we will be coming out with an audit ddealing with that. that will be coming out. we will come out with the final report of what we call the 60 4k __ the 64,000 square_foot headquarters that was built, and never used. it will probably have to be destroyed. we will identify who was responsible for that. even though the local marine commander totally opposed it. he said it shouldn't be built. his superiors supported him. somehow, it was overruled here in washington. we have a number of reports coming out. stay tuned. host: john sopko. we appreciate it.

that will be our show for today. we will take you live to the center for strategic and international studies. the program is about to begin. what congress must do to sustain our position across the pacific. ok

`no audio+ >> good morning. happy new year. happy year of the sheep. i am mike green. thank you for coming. tomorrow, congress comes into session. we face a new world in washington. a republican congress. democratic presidents.

so far, on issues from immigration to cuba policy, there are signs that the new congress and the white house will be colliding __ politically and on policy. what we want to do today is spotlight one area where bipartisan cooperation __ forming an agenda to move forward __ is not only possible but necessary. that is on policy towards the asia_pacific region. in washington, it is probably one of the areas of most bipartisan collaboration. we want to spotlight issues, and actions that members of congress can do to move forward. a majority of americans

consider asia to be the most important region in the world to u. s. interests. we have done polls __ support for the rebalancing of asia has over 90% favorable ratings. that means a lot of republicans are behind the idea of focusing more on the asia_pacific. it also shows that within the region, while there is robust support outside of china, there's questions as to whether he can be sustained. but showed up in our survey last spring. we hear increasingly __ because of the divided government in this town __ the present is constrained. we think it is critical and practical that the white house, and the leadership in the congress, chart a common course on asia.

we've had a series of dinners and roundtables as we thought about this agenda. it seems clear to us that there is a lot of room to move forward. the report outlines specific actions on china __ defense policy in asia. this was internally funded and generated. we did it on our own research budgets. we do on asia expertise that we have here at csis. it runs the gamut as far as policy background. all __ on my far left is our chair, chris johnson, scott miller, victor cha, matt

goodman, bonnie glaser, rick rosso, ernie bower. we also want to introduce one new member of the team __ scott kennedy. he will be joining us starting this week to work on the chinese economy. a terrific addition for us. i will summarize the points from the report for you. then, in the questions, i will let my colleagues to elaborate on the different portions that they wrote. let me begin with trade. i think most of us would agree that in the coming two years, perhaps the most important thing the united states can do to cement our long_term engagement in the pacific region, is complete negotiations on the transpacific partnership.

our report recommends that the president follow up on statements that he made in december at the business roundtable. he stated that he was ready to move forward with tpp, in spite of opposition from some of his own political base. that will continue. all of the history of trade negotiations in washington suggest that unless you have a high level argument for the public, it cannot be made. the window is narrow. most people think an agreement can't be reached __ especially with japan. in japan, we are talking about economically insignificant areas of liberalization. politically charged.

with japan, we can break through and move forward with other participants in negotiation. in japan, 95% of the tpp chapters __ we have a common view. this is critical. to do that, some move on trade authorities is critical to move this through. tpp started in the bush administration, it expanded to more countries. it will really be the defining element of the obama administration. senator mcconnell has said that this is one area where potentially the white house and congress can work together well. republicans are strong components __ proponents for

free trade. a major redefinition of u. s. china relations __ there are some stabilizing elements that we think the administration needs to follow through on. in particular, the confidence building measures. we're disagreeing with china on new institutions in asia. at the end of the day, china will be in the game of development, and the recommendation from our report is to find a way to align ourselves. make sure the institution is aligned with pre_existing

banks, like the world bank. the other aspect is __ the importance of maintaining clear lines with beijing. we do have problems, and they must be managed skillfully. one problem is in the domestic economy. china, in the last few years, has seen the investors in the chinese economy as the dealers, and china holds the cards. that is not necessarily the case. they need to be some disciplining. the report argues putting more energy __ on the policy that i took the lead on, we have three basic recommendations.

first, we have argued for some time for the administration to produce a strategic report. this was done by secretary cheney in 1990 and 19 82. it was also done in 1995 and 1998. the idea of shifting u. s. resources, it is critical to pay out for congress, the public, and the region, the objective of u. s. strategy. the president has given speeches. we have done a piece in the washington quarterly that analyzes those speeches. in every speeches, the priority is listed for rebalancing. congress is a bit confused.

it will be important, we think, that there be a strategic report clarifying the parties. in exchange, congress has its work to do. in particular, a critical part is realigning u. s. forces. dispersing forces, not just in northwest asia, but in south asia. much of the cost of this realignment is being borne by her friends and allies. the u. s. have to pay for the new facilities as well, particularly in guam. we think it is time to move forward to demonstrate our intent. finally, this is the hardest one on defense __ we're coming down to crunch time over the next two years. at the current rate of defense

cuts, we will start facing choices. do we invest in new capabilities to counter missile threats, cyber threats, especially in the western pacific? or, do we sustain our traditional platforms like aircraft carriers __ to demonstrate american commitment and presents? the answer is, we do both. but, we will have to choose. sequestration is a large part of the problem. one way out of sequestration would be for congress to pass a nonbinding budget resolution that sets budget spending above sequestration. it would lay the groundwork for

increased defense spending, and the reconciliation process. this could be defined based on revenue, or the demand on u. s. forces in the pacific. on korea, you will all want to know about "the interview" and sony. the korea piece of this is that we will continue have to enhance cyber capabilities, as well as missile defense capabilities. this is a sensitive subject in korea, but one we have to move forward on. we argue that given the movement on condemning north korean human rights violations

