Thank you so much for head and I’m I’m grateful for the opportunity to say a few words today at this incredibly complex moment I think everyone who serves in positions of responsibility and foreign policy and national security likes to say that their time in the seat is the most complex and difficult of any time in recent history but in in our case it’s actually true so we’ll we’ll just chalk that one up
You know the first two decades of this forum after its founding in 1971 were shaped by the Cold War then after the fall of the Berlin Wall for about 1/4 century the world’s major powers seem to be converging around a single concept of international order we integrated former competitors into our international economic institutions and we bet that this would speed and cement that convergence Today we’re in the early years of a new era major powers are vastly more interdependent than at anytime during the Cold War so word
but we’re also in stiff competition about the type of world we want to build this age is one of disruptive change some of this has been positive as countries find new ways of harnessing technology promoting development and deepening ties with one another but some of this has been negative as dangerous actors test the limits of our ever evolving international system I’ve even heard the occasional comparison to the 1930s but I proceed from the deep conviction that we are never doomed to repeat the past and the passage from one era to another comes with the obligation and the opportunity to choose more wisely and so in the face of naked aggression we are not turning inward under president biden’s leadership we’re rallying a global response to push back we’re pursuing intensive and proactive diplomacy to manage our most consequential relationships we’re investing in the sources of our own national strength and those of our allies and partners we’re not turning away from the international economic system but adapting it to the challenges of today and tomorrow and we’re competing vigorously to shape the future of the international system that’s the broad backdrop and I want to talk with you briefly about these efforts and why I remain optimistic about the future and our ability to meet the main challenge of our time strategic competition in an age of interdependence let me take you back two years ago to this day when Putin had amassed 180,000 soldiers on ukraine’s border surrounding the country on three sides he expected a quick victory that he could send a column of tanks to Kiev and topple the democratic democratically elected government of Ukraine that he could weaken NATO and restore Russia’s sphere of influence but he underestimated the people of Ukraine for two years with support from a coalition of more than fifty partners led by the United states the people of Ukraine have remained unflinching against an adversary with an economy 10 times larger a population three times bigger and a military once ranked as the second best in the world two years later Putin has not only failed in his imperialist quest to subjugate Ukraine his invasion has strengthened Ukrainian sovereignty the very sovereignty he sought to erase and bolstered the very NATO resolve he sought to weaken in fact while he sought to diminish NATO his action grew our ranks instead brave Ukrainian soldiers have retaken more than half of the territory that Russia occupied from the start of this conflict they’ve repulsed Russia’s attempts at an offensive last winter and they’re repulsing one this winter they’ve severely degraded Russia’s Black Sea fleet dramatically increasing ukraine’s exports through the Black Sea they’ve imposed severe costs on the Russian military destroying major capabilities built up over decades and amid all of this Ukraine has made economic reforms strengthened its own defense industrial base and accelerated its integration with the West of course the fight is not over Russia has laid dense minefields across the front lines making it harder for Ukraine to make major territorial gains with China’s help Putin is mobilizing Russia’s defense industrial base putting the country’s economy on a wartime footing and Russia is seeking more weapons from both North Korea and Iran which violates multiple UN Security Council resolutions that Moscow itself voted to put in place
but as president selenski has discussed with president Biden and his secretary blinken and I discussed with him earlier today the people of Ukraine are steeled for the struggle ahead and the United States and our partners will continue to stand with him we’re expanding training for Ukrainian troops we’re working to secure bipartisan support for the necessary resources to supply Ukraine with the weapons it needs we’re ramping up our own defense industrial base while denying Russia access to critical inputs it needs to do the same but we’re also innovating and this is a critical point working with our partners and especially with the private sector to help Ukraine solve the key technological challenges have been evolving battlefield like electronic warfare drones and demining
together we will build on our sanctions to ensure that even as unsustainable war spending masks underlying weakness the economic costs for Russia continue to mount and we will keep supporting ukraine’s diplomatic efforts to secure a just and lasting peace that protects Ukraine sovereignty and territorial integrity in line with the principles of the UN charter because we’ve seen time and time again what happens when aggressors are allowed to take a neighbor’s territory by force and don’t pay a price they keep going we’ve also worked to rally an international response to new aggression in the Middle East in the Red Sea reckless attacks by the Iranian backed houthi rebels including the use of anti ship ballistic missiles have threatened freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways more than fifty nations have been affected in nearly 30 attacks
