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04/23/2022 06:09 PM EDT
Wendy R. Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State
EEAS Secretary General Stefano Sannino
Brussels, Belgium
Peter Stano, Moderator: Dear colleagues, thank you very much for coming. Let me welcome our main speakers today. The Deputy Secretary of State of the United States of America Wendy Sherman and Secretary General of the European External Action Service Stefano Sannino who held very intensive consultations in the framework of the EU-U.S. consultations about a number of issues.
They will be briefing you about the content of the consultations and then we will take a few questions. First, we will start with opening remarks and then we open the floor to your questions. We have to finish at 11:50, so we will try to keep the discipline and based on the time we will see how many questions we will take. We will take questions from the room and if possible, because we have some technical problems with the colleagues connected, then we will try also to take questions from the colleagues who are connected online.
So with this, Stefano, I turn the floor over to you.
Secretary General Sannino: Thank you very much, Peter, and I am happy that we are inaugurating this room with you, Wendy. I think it’s as it should be.
We often speak about the fact that the relationship between EU and U.S. is unique and I think that in a way, not only today but even through the work that we’ve done yesterday and today, we are showing in a very concrete and tangible way the fruit of this sentence.
It is unique not only for what we share, but I would say it is unique also for the way we share things together. I’m also very grateful to you personally, Wendy, for what you bring also personally to this.
This meeting was taking place in a moment which is very specific. Unfortunately, against a background of the events in Ukraine, following the aggression by Russia to this country. And it was, I think, a very important moment to bring together the two sides of the Atlantic in order to have a reflection on what this new situation has generated in the world in general and more specifically in key areas like the one of the Indo-Pacific and China.
This is the third round of the consultation that we have on the dialogue that we have on China. The second on the Indo-Pacific. All this to say that there is a lot of work that has already gone into this relationship, but there is also work in front of us. And I have to say that progressively we are bringing also substance into this work with the concrete activities that we are developing together.
I have to start certainly with the fact that we were sharing very much the sense that Russia has started an aggression towards an independent country, and I would say that this is even particularly worrying because Russia is one of the permanent members of the Security Council and as such it should act in a responsible way. That’s what one would expect from a permanent member of the Security Council, and it’s also what we hope that China will do, will continue to work in a responsible manner. Because it is evident that we need to be sure that, in this new rapprochement between Russia and China, this is not going against the decision that has been taken in terms of circumvention of sanctions or in terms of any other kind of support that could be given to Russia.
We also, when it comes to China, believe that it is extremely important that we continue to work in a way that is not creating imbalances in the Taiwan Strait and that peace and stability is maintained in the region.
Another important point that we have made and for us is essential is the work that we need to put together in the multilateral fora and the fact that China cannot use economic coercion against countries.
We have also noted the situation in Xinjiang and the issue of human rights, child labor rights. And we will continue to follow very closely all these elements.
On the Indo-Pacific, I would just like to mention that we have identified a number of areas where we can work together. Connectivity is certainly one of those. Our two strategies are very relevant. Our two strategies for the Indo-Pacific region have many common elements. Maritime security is another area of common interest where we want to work together, as well as disinformation and child labor.
I would like to end just by stressing that on the occasion of this visit we had also a first meeting of the EU-U.S. Dialogue on Security and Defense with the participation of the Department of State and the Department of Defense and the External Action Service, as well as the Commission and the European Defense Agency. This is the first of what I hope is a strong partnership also in the area of security and defense between the EU and the U.S.
And once again, Wendy, thank you very, very much for being with us, for being a driving force in this relationship and in bringing your experience, your wisdom and also your human touch in this common endeavor.
Deputy Secretary Sherman: Thank you very much. Good afternoon, and thank you all for being here.
I have to begin by thanking my dear friend. One of the joys of my job is to get to know External Action Service Secretary General Stefano Sannino who has become a dear friend and an extraordinary colleague.
We have just completed two and a half days of extremely productive meetings here in Brussels. Yesterday we held the third meeting of the Interagency U.S.-EU Dialogue on China, which Stefano and I inaugurated last May during my very first overseas trip as Deputy Secretary of State.