__ human rights should be a more central part of u. s. policy towards north korea. an area where congress is likely to be very supportive. this one is hard, but is imperative for the united states to work on improving japan korean relations. they are strained for reasons that are complex, and have more to do with identity, and politics. but it actually competent are foreign_policy. the administration has signaled that there will be a trilateral information sharing agreement. korea has information sharing agreements with 25 countries, but not japan. on india, india's part of the overall fabric of the strategic equilibrium in the pacific region. under the prime minister, there is potential for change. but it is unclear how much

change. defense is one of the most promising areas with the new government. it is recommended as carter be advised quickly. congress can do its part. more broadly, congress. should be engaging in india on the economy, more economic reform should be coming. we have had coordination on afghanistan, and east asia. we need to energize that. finally, south east asia, an

area where our invitations very active. some challenges are ahead. 2050 elections coming __ 2015 elections coming up in burma. more needs to be done with the leader in jakarta, indonesia. it is time for president obama to go to vietnam. it is not easy because of human rights concerns. but it is critical. it is possible to engage strategically, and address concerns. we need to support countries like the philippines, who are pursuing legal means through the tribunal to address china's claim that the nine dash line

defines the border. my colleagues can elaborate. we think it is practical, consistent with white leaders have said they want to do, and what the american public wants. let me open it up to questions. we started the new year hopeful. we think this agenda is realistic. we hope you will help us, and keep both sides of this town interested. thank you. please raise your hand. we have microphones. we can get you quickly, if you question, or recommendation. please.

>> i am formally of osd. would you suggest stretching sequestration for defense. i hope you also support keeping 50_50 relations. do you have a position on that? >> i will speak only for myself. that is resolved is beyond my prints -- pr and my pay grade. what we are trying to say is that the resource problem is acute. one of the big changes that is

critical. it is critical enough that congress should table it. if the answer is a 50-50 split, no one on this panel should object to that. >> i have two questions at first. there is more preparation on the chinese side if there is a collapse in north korea. they would be more willing to accommodate possible unification in the future for the korean people. the second question, with the election just included last november in taiwan, do you feel

like these issues will be a new concern for the u.s.? what do you think about the role of the president? will there be an indication -- implication for domestic politics? thanks. >> thank you for the question, not yet. i do think that this is a potential that these relations will reemerge on the agenda for a number of countries, including the united states. it will mostly be a year of stagnation. the potential of reignited tensions comes potentially after the elections in january of 2016. the united states will be in close consultation and should be

with both of the parties in taiwan. particularly with the dpp. there is still a lot more that can be done in this time to bolster u.s. taiwan information -- relations. it is especially important as we deal with this coming uncertainty. taiwan, as you know, recently announced it would be building its own submarines. i think that the united states should be bolstering the time when he is continuing participation in the international community. in the run-up to the selection in taiwan it is important for the united states, as i said, to maintain consultation and talk to beijing so that china does not overreact to the potential election of the president.

at the same time i would say that the united states should remain neutral. >> i wanted to say something as well. my sense is that the chinese have a lot of indigestion when it comes to north korea. it is not and also yet certainly sour stomach, i don't think that has changed. i don't to get has changed over the past quarter and it won't over the next quarter. south koreans have been quite aggressive in trying to develop a strategic understanding with beijing and their government on north korea. it is one of the reasons i think the population has been so enthusiastic about holding as many meetings and creating as

many ties and defense exchanges as they can to try to deepen that understanding. we saw that they announced the plans for a free trade agreement , another sign that korea is trying to step into a space that they see opening up. in the sense that they are angry with japan, they are trying to draw closer to china. that does not mean that the chinese don't see it that way. they see it as an opportunity to pull them out of the three-way alliance. in that sense they feel that they are winning and again that they are playing. the reality is probably that neither of them are winning, but they are inching closer to their desired objective.

>> i would agree with that. as we have spoken about collectively, my own view is that a lot of ink has been spilled about the issue of how they change their policy. we would all agree that at a fundamental level there -- they are still the lifeline that keeps the north koreans going in there is substantial indigestion and it is headed more towards an ulcer at this stage. the chinese approach will be to deny kim jong-un a visit to beijing, which is significant. i don't see any chinese leaders going to north korea either. the issue for me is not really about change, it is about the normalization of the relationship. they have clearly sent a signal that the relations will not be a special relationship, like they have been from before the korean

war, but rather a state to state relationship in which the chinese take a senior role and we of the senior partner in this relationship. that north korea should in a perfect world a line with our interest or at least don't make trouble for us. we are going to continue to see this slow boil on taiwan. i agree with everything that bonnie said. it is a problem that the u.s. government in particular had better start focusing on because my sense is that this issue will be back on the agenda. i agree that we should be doing everything we can to calm down concerns about a possible victory but at some level i don't think the chinese will be able to help them selves in that regard. what will be interesting is to look historically, fair to say that the chinese made a deliberate decision to forgo their interests and focus on the

back burner. when the president came in they were able to put that up again and look and see what they were doing down there. should we have another turn in relations it will be interesting to see the impact that it has on south china and east china sea issues as well. >> in my personal view, i spent many hours with president chen. he and his family suffered a lot in the process of democratization. i think he suffered enough for what he did wrong during his time in the presidency. in the interest of democracy in taiwan, i think it is important for a new era where changes in government to the democratic process are not followed by vindictive actions. you know, the president was found guilty under due process. i am not saying that there was not due process.