last week the United States and the United Kingdom with support from Australia Bahrain Canada and the Netherlands struck a number of targets in Yemen used by the houthis to stage and launch these attacks this defensive action followed extensive multinational coordination led by the United states among 44 nations to condemn houthi attacks and also led to a UN Security Council resolution condemning those attacks
we are not looking for regional conflict far from it through a combination of steady deterrence and steadfast diplomacy we seek to stop the spread of conflict and to create the conditions for de escalation our approach is and remains focused on moving towards greater integration and stability in the region
long before October 7 The United states was deeply engaged in an effort to secure a political horizon for the Palestinian people with Israel security guaranteed as part of that we judge the direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians which had fallen short so many times before was unlikely to succeed we determine the best approach was to work towards a package deal that involved normalization between Israel and key Arab states together with meaningful progress in a political horizon for the Palestinian people that was our goal before October 7 and it was our progress toward that goal that Hamas sought to destroy on October seven when they came across the border and Israel viciously massacred people took more than two hostages and then turned and fled hiding behind an innocent civilian population and vowing to commit October 7th again and again that is the reality Israel is contending with a determined terrorist threat that chose as its battlefield the communities of innocent civilians and still to this day holds more than 100 hostages in circumstances that are dire and deteriorate now this does not lessen at all israel’s responsibility to conduct its campaign in a way that upholds international humanitarian law and abides by the moral and strategic necessity to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians every innocent life
Palestinian Israeli everywhere is sacred and deserves to be protected The United states will continue to work that the rest of the world to secure the release of the hostages and to ensure the Palestinian people have access to the food water medicine and safety that they urgently need and deserve as human beings
as we respond to this crisis we are actively pursuing a pathway to normalization and integration with our regional partners there’s a lot to do but we are working together day in and day out to think about what a future can and should look like after the conflict a future where goza is never again used as a platform for terror a future where Israelis and Arabs can live in peace Palestinians have a state of their own and Israel security is assured I know that in this moment where there’s so much anger and pain and so much uncertainty it’s hard to imagine but it really is the only path that provides peace and security for all and what is more it is not impractical it can be done the pieces are there to be put together to achieve this outcome and not years down the road but in the nearer term if all of us pull together and make the wise and bold decisions to choose this course.
Now as we’re dealing with unfolding crises in the Ukraine in the Middle East we’re also managing critical relationships around the world none more critical than the relationship between the United States and China The United states is competing with China across multiple dimensions and we make no bones about that we are not looking for confrontation or conflict and we are seeking to manage that competition responsibly intensifying diplomacy to reduce the risk of miscalculation we saw this just last November when president Biden and President Xi met in Woodside CA they agreed to restart counter narcotics cooperation and since then Beijing has actually taken affirmative steps to halt the flow of precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl progress that we hope and need to see continue we also agreed to resume military to military communications and have already taken steps to do so
the chairman of our Joint Chiefs of staff just spoke with his counterpart for the first time in his job and the first time in quite a long time and this is to the good for our relationship but also for regional and global stability it will help reduce the risk of unintended conflict and together the US and China will launch a new dialogue aimed at minimizing and managing the risks of artificial intelligence
now we are doing all this while at the same time making the investments in ourselves and our partners so that we can continue to compete effectively we’ve revitalized our own industrial and innovation base with historic legislation while seeking to address beijing’s unfair economic practices we’ve energized our alliances and partnerships in the indo Pacific and Europe in ways that were frankly unimaginable a few years ago the the launch of Baucus elevating the quad new agreements Vietnam the Philippines and India a trilateral historic trilateral with Japan and South Korea and two summits with Pacific island states we’ve come together with our G7 partners and agreed on collective steps to de risk our economies and diversify away from strategic dependencies rather than decoupling and together with allies and partners we’ve stressed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait
all the while we’ve been transparent and straightforward about the targeted and narrowly tailored steps we’ve taken to protect critical technologies and I want to spend a minute on this because
technology competition is global in an interdependent world there’s a risk that it could contribute to a broader trend of disintegration that’s why we are working to bring together countries and companies to set high standards for emerging technologies and secure the trusted free flow of data
we’ve also taken steps in partnership with others to protect foundational technologies with what we’ve called a small yard and the high fence today military advantage hinges on access to critical technologies some of which are commercial and dual use like advanced semiconductors
