CABLECODE#: 09STATE30049

2009-03-28 02:02

Hillary Clinton’s conversation with Kevin Rudd

Key point: Kevin Rudd’s first mention in the Cablegate affair details a 75-minute lunch following the ex-prime minister’s meeting with US officials at the White House in 2009. In it details are revealed of a discussion between Rudd and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about foreign policy in Afghanistan, Pakistan, China, Russia, as well as Rudd’s Asia-Pacific community initiative. The most startling revelation was Rudd’s call for the US to be prepared to “deploy force” if China does not intergrate into the international community.

Dispatch: “Calling himself ‘a brutal realist on China,’ Rudd argued for ‘multilateral engagement with bilateral vigor’ — integrating China effectively into the international community and allowing it to demonstrate greater responsibility, all while also preparing to deploy force if everything goes wrong.”

What they said: “The business of diplomacy is not just to roll over and have your tummy tickled from time to time by the Chinese or anybody else. The business of diplomacy is to be firm about your national interests and to prosecute them accordingly, as we have done in the past, as I will be doing in the future as Foreign Minister.” — Foreign Affairs Minister Kevin Rudd

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