but i think that there is something useful in a magnanimous or forgiving view after a certain. of paying the debt back to society for the long-term democracy of the time when he's. on the election, i think it will be important for the administration to be very disciplined. i was personally disappointed to read the story from the financial times from the last presidential election, which appeared to be that the administration hit against a penguin. it may not have been, but i think it will be important going forward to put as a first and foremost priority for u.s. policy, respect for the time when he's democratic process. there are ways to signal expectations with respect to those relations between washington and taipei. some private, maybe some public. but i think the administration

needs to be more careful it was last time, which is not easy. the taiwanese democratic politics are not for the faint of heart. there is lots of stuff flying in the air. literally there is a lot of stuff flying around in the air in the oi and in the congress. i think that the administration has got to be very disciplined this time. it is important for our overall stance in the region. >> where are our microphone experts? andrew? there we go. >> hello. first of all, thank you very much for the attempt at maintaining a bipartisan approach. my question on japan detailing the previous relationship we obviously have a three-year mandate that raises risks and opportunities. pacing issues in oconomowoc become more complicated with the politics there.

on this anniversary of the second world war it raises history issues, which is a problematic thing. what are your thoughts on managing japanese u.s. relations? >> matt has graciously asked me to do the history lesson and will address things that involve numbers. although history doesn't involve numbers, as you said it is the 70th anniversary and it is the anniversary of many other things. i took some encouragement from the new year's address on this issue where he said what i believe was the case all along that he will keep the previous apologies from the former prime minister, adding in his own statement of remorse. the model that i hear about the most as well is the speech that everyone should read if you are interested in japan, it was an emotional and forthcoming

disposition by the prime minister before the australian parliament on what japan did to australia. very emotional. very important for u.s. -- excuse me, japanese strategic ties. i think that the lesson that people around the prime minister take away around that anniversary, oconomowoc will be harder after the gubernatorial election. i am personally not convinced the new government wants this to be the defining issue for the prefect that has some economic challenges, but it is going to be harder. that is one of the reasons why i think it is important for congress to begin funding some of the military construction and guam. aligning our forces more geographically and politically in a sustainable way.

>> this is obviously a report with recommendations for the u.s. side of the story. as the economic sky it is hard not to say from a japanese respected that the most important and they could do, the thing that they could do that would have the greatest return on investment would be to get the transpacific partnership done, meaning agreeing to as mike said, we are very close on the substance, the u.s. and japan need to reach an agreement on the final details. more than any other thing that he is trying to do in the economic sphere, this would have a very powerful impact on japanese economic prospects, their strategic position and u.s. economic relations. this is the thing they should be most focused on in the near term . the iron is hottest in the fire right now, so if we could strike a deal quickly later this month,

i very much hope and don't see why they should not be able to reach an agreement and if he is serious about economics being at the center of his agenda, if president obama is serious about tdp being a critical part of his legacy, i would hope and expect that they would reach agreement in the first part of this year. >> priestly, the magic bullet, so to speak, will be when -- until now every free trade agreement we have done, as scott has explained, has been preceded by the trade promotion authority . with one small exception. jordan right after 9/11, which is really not -- you know unique case. they decided this time to move ppa and ppt in parallel.

it is asking a lot of our trade partners to trust us and give us their best deals. there are not many big issues left, but the ones that are there are stuck on this issue politically in japan. my sense of the magic bullet would be that the president's initial folly in early december with the business roundtable is to follow it up with more engagement. in tokyo that is not just from the administration. it is when they start hearing from the republican congress that they can get this done that i think that the bilateral negotiations will be much, much more easy. that is why scott and matt emphasize in this report how important is to sustain a high emphasis on campaign with the american public.

also with key interest troops and the american public, as well as the congress. >> way in the back with the red dress. >> thank you. i have two questions concerning china. i have been reading an article saying that china is having a big diplomatic shift. they also gave priority to neighboring countries. the question is -- how will that affect the european situation? china is now also pivoting to asia. the second question about the chinese vice premier's recent comments -- i could not remember the exact words, but it was to the effect that they are still the leaders of the world. thank you. >> thank you for the question.

the big diplomatic shift and change in the policy was evident in the recent speech to the so-called central foreign affairs work congress. in that speech and the subsequent things we have seen, it is a reaffirmation of this notion that china has decided to take a much more forward leaning approach to its foreign policy a more multidirectional foreign policy. it was interesting in the speech that in terms of the batting order, he chose to put what they called a referral or neighboring diplomacy ahead of major country relations, like u.s. china relations. we have spoken to a lot of chinese interlocutors who say that these things get done deliberately, generally, within their system. we mentioned this in the report, for our own administration and

congress. for athey talk a lot about the economic leverage in the region. they need to acknowledge the shift and see that it is a major change in the way that they approach things. we collectively, would like to see them respond more strongly. pursuing things like the bilateral investment treaty. inside the system as well now like a foreign ministry, not playing the roles that they did under that administration. taking the full scope of how to

take this into account is going to be critical. is interesting that someone at his level chose to do so, but i did not find it surprising. >> let me just have a couple of things added to chris's remarks. the recent conference does signal a number of more proactive foreign policy actions with the claiming, of course, the china is now going to have a great power, that major countries have the same characters with the great power of foreign policy with special characteristics. the question remains, i think as to whether putting the periphery at the top really

means a recognition of deterioration of the chinese relationship with the neighborhood and, therefore, leading to an adjustment in chinese foreign policy going forward. if that is the case, what is the adjustment? so far we are seeing the chinese emphasis on economic integration and trying to give the neighbors economic incentives, to connect them through these 21st-century maritime silk roads. and the economic -- their traditional economics in an attempt to try to bind them or to their own chinese development. intern to assist of the chinese development. this is not just about giving this is about getting. this is what china means about a win-win approach. the jury is still out as to whether or not we will see a reduction in some of china's more provocative policies.