Simply put our strategic competitor should not be able to exploit American technologies to undermine our national security or that of our allies and partners to deal with this we’ve taken steps to regulate specific outbound investments of concern in technology and we’ve implemented carefully tailored restrictions on exports focused on advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools supercomputing capabilities and the most advanced chips which are critical to a range of military platforms including weapons of mass destructions hypersonic missiles and autonomous weapons systems key allies and partners have followed suit acting on their own concerns I want to be clear these tailored measures are not a technology blockade they do not seek to nor in fact do they restrict broader trade and invest and
in fact in our semiconductor a rule that we put out just a few months ago last October there is a broad carve out for commercial chips the kind of chips that can help power economic progress and growth
our goal is to ensure that the next generation of technologies works for not against our security and our democracy now last spring at the Brookings Institution I talked about the work that president Biden was doing to respond to the economic economic challenges that he faced when he took office that in recent decades America had enjoyed solid top line GDP growth but the benefits of that growth were not being broadly shared across America’s middle class that our economic policy was not taking sufficient account of a massive non market economy like China that our approach was not delivering fast enough or ambitiously enough on a clean energy transition and that these problems were not unique to the United states
president Biden entered office with a simple and powerful affirmative answer is not any answer to abandon what it built America into the strongest most innovative economy in the world but rather to rediscover it it starts with investing with returning to an American tradition that runs through
Lincoln’s continental railroad Eisenhower’s highways and Kennedys moon shot and because of that choice today the United states has the strongest recovery and lowest inflation of any leading economy we’ve created nearly 14,000,000 jobs including 750,000 manufacturing jobs across all 50 states
real wages are rising we’ve had 23 straight months of unemployment under 4% for the first time in half a century and
what’s even more compelling in a forum like this our partners have joined us in this journey this time last year there were murmurs that the United states has historic domestic investments would fracture the global economic order and weaken our alliances the reality is that countries around the world want to follow the formula that we’ve developed and will help them in making bold investments building high quality infrastructure empowering workers tackling climate change and
we’ve also been focused on ensuring our approach works for everyone including emerging market and developing countries with our partners we’re mobilizing greater private investment to address development needs to get from the billions being invested today to the trillions that are needed that’s the main goal of the G sevens partnership for global infrastructure and investment or PG I that we’ve launched with our G7 partners last year
it’s signature approach of spurring growth along economic corridors we’re also leading the way on reforming multilateral development banks to provide a viable option for countries to invest in their futures including middle income countries who haven’t had access to the low cost financing they need and deserve
we’re building innovative new international economic partnerships including the indo Pacific economic framework and the Americas partnership for economic prosperity because our fundamental view is that international economic policy needs to be about solving the problems of today not the problems of 50 years ago building resilience in our supply chains mobilizing investment massive investment for an effective clean energy transition ensuring trust and transparency and digital innovation stopping a race to the bottom in corporate taxation tackling corruption and advancing a trade policy that puts the rights and well-being of workers and working families at its core
now is the national security advisor of the United states my job is to worry worry about the things I talked about today and there’s plenty to say grace over there but also worry about other threats too like North Korea but let me close with a couple of thoughts on why I remain optimistic 1st
the more others seek to undermine the international system through violence and coercion the more it brings our allies and partners closer together this is the paradox that leaders like Putin cannot seem to solve
2nd when it comes to world politics people around this planet are much more interested in whether or not their lives are improving than in anyone’s imperial ambition or imperial project so as long as we continue to be focused on offering a global value proposition that delivers for people that is serious about shared economic growth tackling climate change managing new technologies in promoting good governance our model will remain much more attractive globally than that of aggression or coercion or intimidation or confrontation s
o we’re going to stay the course and look to our partners including all of you to continue with us to make clear that violent disruption of the international system will fail to
remain committed to diplomacy which is even more vital as geopolitical tensions rise and to
take steps needed to lead in the sources of technological and economic growth that will be the foundation of success and strength in free societies
nothing in world politics is inevitable we are in command of our own choices so it’s up to us to summon the vision commitment and sense of shared purpose to make the right choices to shape the future for the benefit of our fellow citizens and future generations to come so thank you for giving me the opportunity today and i’m happy to have a conversation.
