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Dragon TV Interview: Developing a Comprehensive, Integrated Dialogue With China
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Interview With Yang Lan of Dragon TV
Beijing, China
February 22, 2009
MS. YANG: But this is a beautiful Embassy.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Isn't it? I am so proud and impressed by it. It took a long time to build, but it is very beautiful and very functional. And the architecture is Chinese-inspired, so it's really a wonderful addition to our embassy community.
MS. YANG: And so you are going back today, right?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Yes. I have to go back today.
MS. YANG: And just in time to celebrate your daughter's 29th birthday.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That's true. She will be 29 on Friday. And I am very much looking forward to seeing her for a birthday dinner.
MS. YANG: Okay. So what kind of path do you like to see her take? I know she has been studying health policy and management at Columbia.
SECRETARY CLINTON: That's right. I think she is someone who charts her own path, and I am very impressed and delighted at the choices that she has made. I just, like most mothers, want her to be happy and have a good life. And that is really all I wish for her.
MS. YANG: Does she resemble you in the ways that she does things?
SECRETARY CLINTON: I think she is a good combination of both her father and me. She has a very wonderful personality, and she is a hard worker, and she is a good friend and a caring person. So I am just very happy to be her mother.
MS. YANG: I know you have just had a dialogue with the Chinese women. Some of them you have known for 11 years. Well, to the younger generation of women, like your daughters, what kind of advice would you like to give to those who aspire to succeed and lead, but could be afraid of failure?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, that's a good way of phrasing the question, because I think that overcoming your fears, whether you're a young woman or a young man, to be willing to take a risk, to try something different, to follow your heart, to pursue your dreams, takes a certain level of courage.
And I just try to tell young people who ask me all the time what I think about the best way forward is to be true to themselves, you know, to listen to their own heart, to do what gives them joy in life, and meaning in their public and professional careers. And I think if you do that, you may change, you may take a different path. But if you can keep focused on what you believe is important, I think that's the best way to proceed.
MS. YANG: Let's get back to this trip. In your testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, you suggested that U.S. should use smart power to handle international issues. How is that approach, or strategy, reflected in your Asian trip, especially your trip to China?
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, it is our goal in the Obama administration to reach out to the rest of the world using every tool at our disposal. I like to talk about the three D's of our foreign policy: defense, diplomacy, development.
We want to emphasize, particularly, diplomacy and development. And what I have tried to do in the month that I have had this position is to make clear that we will represent and defend the interests and the security and the values of the United States, but we want to listen.
We are different countries and different cultures. China and the United States have very different histories. And we need to understand each other better so that we can find more common ground. And I was encouraged by my talks with your leadership, that there are a number of areas we can work on together.
We are constructing, and have agreed, in principle, to a strategic and economic dialogue that will not only include the economic crisis, which is very important, that China and America lead on a recovery, globally, but clean energy and climate change, and more educational exchanges, and people-to-people exchanges, more work on health care, medicine, science.
I want to deepen and broaden the connections, not only between government officials, as important at that is, but between all kinds of Chinese and Americans.