particularly in the territorial disputes. i think that that is naturally what the united states is particularly concerned about. we certainly don't want to see continued intimidation of chinese neighbors. i would agree with chris, it has been said before that china does not want to push the united states out of the region, but i think it is important at this juncture for a leader at that level to be saying -- not only that the u.s. remains the main core superpower in the world but that china wants to integrate itself into the prevailing international system. now, the devil is in the details. as mike talked about earlier the asian infrastructure investment bank will be a critical test of whether or not china is really going to adopt the rules and norms that have been developed over the course of many years by major international donors. but i think that the statement

itself is important and we should watch out for china's behavior. >> bernard university of new hampshire. i want to return to ttp on the japanese side and with regards to china. matt and mike, you are very optimistic in terms of what is needed for the united states. but there is some talk in tokyo that the prime minister cannot go forward until the upper house elections later this spring. is your view that that is realistic? or is it more of a block than is realistic to think about? secondly, in terms of china one year ago at this time there was much consideration in beijing about possibly joining tpp. governor huntsman has resurrected the issue, as have others. can both of you speak to that

point? on the chinese side and whether in japan there is as much concern as we say that there needs to be? >> i am sure that others will have more to say. there is always another election in japan. you know, i don't think that that should be -- and i don't think that it is -- an obstacle to him -- an obstacle to japan moving forward. with a little bit of political capital on his side, and i do think that in the scheme of things it is not a huge amount of political capital to invest in this decision, in the scheme of things. he could get this done. there will be another election. but he made the decision to join ahead of an upper house election against the odds. that required quite a bit of political capital.

i actually think that with this new mandate in his focus on economics as the right and only course for japan, the iron is hot and it is time to strike. by the way, since i now have a chance to affirm what mike said, i certainly understand that we need to do more and the president certainly needs to do more to continue to show that we are willing to move forward on trade authority to get our end of the bargain done. i will offer my two cents on china, which is that eventually their strategy is to pull china into the rules-based system in asia and it is the vehicle for doing that. when japan joined last year -- sorry, the year before -- it really sent a message to beijing, you saw it as a conversation changing in beijing . as to whether they are ready to join in the short term?

that did not occur to me. but it certainly got their attention and i think they & and agree that they need to be a part of this system of rules that is being negotiated. i would've -- i would expect that eventually they would join something in the region based, i think, on a tpp agreement going forward, perhaps called something different. >> i would agree with matt. a 12% negotiation like this, someone is always holding an election. these things happen. more importantly, we have our own work to do. since the election our own leaders, the president, speaker boehner, the chairman, they have all said the right things. what matters now is what they do, right? it is a fairly tricky process. particularly for the president who will need to manage his own party politics which is

complicated and difficult. it can certainly be done. the model is the trade act of 1988, which took about five months start to finish you had the divided government with a republican president in the last year of his term and a democratic congress. these things can be done. it will take time and we will really need to see the action happen. it will be interesting. the second question about china joining, matt i don't know if they will join as it exists or if it will be something else but i notice that the meetings an interesting conversation begins with the chinese initiative of discussing -- what is the sort of future of asia-pacific trade after the completion of the agreement and tpp where the u.s. is a party in china is not? constructive

discussions, certainly from a commercial standpoint they are fairly obvious, but i would note a genuine interest on the part of the chinese. >> the front? thank you. i would be interested in the team reflection and reactions to the question of wildcards. thing me -- things you have not thought of that might come from outside the united states. let me just suggest, the president may need to decide on keystone. and he says no, that might mean problems for canada. watching canada, that creates an issue for america's closest ally. the second issue, of course, with climate talks relating to energy, where do they get their energy? paris.

the u.s. and china making a deal that might put some pressure on india and australia. in a situation where there was something a little bit more important as far as intellectual properties and indiscreet e-mails, or even creating a fiscal attack traceable somewhere, what happens? clearly there are various people in discussions about how the internet should be governed. in the end -- india and china seem to be redefining multiple stakeholders. the third issue, the middle east and europe, there are issues on asia's energy supply. or if russia starts to get aggressive and creates problems for the world is trying to figure out what to do with russia and china and they might not agree. are there others that you have thought of or perhaps are going

to write about? thank you. >> while my colleagues think about this, let me use your question to make a shameless plug. every genuine or a dash for the last few january's -- we have all gathered here to do an exercise that we call asia forecasting. we are scheduling that for january 29. you are all welcome to join us. we arm the audience with clickers and it is basically the panel versus the audience protecting what will happen in 2015. no one wins or loses, it is only january. but this year we will spread ourselves into two groups. one group will look at geo strategy alignments. what will happen to japan and korea? u.s. and india? we will start to make projections about the chessboard

of asia. the second panel will start protecting, or handicapping, the prospects of regional reform in india and japan and so forth. china, wars. you are all welcome to join. we put the questions up, we asked the audience, we debate. you gave me a good idea for a wildcard session. it might take some time for people to put up their wildcard so that we can comment on them, but please join us. in terms of wildcards, north korea is always a big one. especially since they are probably prepared for another nuclear test and do not let crises go without a chance to escalate them. you are right to mention the middle east, which will exacerbate problems in the first -- in the pacific. is about where the carrier battle groups and the marines spend their time as they stretch