Question & Answer
Context:
Thank you so much to Jake Sullivan that was an impressive for the horizon and you’re right that’s a year ago many people even here in Davos was expecting the US to be in the recession by now and what we’re seeing is soft landing but the geopolitical  all backdrop is more complex than a year ago and I think many participants and people here are really worried that this will spill into the economic recovery also in a negative way and one of the things that people are very worried about now is of course the site position in the Red Sea maybe you could say a few words about that that
Question:
Do you think this will get better in the coming weeks or do we have to fasten the seat belt and this will be complex in the year to come in the Red Sea
Answer:
well first you know as I said in my speech this goes way beyond being a regional challenge this is a global challenge we’re talking about a vital armor artery of global commerce a critical maritime choke point that’s being held hostage and countries and companies that have nothing to do with Middle East whatsoever or being affected more than 50 nations in nearly 30 attacks and so it’s a it’s a crisis that the whole world needs to respond to and frankly the UN Security Council did come through with a very strong resolution condemning these attacks and calling for the houthis to stop
now we mobilized a coalition of countries to take strikes to degrade the houthis capabilities so their ability to mount sustained and complex attacks becomes more difficult over time but we did not say when we launched our attacks they’re going to end once and for all who these will be fully deterred we anticipated that these would continue to try to hold this critical artery at risk and we continue to reserve the right to take further action but this needs to be an all hands on deck effort and frankly the answer to your question about how long this goes on and how bad it gets comes down not just to the decisions of the countries and the coalition that took strikes last week but the broad set of countries including those with influence in Tehran and influence in other capitals in the Middle East making this a priority to indicate that the entire world rejects wholesale the idea that a group like the houthis can basically hijack the world as they are doing and so we want to work with countries across the board countries who are allies and partners countries who are not in the common interest to get this to stop
Question:
so after 7th of October and the the war in Gaza there’s been increasing then worries about an escalation of the war but then it did not take place Lebanon was not part of the war with that did not see a major reaction from ebola you think it’s still will be contained of course this booty a situation is complicating it but it’s not the full scale escalation that will have major impact on the world economy look
Anwser:
the risk was real from October 7th and the risk remains real today and that’s why in the immediate aftermath of October 7th president Biden mobilized and lightning speed to move U.S. military assets to increase deterrence in the region to send a clear message to actors who might want to exploit the situation and we continue to be focused on that but we do see a pathway to a shift in the military campaign in Gaza a reduction in tensions and the exchange of fire along israel’s northern border it reduction in the risk of escalation in other parts of the region and we’ll have to continue to deal with with the houthi threat we see a pathway we are eagerly working with partners throughout the region to try to pursue that pathway but in the meantime we have to guard against and be vigilant against the possibility that in fact rather than heading towards de escalation we are on a path of escalation that we have to manage and we are doing this not just by ourselves but with a large collection of countries both in the region and beyond and it remains a central locus of our strategy try to ensure that we manage escalation across the Middle East to the maximum extent possible taking every possible measure that we can in that regard and ultimately get on a path of diplomacy and the escalation
Question:
coming back to Gaza the last year’s there has not been that much focus on the two state solution definitely not from the Israeli government but the pressure on the international community hasn’t been that much earlier other topics that have been at the top of the agenda I think now there is more focus on finding a reliable a future solution for A2 state Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully next to each other but when you have been to Jerusalem and president Biden also has his discussions with Netanyahu do you feel there is any genuine interest on the Israeli side to pursue also part process the two state solution or is it a very lonely thing to do you you feel that you have to to push and there is is no will response
Answer:
well first you know at the start of your question your premise was that nobody was really focused on 2 state solution on the Palestinian question before October 7th and I I do take some exception to that particularly given the fact that a central diplomatic initiative of the Biden administration was to try try to generate normalization and is a critical element of a normalization package generate both tangible benefits for the Palestinian people and a political horizon towards two States and
it was our judgment that that was going to be the most viable pathway to make progress on what had been an intractable problem that going for another round of direct negotiations wasn’t going to do it so coming in this more indirect way was most likely to generate this result and in fact earlier last year in 2023 I actually went to Ramallah sat with president Abbas and talked through this play you know long before October 7th took place
now this strategy post October 7th does not deviate very much from that we still want to see normalization tied to a political horizon for the Palestinian people the current Israeli government has expressed quite strong views publicly about the Palestinian question and there are elements and voices in that government that actually the US government has come out quite strongly and criticized for certain statements and stances that they’ve taken but ultimately you know the Israeli government will have to make its choice about how best to guarantee and ensure the security of the state of Israel and it is president biden’s firm conviction that the best way to do that is to states with israel’s security guarantee
Context/Clarification
So what you’re saying is that the follow up of the Abraham accords was to bring in if we were to bring in Saudi Arabia and that it would have been also the basis for that would have to be a political solution also where Israel would have to move on the two state solution
