(AGENPARL) – ven 09 dicembre 2022 You are subscribed to Collected Releases for U.S. Department of State. This information has recently been updated, and is now available.
12/09/2022 02:30 PM EST
Wendy R. Sherman, Deputy Secretary of State
Berlin, Germany
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung
Guten Tag. Thank you, Michael, for that warm introduction, and thank you to Mirco and everyone here at FES for hosting us. It is a true honor to speak with so many leading minds from across Berlin.
Back in 1987, this will tell you how old I am, which I’m very proud of… I’m 73. Back in 1987, I traveled to this city as one of the “40 Americans under 40” to mark the 40th anniversary of the Marshall Plan.
I have clear memories from that visit. I remember sitting in the Reichstag hearing George Kennan describe the origin story of the Marshall Plan, discussing how far we had come since those post-war years but how far we still had to go as the Cold War persisted.
Berlin at that time, as you well know, remained a divided city. The Wall still stood and still cast a shadow over the lives of Berliners and millions more across Europe.
Perhaps my most vivid recollections of that trip came outside the official program, when my husband and I—they didn’t know we were married… and they made us each one of 40 Americans under the age of 40, and we decided to cross into East Berlin. We could only carry 50 East German marks with us, and when we ran out of money, which is easy to do, we were helped by a stranger—a citizen living under the yoke of repression, yet ready to show us kindness and care.
Then came the most searing memory of all: when East German soldiers told us we could only exit East Berlin exactly where we had entered. We could only use that one gate and it was far away from where we were, no questions asked.
In that brief moment, we got a very tiny taste of the lack of freedom felt by those who lived there. It was of course nothing compared to the oppression endured by those who had little choice in where they could travel, walk, work, or communicate each day.
But the lesson from that experience sticks with me. We can never return to the days of barriers to individual rights on this continent—on this continent or anywhere else. We cannot allow new walls to be constructed, new divisions to be sown.
Instead, we should take inspiration from acts of courage around us—from Ukrainians sacrificing for their independence or Iranian women marching and giving their lives for their liberty. These are reminders that people are always willing to fight to determine their own destiny. A reminder, as was the case in Berlin in the Cold War, as we see in nearly every generation, that our ideals are always worth fighting for.
Today, as Michael said, that struggle is playing out in Ukraine, where Ukrainians are courageously waging a battle for their lives… where Russia’s unprovoked aggression and Putin’s barbaric acts are threatening entire cities, entire communities… where energy security, food security, and our collective security are under siege throughout the world… where our common principles hang in the balance.
Today that struggle is taking shape in a different form in the Indo-Pacific—home to more than half the planet’s population and two-thirds of the world’s economy— where the future of the rules-based international order will be written… where that future is being challenged by forces arrayed against free enterprise, against democratic values, and against human rights.
The question now is as leaders on the world stage, how will we respond? How will we promote freedom in our time? In a word: together.
The United States and Germany are bound by so much. Our values of openness and democracy. Our defense partnership that helps ensure our collective safety. Our economic cooperation that facilitates nearly $200 billion in trade every year; that deepens our people-to-people ties; that sees us contributing worldwide in sectors like infrastructure, health, manufacturing, and transportation.
For us, Germany is an ally of first resort. Our bilateral relationship is a cornerstone of the transatlantic alliance, which remains a source of stability in Europe and beyond.
Right now, our unity is vital. It is a bedrock of the international system. It is critical as we collaborate with our partners in the Indo-Pacific, as we support their political and economic security.
Just before traveling to Europe this week, two gatherings in Washington demonstrated our unity in action, as you all know. President Biden hosted President Macron for a State Visit where our leaders reaffirmed our common commitment across the transatlantic partnership to a free and open Indo-Pacific and our unified support for freedom of navigation, transparency, and fair economic practices. On those same days, those very busy days, I welcomed my European Union counterpart to the State Department for the U.S.-EU Dialogue on China and Indo-Pacific Consultations.
Coming out of those engagements, I believe it’s safe to say that the U.S. and the EU, of which Germany is an essential leader, have never been more aligned on our approach to the Indo-Pacific.
We share an affirmative vision for the region, of a region that is free, open, connected and prosperous, resilient and secure, and we are working with our friends in the Indo-Pacific to realize that ambition.
Together, we are supporting our Indo-Pacific partners to ensure their maritime security, counter disinformation, and develop high-quality sustainable infrastructure. We are building resilience in areas essential to the region–technology, economic development, governance, supply chains, and more. We are working with our Indo-Pacific friends to strengthen shared principles and to reinforce the regional architecture for the 21st century.