Asia Matters for America
America Matters for Asia
Explore US-Asia National and Local Connections
An initiative of the East-West Center and Asia Matters for America partners and stakeholders
The 2020 Presidential Candidates on the Indo-Pacific resource highlighted mentions of Indo-Pacific issues by US presidential candidates and nominees in speeches, campaign documents, and debates.
To view statements by President Trump prior to his June 18, 2019 declaration to seek a second term, as well as members of his Cabinet, visit The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations.
"Democrats will take aggressive action against China or any other country that tries to undercut American manufacturing by manipulating their currencies and maintaining a misaligned exchange rate with the dollar, dumping products like steel and aluminum in our markets, or providing unfair subsidies. Unlike President Trump, we will stand up to efforts from China and other state actors to steal America’s intellectual property and will demand China and other countries cease and desist from conducting cyber espionage against our companies. And we will take immediate…
"U.S. Leadership in the Asian Pacific
We are a Pacific nation with economic, military, and cultural ties to all the countries of the oceanic rim and treaty alliances with Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Philippines, and Thailand. With them, we look toward the establishment of human rights for the people of North Korea. We urge the government of China to recognize the inevitability of change in the Kim family's slave state and, for everyone's safety against nuclear disaster, to hasten positive change on the Korean…
"Kristen Welker: (09:22)I do want to ask you, Vice-President Biden, about China. Let’s talk about China more broadly. There have, of course, President Trump has said that they should pay for not being fully transparent in regards to the coronavirus. If you were president, would you make China pay? And please be specific, what would that look like?
Joe Biden: (09:41)What I’d make China do is play by the international rules, not like he has done. He has caused the deficit of the…
"PRESIDENT TRUMP: I just want to say that this is my honor. I didn’t really expect it. We were in Japan for the G20. We came over and I said, “Hey, I’m over here. I want to call up Chairman Kim.” And we got to meet. And stepping across that line was a great honor. A lot of progress has been made. A lot of friendships have been made. And this has been in particular a great friendship. So I just want to thank you…
"MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to FACE THE NATION. We are now joined by 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke who joins- joins us from El Paso. Congressman, we've had this breaking news overnight and I'm wondering if, as president, you would continue the diplomacy with Kim Jong Un, and would you accept North Korea as a contained nuclear threat if it refuses to give up its nuclear weapons?
BETO O'ROURKE: You know, I would continue diplomacy contingent on progress that keeps this country and…
"PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you. (Applause.) Wow, thank you very much. Please. Thank you very much. That’s so nice. That means you like us. And we like you. And it has been a great period of time for our two countries.
I want to thank you, Ambassador Harris. We put you here recently because we thought it might be a spot where we need somebody with great talent, and you’ve displayed that in our military for many years. We really appreciate it very much. Thank you…
"[PRESIDENT TRUMP:] I just had a meeting with the business leaders of South Korea. And these are not only business leaders here, they’re business leaders throughout the world. They are among the greatest businesspeople anywhere in the world. We went through a lot — Lotte, Samsung — so many that are so — Hyundai — so many that are so respected.
And we talked and we had a fairly short meeting, unfortunately. I wish it could have been longer. But these are very, very highly…
"MARGARET BRENNAN: We saw this historic moment with President Trump stepping into North Korea. And I wonder, if you're commander in chief, would you continue the diplomacy that he has started?
SEN. KLOBUCHAR: You always have to talk to everyone when it is American security and the world's security at stake. But he keeps having these summits and meetings that really don't produce anything. There's been a number of them now, and this time, you know, you just can't look at this as going…
[PRESIDENT TRUMP:] I understand that we may be meeting with Chairman King — Kim. And we’ll find out. We spoke with the people. Kim Jong Un was very receptive. He responded. And so, we’ll see. Because tomorrow we’re going to the DMZ. I said, “While I’m there, I’ll shake his hand.” We get along. There’s been no nuclear tests. There’s been no long-range ballistic tests. Gave us back our hostages, which was great. And a lot of good things are happening over there. [...]
So, with…
"Q Mr. President, will you meet with Kim Jong Un tomorrow at the DMZ?
PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well, I put a — I’ll be going to South Korea. We’re going with President Moon. We were with the President in Japan for a little while, and we spoke. And all I did is put out a feeler if he’d like to meet.
He sent me a very beautiful birthday card. And I just — what I did is — and he — I guess he got my…
"Q Are you confident that you will reach a trade deal with China?
THE PRESIDENT: There’s a possibility. I’m meeting with Russia. I’m meeting with China. I’m meeting with many countries. We’re meeting with many countries. We have many things — we’ve been ripped off by everybody over the years. They’re not ripping us off anymore. A big difference right now.
We’re meeting with China. Just so you know, China has been paying us billions and billions of dollars. Until I got here, they never…
"On June 26, 2008, by Executive Order 13466, the President declared a national emergency with respect to North Korea pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States constituted by the existence and risk of proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula. The President also found that it was necessary to maintain certain restrictions with respect to North Korea that would otherwise…
"TO THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES:
Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)) provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days before the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national…