to southwest asia. these can all affect asia. historically the last two years of administration on asia are often not good. george herbert walker bush, some of you recall, had a fairly unfortunate visit to japan. some of you may have been on the trip. it culminated with him vomiting on the prime minister. bill clinton, bill clinton in his last two years have the famous japan passing where he traveled to china. thankfully, the george w. bush administration broke for a deal with north korea. in all three cases, the problem was political bandwidth at home. you know, when you are in your final years, it gets pretty

tired. a lot of the strategy that you started the administration with her gone. talent comes in, but you spend a lot more time dealing with the race to succeed you. these wildcards can have an even bigger impact in the last two years of and ministration. i filibustered enough so that we can hear a few more. >> we talked about the report, it was south asia related. you mentioned energy and oil prices spiraling down in a couple of ways. one, if the india import bill drops dramatically, which is expected, they did put up a lot of trade measures over the last couple of years. there might be reduce pressure to put up some of these barriers to slow down these bills. on the downside it also means that the impetus behind economic reform in india, which narendra modi was partially elected on, i

could hamper the economy. there is also the u.s. changing presence in afghanistan. if not even as a result of that but if you see increased terror attacks on india, the perception right now is that reduced presences will change the role in india. it is directly related to whether or not there will be that perception. we did talk about needing to collaborate with india on afghanistan. that they have not been meeting as often as they should. the last one in south asia is pakistan. i just did a lecture tour across india where i continue to press on -- why does america continue to support the government of pakistan? i pointed out that six months ago or longer, they were successful and sustained against insurgents on their territory and that has only escalated.

in u.s. india relations, it is a straight trend. if they are successful in their own domestic war on terror, the united states would want to support that, which by its nature would push us a bit away from india. i don't think that anyone would call afghanistan a wildcard, it is clearly one of the biggest issues in foreign policy this year. >> everyday is just boring. we never know what to expect. i think that southeast asia will surprise us this year. i would love to thailand. thailand is a powder keg politically. the government there the military government has said that they cannot do elections this year like they had hoped to

do and that they will probably do them in 2016. i personally believe that they will not do them until there are other events that we can talk about probably not on tv happen. the economy is not performing at the level that it shouldn't. when the business community turns against the government for starts to have stories about it, we should be watching for some political developments in thailand. i think they will assert themselves much more seriously into foreign affairs and security issues than we thought. i think that that will have an impact on southeast asia. the last one is the arbitration tribunal. the decision could come out this

year, maybe early 2016. you know, i think that the way that china react to that decision and the way that other countries respond will be something that we should try not to be surprised by. that is why i reflected that in the report, as we should be working the traps so that we are not surprised. >> foreign policy has historically been not partisan but highly divisive. she had good meetings with the president, good meetings with senator mcconnell. is that bipartisanship and cross

governmental consensus, is that in jeopardy? >> the answer is, i don't know. the most interested guy on the hill is now the leader of the senate. he has been a close follower of the developments there. over the last six months of last year, as myanmar -- and this is not surprising, if we watch history, when reform movement it announced and start to move forward, the governing body can also start to pull back. this is the one step forward two steps back dance that we have seen in many places. republicans on the hill have in particular expressed real concerns about this.

there has been accelerating expectation that we are concerned about on the hill that of these elections thick lace new might have to take action against myanmar. that really puts a lot of risk on the table and turned to the obama administrations for -- foreign policy plans. part of what i think the obama administration felt good about accomplishing was moving forward with the engagement and one of the key ingredients of that being able to move forward was sitting down with all 10 leaders and foreign ministers, which was predicated on normalizing and opening relations with myanmar. so mike, i am not sure that it is bipartisan.

i think that the administration has played a responsible role in here. our former csi actor obviously has his act together. hey, derek. but i think that the administration really needs to work hard on the hill to make sure that they are not sort of unrealistic in their expectations and that we do have a very nuanced and effective advocacy for human rights in myanmar. if we do not lead with those points, we will lose ground in asia. making one point that i think is important here, trends that are important in asia and across asia, southeast asia is a leading trend for the growing middle class, growing from 500 million people today to 3.2 billion across the pacific by

2025. that middle class, you can see them sort of putting their issues forward in southeast asia, which they are doing through elections and that is positive, but they are challenging the role of traditional sort of centrally controlled governments, asking for more transparency and more involvement. this is a term that will affect all of asia over time. >> thank you all for coming. we are looking at two years where relations across the pacific are hitting some really critical turning points on the korean peninsula. precisely when washington is entering into what will likely be one of the most divisive and contested times of our recent political history. we are making an appeal. the hope that you all agree. every piece of this report contains the hope that we should be working together to keep our

interests in asia and our success over several administrations moving forward. if you look at what -- look at what we are talking about with these policies, a lot of them go back to clinton. there is an awful lot of continuity here from both parties. we are hoping that people keep that history in mind and our interests moving forward together. thank you all, have a happy new year. we hope to see you on the 29th. thanks. [captions copyright national [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is

>> coming up, and c_span will take you live to the first white house briefing with press secretary josh earnest. that will be live about 1:00 pm. we will see tomorrow the swearing in of members for the 114th congress. you want to live on c_span. the senate live on c_span2. track the gop as it leads on capitol hill. have your say, as evans unfold. one of the new members coming to the hill today is a new york congresswoman. at 32 years old, she is the youngest member of congress.

the average age is 57. the oldest is 57, john conyers. he will be the dean of the house. congressman conyers sat down recently with c_span. >> joining us is the incoming dean of the house, john conyers of michigan. >> top of the morning to you. >> could you tell folks how one becomes the dean of the house? >> the first requirement is longevity. the dean of the house is the longest_serving member in the house of representatives. he has the distinct honor on opening day, january 6, to

swear in the incoming speaker of the house __ a constitutional office. even though the present speaker of the house will be the same, he will still have to be sworn in again. that is where i come in. >> you will do the job today. tell us a little bit about longevity. you come in this position taking over from rep. bingle. talk about taking over for him. >> not only is he a fellow michigander, his father and my father were good friends. he and i are good friends. he was once my congressman.

i have been talking with him about this job, and the important duty, of course on opening day where we swear in the incoming speaker of the house for the next session. i'm looking forward to it. >> so you been talking to him about the job. what kind of advice has he given you? >> he has given me some good advice. stay calm. get your swearing in statement together.

