Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Christopher R Hill: Former US Ambassador on the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping

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Christopher R Hill: Former US Ambassador on the meeting between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The American diplomat who famously called New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: a relic says it wouldn't rank in the top 10
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: problems for the U.S. in the Pacific today. Former U.S.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Ambassador Christopher R. Hill, who served as East Asia Pacific
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Assistant Secretary, is speaking to me as Trump is welcoming
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Xi to the White House in D.C.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Mr.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Ambassador, good morning. Great to have you on the show.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Great to talk to you.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Quite the show that the White House is putting on
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for President Xi right now. I can see uniformed soldiers
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: at attention over the Oval Office.
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, it's rather extraordinary because, as you know, the
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: major networks in the U.S. are not covering it. So
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: people are looking at some still photos of it. But
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: it is an extraordinary show. But usually you like an
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: extraordinary show to be accompanied by extraordinary substance. And so
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: far we haven't seen much of that.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Although I did note that they've extended the truce on
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: the trade war by a couple of months. That's something,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: I suppose.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: I think so. But I think it was pretty clear
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that China had said we're not going to be bullied
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: on that. And they were prepared to fight back hard.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: And I don't think the president needs that right now.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: How funny that the U.S. networks aren't showing this when
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: all this presumably all the state run networks in China
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: will be.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, that is how to put it, a certain amount
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of irony. But I think the U.S. networks are hanging
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: together here because they understand that tomorrow each of them
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: could be affected by being banned from the White House.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: So as you know, there's a court case going on
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: right now, and the judge has been rather clear about
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: what the White House has to do. So we'll have
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: to stay stay tuned. So that's quite a drama going on.
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: What's your, speaking of drama, midterms coming around the corner,
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: what's your pick for whether the Republicans can hold on
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: to the House and the Senate?
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: I think the Republicans, I think most people believe the
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: Republicans are going to have some trouble. The president's polling
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: numbers have dropped considerably, yet he wants to be front
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: and center in the efforts in the midterms. So I
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: think it's kind of looking good for the Democrats, but,
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: you know, it's always hard to say. But certainly it's
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: I think the Republicans are going to have to are
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: going to have trouble getting their people out to vote.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: And the Democrats are more than more than incentivized on this.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: You have an extensive background in the Asia Pacific region, Taiwan.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: Are you worried that the Chinese might make a move
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: on Taiwan in the near future?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: No, I think the real issue right now is that
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: arms package. The Chinese have many times told the U.S., hey,
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: this is a really core issue for us. And I
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: think Trump has kind of held off on that arms package.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: I suspect he'll continue to do so. And So I
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: don't see any real moves, and I don't think China
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: really wants to take that move. You know, China has
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: its own problems, and it wouldn't be helped by a
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: cross-straits crisis.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: This is the package for the Taiwanese.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Correct. The U.S. has a military package. It would take
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: some time to get to them anyway. But I rather
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: suspect Trump will not try to go ahead with that
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: right now. I think he'll continue to hold it in abeyance.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Christopher, you famously described New Zealand's anti-nuclear stance, anti-nuclear laws
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: in 2006 as a relic. However, do you still feel
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: that way?
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, what's a relic? I feel like a
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: relic sometimes. But I feel, you know, that the U.S.-New
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Zealand relationship moved ahead then. I was very proud to
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: play a small part of that.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: And part of that moving forward is basically just saying,
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: you do you, we'll do us, and we can still
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: get along.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: There's a lot to be said for that in foreign policy.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: You know, it's hard to get the other guy to
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: change their mind. It's better to kind of understand where
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the other guy is coming from. And then you figure
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: out how you can maneuver around that. And I think
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: we all did a good job on that.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: North Korea and Kim Jong-un, just a guy who occasionally
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: fires his mad rockets into the sea or something we
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: really need to worry about?
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: I think it's something we need to worry about a
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: lot more. I used to joke that when I was
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: assistant secretary back in that period, I had two nuclear problems,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: one of them New Zealand, the other North Korea. I
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: really feel the North Korean issue is very serious, and
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: I don't see any effort on anyone's part to deal
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: with it. I'm sure the Chinese are worried about it
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: because they're seeing a North Korea that's kind of drifting
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: toward the Russians. I'm sure they don't like it. like that.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: But I'm not sure our president is really engaged on
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  Speaker 2: it in a way that could slow down their program,
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: which I think is rather dangerous. And it's dangerous not
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: from the point of view of, you know, annihilating the
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: United States with nuclear weapons. It's dangerous from the point
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: of view that the U.S. could somehow not consider South
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Korea under its own nuclear umbrella And I think it
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: could be destabilizing on the Korean Peninsula. So I wish
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: there were more effort to deal with this.
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: I know you were joking, but when you described the
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: New Zealand nuclear problem alongside the North Korean nuclear problem,
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: do you think the current administration would be paying attention
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: as alive to our policy on even nuclear powered ships
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: in New Zealand waters? Would they see that as a
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: problem still and perhaps as more of a problem given
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: the contested Pacific Islands?
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: You know, if I were to rank order our problems
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: in the Pacific, our top 10 problems, I don't think
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: the New Zealand ban on nuclear navy is high up there.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, we have an excellent relationship with New Zealand.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: We do a lot of things together. And I think
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: there's a lot of goodwill to make sure we continue
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: that excellent relationship. And that's a change for the 1950s.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: where there was a concern that the New Zealand nuclear
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: positions could infect other allies. And before you know it,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: we'd have problems with European allies not wanting nuclear navy
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: in their ports. You know, I think we're beyond that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: And I think the U.S. and New Zealand have done
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: well together.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I think you're probably right, Mr. Ambassador. Great to have
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: you on the program this morning. Christopher R. Hill, former U.S. Ambassador,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: East Asia Pacific Assistant Secretary. For more from Early Edition
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talk ZB from
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: 5 a.m. weekdays or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.