Earlier today we held the second U.S.-EU High Level Consultation on the Indo-Pacific. And on Wednesday we had a trilateral meeting with NATO Deputy Secretary General Geoan? to discuss our continued coordination on Putin’s war of choice against Ukraine.
The European Union is, as Secretary Blinken has often said, “the United States’ partner of first resort.” It is frankly difficult to think of areas where we are not working closely together, consulting with each other and working to identify shared approaches. That’s the case on energy security; on the climate crisis and sustainable infrastructure; on trade, economic growth and technology; on shaping the rules of the road for the digital economy; and so much more.
And of course, we are working in lockstep to support Ukraine and its people and to hold Russian President Vladimir Putin and his enablers accountable for his premeditated, unprovoked, unjustified, and utterly horrifying war of choice against Ukraine.
Over the last six weeks the United States and our allies and partners, Europe chief among them, have worked in a coordinated fashion to impose unprecedented sanctions, export controls and other measures on Putin and his enablers. These measures are creating severe costs and consequences for the Kremlin. We have also surged lethal defensive aid and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.
Just yesterday President Biden announced another drawdown of $800 million in additional military assistance to Ukraine, which brings total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to more than $4 billion since the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration.
He also announced another $500 million in direct economic assistance to the Ukrainian government and he announced additional steps to streamline the process for Ukrainians seeking humanitarian parole or visas to the United States.
We applaud the European Union and the nations of Europe for the actions they have taken to provide defensive assistance to Ukraine and to welcome the more than five million Ukrainians who have now been forced to flee their country.
Putin’s war against Ukraine is not only a threat to European security and stability, it is a threat to the entire world because when autocrats like Putin believe they can act with impunity to dictate another country’s political choices or to change the boundaries of another country by force, or to choose another country’s alliances for them, that makes all of us less secure.
So, even as we work to respond to Putin’s war against Ukraine, we are continuing our work together to uphold and strengthen the rules-based international order, the UN Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
To that end we also discussed the People’s Republic of China (PRC) over these last two and a half days. The PRC has benefited enormously from the rules-based international order over the last several decades, but now they are increasingly seeking to undermine that very system including by supporting the Kremlin as it wages its illegal war against Ukraine.
Less than three weeks before the war began, Putin and PRC President Xi Jinping declared in a joint statement that the PRC and Russia have a “no limits partnership” with “no forbidden areas” of cooperation.
Since then, the PRC has failed to condemn Russian war crimes and voted against the resolution to expel Russia from the Human Rights Council. They have repeatedly drawn false equivalencies between Russia’s war of aggression and Ukraine’s self-defensive actions. PRC state media has parroted the Kremlin’s lies and conspiracy theories, including absurd claims that Ukraine and NATO and the EU pose a security threat to Russia, spreading disinformation both within the PRC itself and in other countries around the world.
We also discussed our many shared concerns about the PRC’s actions, including its use of trade and economic practices that distort markets and harm workers and businesses; its violations of human rights in Xinjiang and elsewhere; and its attempts to use economic coercion to shape the political choices of Lithuania and other countries in Europe and around the world.
The United States sees significant alignment between our approach and the EU’s approach to the PRC, which is reflected in the very strong and substantive Joint Statement that we issued just a bit ago. None of us are looking to hold the PRC down or to prevent continued growth in the PRC, but it is essential that all countries compete according to the same rules of the road on a level playing field. That includes the PRC.
We went on today to continue our consultations on the Indo-Pacific and to look at the broader region and the areas that Stefano outlined of our common work together. We have made unbelievable progress in doing concrete, joint work with each other since the first consultation which just happened a short time ago.
So, I look forward to welcoming Stefano and his team back to Washington again later this year for the next round of these important conversations, and to all the ways we will continue to work together in the meantime.
Thank you, and I look forward to your questions.
Moderator: Thank you very much. We start with the first question, Agence Europe, Lea Marchal.
Agence Europe: Thank you very much. I have a question on the Indo-Pacific Dialogue.
Are there particular ideas that you discussed during your conversations to address countries outside China to make sure that you gather support in this region? You mentioned connectivity, you mentioned the maritime sector, but could you maybe develop a little bit on what concrete areas of cooperation could be? Thank you.
Secretary General Sannino: Thank you very much.