>> you become the first african_american to assume this position. what does that mean to you? >> i think it is a high honor. under any circumstances. it is even more significant that of all the members of congress, i am now the longest_serving, and the first african_american to hold that rank. i value it. i'm very proud of it. >> with the new platform as dean, even after you do the ceremonial aspects, do you use your platform to talk about race issues, other issues? >> absolutely. the dean of the house has a special recognition. it gives a little more added authority to the positions that i take. i will be very carefully

assessing what i say, and what positions i advocate as the new dean of the house. i follow a very distinguished member of congress, who was the dean for a long time himself. he is stepping down. of course, his wife is replacing him. debbie bingle, we are looking forward to working with her. >> as you become dean, do you get any privileges with that? better office space? how does that work? >> we had been looking to see if there are any perks laying around. guess what, we have not found one. >> but you are the longest_serving member now. with his freshman class coming

in __ what advice would you give them? >> i would advise them to be very careful and thoughtful about the votes of the cast. they want to realize that every vote they cast becomes a part of our congressional history. we do not want them to get into a mood in which they will be saying later on that they were sorry. that they were running in a direction that they didn't mean to support. >> joining us, the longest

serving member of congress, the dean of the house of representatives. rep. john conyers of michigan. >> it is a pleasure being with you. happy new year. >> as the oldest member, john conyers becomes dean tomorrow, representative member conyers replaces bingles. about six years ago, richard garriott traveled to a russian space station. he returned to earth 12 days later. he is a computer game developer. he became the first american to become a second generation space traveler. >> richard is a very key player here. he is only man on our board of

directors who has been to space. as far as credentials, i would say that he has more than all this on the board combined. he also has a very cool scar that he will show you. richard is a radio operator. when he was up there watching us to contact with the space station, he was speaking about it from the other side. richard had made several contacts from the space station. he can talk about that little. his father, owen garriott, was the first operator to communicate from earth. i had richard and his father on one year ago. they were amazing. richard has flown up to the space station. he trained in russia.

he faced several setbacks. let's give it up for richard garriott. >> thank you. it is always a joy to be up here at the explorers club. you will see why i'm such a fan of this club. it is integral to the story of my life. especially today. i'm appear for a number of events. today's events have already been fantastic. what a privilege it is to be in the lineup. because of the diversity of stories and being able to hear different perspectives that each of us have had on our

trips __ that is unique for me. i am a private astronaut, the way i like to use it. i'm not a fan of the term space towards. i actually did not travel in a way that i think would be described as towards them. my mission was called visiting crew 15 __ vc 15. today i will talk about my journey to space. i want to dwell on something called the overview of fact. maybe some of you have heard of that. i did not hear about it until after my is. many people have an epiphany with their time and space called the overview affect. i did as well.

you know i have slides with me, and my laptop, finally after hours if you want to continue talking. if i go back 50+ years ago, when sputnik flew, that is when my father got into space. when sputnik flew, he had one of the few labs in the united states that could listen for it and analyze it. that is what inspired him to apply to become an astronaut. he was accepted into the third group of astronauts __ scientist astronauts. what is interesting about that first decade, before we went to

the moon __ it was obviously a very inspirational decade. it was clearly something that captivated the world. and an incredible amount of progress was made during a decade. what is interesting about that __ 50 years ago, still just over 500 people have left the earth. it is really not that many. i would argue that we of been stuck in low earth orbit for a while. i think it is something that will change radically over the next decade. one thing apollo did do was the opening bell responsible for the tech boom that followed shortly thereafter. an accomplished a great deal to inspire our generation to get into science technology. a lot of people like myself went on to be high_tech

entrepreneurs. my real job is __ i am a computer game developer. like silly people of my generation, a lot of them have turned back to space. what didn't happen for all of us was that stanley kubrick vision of the future. we are way past dozen one, in way short of having rotating platforms and space. the real reason why that has been true __ it has been a simple equation. traveling into space is incredibly expensive, dangerous, therefore, it is not surprising that it is uncommon. that is what is changing now. those assumptions __ that have to be dangerous and expensive are wrong.

the price of access to space is already in the process of dropping 100 fold. it will drop in the next decade about 1000 fold __ the cost. with that level of access, frequency will go up and safety will go up. for a lot of us, there's a documentary out called orphans of apollo __ i like that term. those of us who weren't fired by apollo, inspired by that dream, but that she never happened. that's a group of us that went on to do this tech stuff. my part of the story __ i had a father who was an astronaut. he flew on skylab, as well as the ninth launch of the shuttle. i had a mother who was a

professional artist. i think it is the best way to raise a kid __ that combination of appreciation. invite me to computer games. you will forgive me if you played my ultimate games. you probably heard of the term avatar __ i created that name. my explanation began right here at the expiration club. when i wanted to go to space, a nasa doctor told me that i could not because of my eyesight. at the age of 13, i said, if i cannot go with nasa, i will

have to build a personal space travel agency. my first investments were with retiring nasa astronauts. interestingly, all of those were failures. my 2020 hindsight says because nasa astronauts were great pilots __ not necessarily entrepreneurs, but politicians. in hindsight, it makes sense to not have made citizens fly in space. when i first come to this club in the 90's, i met people to come together __ we started things like the x prize.

