Live on Bloomberg TV

00:00Admiral Kirby, thank you so much for joining us. Great to be with you. So really warming of rhetoric yesterday between President Biden and Xi Jinping following this meeting. There's now going to be Anthony Blinken, secretary state, going over to China. Still for China, the red line is Taiwan. And the president said yesterday there won't be a, quote, imminent threat of an attack. All right. So what was your sense coming out of this meeting? Is that still lingering, though, the fact that there could be down the line an attack on Taiwan from China? Well, look, without question there still tensions across the Taiwan Strait and the Chinese continue to now to strike what we would call a new normal in the wake of Speaker Pelosi's visit to a more adversarial stance. And we don't find that helpful. We don't think it's necessary. And the president's point yesterday was there's no reason for the tensions over Taiwan to come to blows or to come to any kind of conflict. Nothing's changed about our policy. We're obviously going to continue to support Taiwan self-defense, but we still adhere to a one China policy. So there's no reason for this. And we want to see the tensions across the street to be solved peacefully. And no change in the status quo by force or unilaterally. And the president was very firm about that yesterday. But Xi Jinping wants to reunify Taiwan. That is his long term goal. In that case, would the U.S. send troops? The president has been pretty clear on this. No change to our policy again. We're going to continue. They would send troops. We're going to continue to make sure that Taiwan can defend itself in accordance with the Taiwan relations. So do you think that there is momentum or is this going to be more difficult in terms of the Taiwan Policy Act that's being discussed in Congress? Would the USA? Taiwan is a non major NATO ally, which could be a red line for Beijing. Well, I don't wanna get ahead of where we are. Get into hypotheticals. Obviously, we work with Congress routinely about support to Taiwan. And again, in keeping with the Taiwan Relations Act, and we're aware that there's some proposed legislation here. We're going to continue to work with Congress. There's some parts about it that we that we like. There's some parts that I think we want to hash out a little bit more with members of Congress. But the president would sign it. I'm not going to get ahead of legislation that hasn't come to the president's desk. OK. I want to move on to Russia, because clearly President Putin isn't here, but obviously his war in Ukraine overshadowing all of these talks. The CIA director, Bill Burns, was in Ankara yesterday writing his counterpart what was discussed. This was really about keeping the channels of communication with Russia open on let on issues that affect both our our security futures. So I think I wouldn't characterize for Mr. Burns, that's probably better put to him and to his staff. But but his meeting in Ankara was all about the routine channels of communication that we have open with Russians at various levels. Just a couple of weeks ago, the secretary defense book is counterpart. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs spoke to his counterpart. I mean, we've got an embassy in Moscow. So this was very much in keeping with making sure this particularly with the the rhetoric coming out of Moscow, with the potential use of nuclear weapons, making sure that we have those communications open with the Russians so that they're caught. There won't be any miscalculations as detainees, Americans detained in Russia on the table like Paul Allen and Brittney Griner yesterday. Again, I wasn't in the meeting with the director burned, so I don't want to characterize it too much. The main purpose was to talk about issues around strategic stability. We see Russia really losing a massive foothold with them pulling out of her side. Do you think now maybe the tide is changing where they are more open to peace negotiations? You have to ask Mr. Zelinsky that. And I think he's been very clear, including his visit to co-sign yesterday, that they continue to want to get back their own territory and to restore their sovereignty. Only Mr. Zelinsky can determine if and when he's ready to negotiate. What we've said is we're going to make sure that his military can continue to succeed on the battlefield until such time as Mr. Zelinsky is ready to sit down and negotiate. And I would add that that if you just look at what's going on, Mr. Putin clearly has no indication or no inclination to sit down and negotiate and quite, quite the contrary. You know, he's buying drones from from Iran. He's establishing martial law in these so-called annex territories, which obviously aren't they don't belong to Russia. Everything he's doing says he's doubling down in terms of trying to extend this conflict. What do you make of Xi Jinping and China's position on Russia right now? They are clearly unnerved about the talk of nuclear weapons on Europe. Do you get the sense that Xi Jinping is pulling back a little bit of that support to Russia? We welcome that comment that the president she said yesterday, and we were glad to hear that. We were also glad to see that in Kyrgyzstan a few weeks ago at the Shanghai Cooperative Organization meeting, he was willing to publicly expressed concerns about what Mr. Putin is doing on the ground. That said. It hasn't condemned the war. They haven't stopped buying Russian oil. They haven't provided any military equipment. But clearly they haven't come out as forcefully as the rest of the international community in really condemning this war presented by not the heels of another major player when it comes to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. President Erwin of Turkey. He was able to really be the key for this Black Sea green deal. It ends November 19. What are you hearing in terms of. Well, we certainly hope that it will be renewed. I think the 19th of November is the day when it expires. And I know that there are active negotiations and talks going on right now. We certainly do welcome Turkey's leadership with respect to the initiative in the first place and the efforts that Mr. Erdogan is putting forward to get it to be extended. We also are grateful to that U.N. and the secretary general's leadership here as well. This is an important grain deal. Literally millions, almost 10 million tons of grain and foodstuffs have been able to make it out to Ukraine and into countries particularly low and middle income countries that really need it in Africa and other places around the world. So we want to see this extended. It's not just good for Ukraine, which it is, of course, but it's good for people all around the world. Food insecurity is an issue that is on the agenda here at the G 20. And rightly so in this green initiative has helped alleviate some of that pressure. We obviously want to see it continue. I just want to end with the president coming into this meeting stronger in a sense, because of what happened at home. The Democrats were able to retain the Senate. It's not going to be a red wave in the House. How different would the meetings have been if midterms had gone different? The president certainly felt when he left the United States that he had the wind at his back, certainly as a result of the midterm elections, but also about the initiatives, the progress, the momentum that the president has led on the world stage since becoming president. He has really revitalized and reinvigorated our alliances and partnerships, and most especially in this part of the world, five of our seven treaty alliances are in the Indo-Pacific and all of them are critically important to the United States into our national security. Matter of fact, in Cambodia, as you know, he met in bilaterally and trilateral with our treaty allies, Japan and South Korea. There is an awful lot going on here. And the president feels like his foreign policy really has helped advance our national security interests over the last 20 months. And he certainly feels really good about the conversations he said the engagements that he's had from Egypt to Cambodia here here in Bali. Give any indication of that with certain leaders. This has strengthened his footing. I can't speak for other leaders and I wouldn't do that. The president came into this trip feeling very comfortable and confident about our foreign policy goals and objectives, how we were going about meeting them and of course, the alliances and partnerships that we have. And this is one of the great advantages that the United States has a network of alliances and partnerships that countries like China and Russia just can't parallel. If I could just end on this. You mentioned China and Russia. We're talking about President Biden's. Your words wind in his back. Do you think Xi Jinping used President Biden as much stronger now in relation to Putin's weakness on the world stage? I mean, he's not even here. I wouldn't speak for President Xi clip clearly that I said the president went into the meeting with President Xi feeling confident and comfortable about American leadership on the world stage. He said when he took office that America was back in. What he's been doing in the past week just here and now you mentioned the last 20 months is proving that not only is America back on the world stage, but we're leading on the world stage. Admiral Kirby, thank you so much for your time. Pleasure.

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John Kirby on China policy, Putin's G-20 Absence

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby is reiterating the US administration's One China policy following Joe Biden's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Speaking to Bloomberg's Annmarie Hordern at the G-20 summit in Bali, he also commented on Putin's absence from the summit and Monday's unannounced talks between Russia and the US in Ankara. (Source: Bloomberg)