you alluded to in the speech was international response to disasters as underlined by the Haiti experience of a couple weeks ago.  Are there lessons to be learned from the Haiti example about how the international community should respond to a disaster?

CLINTON:  I think there are and we need to be looking at the tsunami, the terrible earthquake in Haiti, and figuring out what are the best ways for the international community to respond.  I've started discussing this with Catherine Ashton, the new High Representative for the European Union:  how do we prepare to take responsibility for different parts of the world, how do we stockpile goods, how do we assign different responsibilities among different nations?  I think this is a ripe area for more international cooperation and we should not just respond, we should learn and do it better the next time.

GOLLUST:  Still another issue raised at the forum in Paris, U.S. relations with China, the controversy over the Google website.  You mentioned that the president will be meeting the ** Lama.  The issue of Taiwan arms sales is out there.  Do you think we are in for, you might say, a patch of rough sledding in relations with China because of the convergence of such issues?

CLINTON:  Well I hope not.  But there shouldn't be any surprises on either issue.  The United States has supplied defensive arms to Taiwan for many years.  We do it within the context of our Taiwan Relations Act and the Joint Communique and our commitment to a one China policy.  We think it is appropriate and in fact we believe that providing defensive equipment has actually enabled Taiwan to feel more comfortable in drawing closer to China in commercial interactions.  And the last three, maybe four presidents have met with the ** Lama, so again there shouldn't be any surprise.  We certainly don't recognize any claim that the ** Lama makes to territory inside China.  We view him primarily as a religious leader. So again this is something that previous presidents have done and President Obama is committed to doing.  

GOLLUST:  Another issue out in that region involves Burma.  The military government there is talking about an election process that would conceivably be followed by the release of Aung San Suu Kyi when her latest term of detention expires.   Is that sequence of events something that would be acceptable both for the United States and other international players?

CLINTON:   Well what we want to see are free fair and legitimate elections that give the people of Burma the chance to express their preference for their own leaders.  We want to see Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners released as soon as possible.  We want to develop a better bilateral relationship with Burma and we have offered the potential of that but of course we really hope to see the kind of progress that would demonstrate that Burma is ready to emerge from a period of authoritarian rule and some level of isolation and violation of human rights and the United States stands ready to work toward better relations with Burma and assistance but we have to see some evidence first.

GOLLUST:  Madam secretary I appreciate very much you giving your time today. 

CLINTON:  Thank You.