we started the the 0 g corp. a deep water company. the only company that can go to antarctica. all the things i've done. i've been to titanic, i have been to antarctica. another thing i picked up for my father __ take nothing but pictures and footprints. if you're the son of my father, and you also bring back scientific samples and try to make a business about it. everywhere we go, we're always going to ponds, bringing back samples.

bringing them to the university, gene sequencing them, and seeing what businesses we can start. we patent those proteins and sell them to universities. i grew up believing that everyone went to space. my dad was an astronaut, my name is also astronauts. pre_much everyone else in this room have flown in space. nasa was also one of my neighbors. it was weird when i went to college they met the sesame street people __ i thought was a fantasy. as i mentioned, i was told i can go. that's when i started the sequence of companies i mention that finally cracked the door

open. opened up the door for civilian spaceflight. especially with space adventures, i invested in space adventure so i could go to space. i paid for the study with the russians that was required for us to fly. that was in the year 2000 __ the.com crash occurred. i had to sell my seat to someone who became the first private citizen in space. i had to create another company, by the time i came around, i was the sixth client. we have sold two seats __ the

names unannounced __ for people to go around the moon. you also heard __ by having a father as an astronaut, that makes me the first second generation american astronaut. there might be two other russians who have generational __ who are generational astronauts. when i finally scraped all his money together __ just because you built the company that has agreed to go, then, i miss the first slide. now, i had the money __ i start making very large payments to russia __ many many millions of dollars. after substantial payments,

they discovered that i had a serious disqualification __ medical condition. the phrasing i was told was that __ the first thing i was told was i cannot go. they call me back and said, by the way, we think we can make it okay for you to go, but you have to undergo life_threatening surgery to remove wind load __ one lobe of the liver. on earth, this is irrelevant. unless, you are in an accident in space __ there is a slightly higher chance of internal bleeding, it could be fatal.

they said, you cannot fly with that portion of your liver. i like to show it off. manly scars. that is one of my moment to those of preparation for spaceflight. people say, you agree to do but. at that point you are committed. there was no chance that i would not do that in order to go. i will go quickly through this training __ katie and others earlier did a great job describing the training. tons of medical work. castings of your body for the spacesuit.

even as a private fire, everyone on board has to know how to operate every piece of equipment. obviously, for safety. it is very important everyone is capable of operating these things. also, if you are flying as a personal individual __ if you have to operate the radios, the last thing the professionals want you to do is to tap them on the shoulder and say, hey, can you set this up? everyone had to become a user on all the equipment on board. we did the outside survival training. you can look at the back of my arms from some beatings i got

from this training. we finally passed our team crew exams. one side story __ the radios. i will put that in the queue, hopefully i do not forget. official crew photos. it was interesting that two days prior to my large, the vehicle was not assembled. you think about that in the united states __ how may days in advance that the machine is assembled, and checked, and rechecked. here we are, two days before launch, and i'm saying, i do not how they will get disassembled, much less do any testing. that cannot give me a huge vote of confidence. 24 hours later, here it is assembled. they do this like clockwork.

they're very good at it. that is one of my favorite photos. all_american launches are bolted to the pad, at the bottom. the russian one __ the weight of it is sitting right above the center of mass __ it is literally hanging there. when you launch, rather than going to 100% launch, as soon as the thrust is greater than its weight, it begins to rise gently. in the inside, i was shocked. i knew the injured had been lit

__ oon the outside __ in russia, occasionally you can __ there is actually a place where people stand just outside of the deathly gas __ you can be there. on outside __ it is very loud and violent. on the inside, when those engines lit, i almost couldn't feel it. when the vehicle began to rise, you know that you're beginning to rise. but, it is so gentle, it is not until a few seconds later when you feel the acceleration __ it is almost imperceptible.

the beauty of launch with a lot less like a sports car taking off __ and much more like a confident ballet move. i thought it was very beautiful. eight a half minutes later, you have burned all the fuel, you look out, you serious. you may think at this point it is like __ ta_da. that was not my first thought. my first thought was where we saw view like this, i thought, wow. we are actually not as far away from earth as i expected. i sure hope that we are in a

perfectly circular orbit, because if not, we will be reentering in a few moments, and that will suck. each time we rolled around, i would look out the window, and see if i could suspect any change in our direction. after a couple tumbles, i said, obviously everything is fine. then,i could sit back and enjoy the view. i was pretty happy. we spent today's living on the shuttle. one of my takeaways was __ i was surprised about how the familiar and ailing combination of look at windows. if you look out at what you can

see __ the space station is made out of two strikingly different components. one is highly machine industrial gear work, solar panels, and materials. those things look technical. unlike an airplane, you see the exposed mechanics of this thing. then, on top of that, in many areas, there are the shields and protections __ basically blankets, better handstitched around all the parts. it was a grandma was invited over to make a quilt around these parts. even more alien was __ unlike earth, here i can see you

because of reflection __ on earth is scattering light all over the place. if you want dramatic lighting, like were doing here, you have to create contrast. in space, you have the opposite problem. you have blackness everywhere. so if you look outside __ if there is an aluminum pole, one side is absolutely late, the other side is pitch black. when you look at it, something doesn't look quite right. you are so unfamiliar with that kind of lighting situation. i found that to be a very striking aspect of living in space. everybody uses every work surface. this was my workstation.