yes in fact when president Biden and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke in the weeks and months leading up to October 7th this was a key topic of discussion how where do the Palestinians fit into a broader vision for israel’s integration into the region and normalization with Arab states
that would also mean as according to the IRB peace plan that the Arabs would also then together guarantee peace and safety for for Israel if there is a two state solution and that was we’re serious discussions around this you felt but that has no not continued after 7th of October
no in fact what I’m saying is that the basic recipe which is peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors A2 state solution with Israel security guarantee these pieces are not you know in a way operating in completely separate spheres they are linked and connected they were before October 7th they were naming today and there’s something that we’re going to have to continue to work
Question:
we had the president Solinsky sitting in that chair just a couple of hours ago and he of course urges all to continue the support financially but also militarily AU is currently not in a situation where they can continue but you should have underline has underlined that she’s working on it and it’s questionable weeks I think is the same in the US currently I think the White House announced in the weekend that’s the support had to stop for the moment but I think you’re working on the political solution so maybe comment on that and the second thing is that he’s also asking for more advanced weapons and missiles and so following the recent attacks from Russia hitting more and more civilians and we’re seeing really really all this suffering is that something that you’re contemplating even bringing more advanced weapons in there with with allies
secretary blinken and I had the opportunity to meet with president solinsky this morning and and talk about the battlefield and talk about various capabilities we had very good discussion I will leave it at that it’s best left behind closed doors at the moment but it was a a robust and detailed
it was a good discussion I guess you were discussing this thing too though again
Answer:
As I said I will I will leave that behind closed doors what I will say is that we’ve got to be able to deliver the necessary resources to Ukraine for the weapons that it needs to be able to achieve the results that it needs and that requires mobilizing the bipartisan support we have in both the House and Senate converting that into actual votes for the money president Biden is absolutely laser focused on that that we are seeking to get that done in the coming weeks and in fact I continue to believe and express confidence that we will you know after a lot of twists and turns ultimately get there I have held that confidence from the beginning I continue to hold that confidence today.
 to that last question we had an order offer the Cold War the Cold War post Cold War order that was based on rule of law acceptance of the UN charter and that order seems to know know not be the order anymore we are on the way to a new order so we are between orders do you agree with that or are there ways of what are we able to keep on the positive side from the old order to bring into a new one other order and how can they avoid that that new world order becomes like a jungle growing back and we rather have order based on international law and principles that have brought us prosperity and their freedom for decades
Answer:
I guess and maybe this is the the old kind of teacher me coming out I think of this a little bit more about a transition of eras rather than a transition of orders but the two are kind of cousins of one another the reason I draw the distinction is because I don’t think the international order built after 1945 is getting replaced wholesale with some new order it will obviously evolve as it as it has evolved multiple times over the decades since 1945
but I do think in a in a more sharpened distinctive way we are moving into a new era and that’s what I talked about in my remarks that we are you know the post Cold War era has come to a close we’re at the start of something new we have the capacity to shape what that looks like and at the heart of it will be many of the core principles and core institutions of the existing order adapted for the challenges that we face today and that’s a lot of what I tried to lay out in my remarks some of that goes to geopolitics and showing that crime doesn’t pay
…that is you will pay a serious price for the kind of aggression we’ve seen from the likes of Russia and part of it’s about geoeconomics and how we build or update the international economic order in ways that address the needs of working people address the climate crisis address the reality of this major non market economy the the PRC and and then part of that also is about giving greater voice to countries that did not have that voice back after 1945 but deserve it today adding the African Union just this year to the G20 is a good example of that but there are many others as well but
yes I believe we’ve entered a new era I think that era is marked by a simple kind thing to say but a very complex reality which is strategic competition in an age of interdependence the major powers are deeply interdependent they are also competitive and that creates the world we’re operating in for the United states what does that mean at essence it means investing ourselves in an invest in our allies so we can compete effectively but also so we can rally solutions to the world’s problems that affect all of us friends as well as competitors thank you
Question:
more multipolar world but the multi-polar world without multilateralism multilateralism and law international law is is a very dangerous situation we try that in Europe you know before the First World War
Response:
well I think there’s no reason why we cannot generate global problem solving at scale on the big challenges that we face today we didn’t do so with the COVID pandemic but that could teach us a lot of lessons for how we do so going forward on both longer term crises that have become increasingly urgent with every passing year like climate change and urgent crises like what is happening in the Middle East right now and I started and finished my speech with optimism because I think we ourselves have the capacity to decide whether we step up to do this we have the tools to do it the question is are we prepared to put those to work that is a question of political will within our countries and then across our countries and those who are working to summon that political will need to band together to try to produce the common coherent response to the great challenges that we face in 2024 thank you very much to jake sullivan