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U.S. Power Stems from Influence, Not Military Might, Rice Says

Diversity is America's greatest strength, secretary of state says

U.S. power stems from its influence in the world - not its military might - and that powerful influence is a result of its great ethnic, racial and religious diversity, says Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"[P]eople in America can trace their heritage to almost every corner of the earth," the secretary told a group of high-ranking Indonesian officials and scholars attending her March 15 speech in Jakarta, Indonesia, at the Indonesia World Affairs Council. "[T]hat belief in diversity, that example of diversity, that is one of our greatest strengths," she said.

The goal of the Bush administration's foreign policy, Rice said, "is to unite with other democratic states around the world to make available to those who have long been denied freedom the opportunity for choice and for freedom."

"The United States simply doesn't accept the notion that there are corners of the world in which people are either not ready for democracy or they're not capable of democracy or they don't somehow deserve democracy," Rice said.

"I am always a proponent of having people come to the United States, study in the United States, get to know Americans, have educational and cultural exchanges," said Rice, who also is a professor at Stanford University in California.

TRANSFORMATIONAL DIPLOMACY

Rice explained that the Bush administration's concept of "transformational diplomacy" is to work with people as partners. "It's not paternalism. It's a partnership. It's not something that we do to other people or for other people. It's what we do with people." She cited as an example U.S. partnerships with Indonesian schools in a way that respects Islamic traditions.

Transformational diplomacy also means working with the Indonesian government to be transparent and accountable to its citizens, Rice said. Young democracies such as Indonesia still need to transform their institutions, fight corruption and establish rule of law, she said.

The growing cooperation between the United States and the democracies of Southeast Asia, Rice said, are defined "not just by the immediate threats we oppose, but by the enduring ideals we seek to promote: peace and security; opportunity and prosperity; freedom and democracy; justice and tolerance."

Rice praised Indonesia for demonstrating it is possible to "both adhere to Islam's traditions and beliefs and to be democratic. There is simply nothing that is contradictory between the two."

"I would hope that people around the world would recognize ... Islam as a religion that is peaceful, Islam as a religion that places a great deal of weight on individual responsibility," she said. Rice added that the notion of individual responsibility is at the "core" of democratic development.

THREATS TO SOUTHEAST ASIA

Rice named the most important threats currently facing Southeast Asia as being the spread of epidemics like SARS, HIV/AIDS and avian influenza (bird flu) and terrorism - all of which the United States is working with its partners in the region to combat. (See HIV/AIDS and Bird Flu.)

Rice also cited as a threat criminals who exploit the region's growing openness, pointing to maritime security as a top priority.

"We are working with Indonesia and others to close this region's waterways to drug smugglers and human traffickers and pirates and weapons proliferators. We also stand ready to help Indonesia and Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand to secure the Straits of Malacca, through which one-quarter of the world's oil and trade pass every year," she said.

Rice said the economic growth that comes with increased free trade is vital to the region's continued success.

"The ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] group of countries is America's fourth largest trading partner, and we want to expand the benefits of this dynamic relationship to every person in Southeast Asia," the secretary said. "We are also working, through our Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative to conclude free trade agreements with countries in this region that are committed to economic openness and reform."

MIDDLE EAST

The secretary fielded a number of questions regarding the Palestinian situation. She acknowledged that the Palestinian people, via elections that were free and fair, voted for Hamas, which the United States regards as a terrorist organization. But she added: "I do think though that the Palestinian people still desire a peaceful future." (See The Middle East: A Vision for the Future.)

Rice cautioned that the only way for a freely elected Palestinian government to deliver a peaceful future and better lives for its people is to recognize the right of Israel to exist and to denounce terrorism.

"The United States," Rice said, "is committed to a two-state solution. We're committed to the well-being of the Palestinian people. We will continue humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people," she said.

"But we need Hamas - the world needs Hamas - to make a choice for peace. And if that choice is made, I'm quite certain that peace can, in fact, be brought to the region," the secretary said.

Rice said building a unified state in Iraq is a hard task "because these are people who have resolved their differences for most of their existence by force and coercion or oppression."

"Now they are trying to resolve their differences to bring together these various sectarian groups on the basis of compromise and politics," she continued. (See Iraq's Political Process.)

Rice said it is time people stop saying Iraqis "want to devolve into civil war."

"That's not what they want. That's what some foreign terrorists want for them," she said. "I think they [the Iraqis] have shown extraordinary, extraordinary patience and extraordinary maturity, political maturity, in continuing to work through their problems."

The secretary said she believes that Iraq will form a national unity government and that the coalition will properly train Iraqi forces to secure their own country.

When that happens, she said, "you can be certain that we will be more than pleased to stand down and to have the Iraqis do it themselves. It has always been the intention of the United States and the coalition that Iraqis run their own country."

Rice predicted that Iraq would emerge from the current conflict a stable multiethnic, multireligious democracy. "[I]t is going to be a very important anchor in the Middle East for a different kind of Middle East, much as Indonesia with its tolerance and with its inclusiveness and with its multireligious character is an anchor in Southeast Asia," she said. "We owe the Iraqi people our patience and our confidence that they are going to achieve that goal."

Source: U.S. Department of State