my office was about the size of this podium. that's where did most of my work. one thing i thought was funny __ the galley onboard __ normally planned for three people. when you have six people, need to know all set. so, people flow on the ceiling, flow on the floor. there were only three sleeping quarters. the other three of us camped out. we would literally pitch us leaving back somewhere. in space, there is no convection currents __ when you breathe hot where out, on

earth, it moves away from you __ in space, if you do not have a fan in front of you, you could breathe that back in and suffocate on co2. i use bungee cords to try and simulate gravity __ it did not work. there are a lot of great reasons to go to space. i would argue that going to the bathroom in space is not one of the great reasons to go to space. though i do not call myself a space tourist __ i took on a heavy load of commercial and

volunteer nonprofit work. my father not only help me plan my mission, he held me schedule everything, he ran my mission control team. my schedule was at least as busy as the professionals who were with me. i think both my scientific contribution, as was the work is done to help businesses take on future trips to earth, i would argue makes me a private professional astronaut. what i did was i crystallized

proteins. a brief primer on this is that for every function in your body, there is generally a protein involved. one of the ways that a lot of drugs are created to stop the production of disease is to take a chemical in the pill and put in your bloodstream __ a bond with that protein, and prevents the protein from doing damage. all aids drugs that exist are that kind of molecule __ a ligen. the problem is, proteins are very complicated. the way you often get these images is slowly growing a crystal of those complex

molecules. then you use x_ray refraction to get an image __ then you design a molecule. here on earth, in 1g, when you change a protein to a crystal, it gives off heat __ they create some convection currents which disturbed the growing of the crystal __ they do not grow well. 80 take the same substances into space to crystallize them __ with no convection currents __ you get much bigger crystals, much purer, much better. i started a series of experiments. we constantly take more difficult proteins.

those are some of the crystals that we brought back. another experience that i did was earth observations. the moon guys were much more interesting gain to the moon and back __ taking pictures of the moon. as my father's son, flying almost 35 years to the day that my father did, i said, i will take some pictures of the same places that my dad did to show how the earth has changed in 35 years. i came up with a software called windows on earth. by the way, most astronauts who take pictures get a printout that tells you to line up a photo a certain way. they have no idea what time it

will come under the window, the image is not necessarily good looking __ a lot of times they miss it. i'd had the software developed to show you an image outside the window, show you your target, had a scrollback timer, and would show the track of your orbit __ hopefully allowing for being able to photograph with higher reliability. i took some pictures of __ here is miami, florida __ the photo that my father took, and my photo.

due to good forestry habits, how the earth has gotten better __ i found zero cases that were evident from space. one more thing about this program __ this was so successful that even while i was up in orbit, my crewmates put there data into my program as well. since the outbreaks me, when their targets came interview, which were often my targets, they would say, get aside, let us take a picture out of the window. by the way, the software is now the standard. was this up there katie? not yet.

i, by the way, did not write the software __ i just took it up on the first flight. it is an exceptional piece of software. by the way, it is online. you will be odysseus tool that you can run . all of the pictures i've been taking with it are in the tool also. you get to see them as they take them __ each shot, how the zoom changes, everything about it. i flew on the 25th anniversary of the first ham contact. one of the first things i did while on board was two things __ i took up a slow scan device and hooked up the ham radio rigged to my pc, so i could

broadcast images from my pc. i had text overlays on a lot of these. this was stephen hawking. a picture of my father. a variety of test patterns. with that slow scan camera, i would stick it out the window to rebroadcast what was out there. in my flight data file __ this was my log sheet. i would be in the middle __ 2:00 am or 3:00 am flying over australia __ it was nighttime for them. you go to your ham radio, you click the radio button,

immediately 100 people try to contact you. people on earth are just waiting for someone to be at that ham radio. i did not know that. my father had made 200 or 300 contacts. as soon as i realized that there are hundreds of people at any moment that wanted to speak to me __ i said, okay, i have to beat my dad. i started using the backs of every paper i had. these are all of my ham contacts __ i ended getting 600 to 700 contacts. i did commercial work for seiko and dhl. i did a lot of educational outreach. i took a bunch of experiences from kids. these words three __ worth

three great kid questions. i will skip to the second one __ striking a match in space. suppose you're on a spacewalk, you take a box of wooden safety matches with you __ with a gloved hand, you open the drawer, use __ you snag a match, you strike it, what would happen? nothing __ possible answers __ the tip of the match is fuel and oxidizer, it should burn. i do not know if anyone has tried this. i believe the tip would burn.

let's repeat that experiment. you set a candle down, you get out a match, you strike it, what happens? anybody? will it burn? the tip will learn, will the __ will burn, will the wooden part burn? the same reason it is dangerous __ why you need a fan while your breathing in and out while you sleep __ the same is true for fire. i do not know if katie's experience __ with the ball

fire __ if that was just burning with oxygen. i think in the case of a wooden match, it would go out. it would create a lot of carbon dioxide. if it were to continue to burn, it would create a bit of a folder. that's why if a fire breaks out on the shuttle, the best thing to do is to turn off the fans. we had the fire alarm go off. i was also involved in a number of medical studies. one of the most interesting ones __ not on this list __ was an eye study.

i had very bad eyesight, but over the years i have had by surgery. up until i flew, nasa had a rule that people with corrective eye surgery were disqualified from becoming nasa astronauts. they were already in the process of reviewing that rule __ the best data that they had was that it would not be a problem __ but they had never had a test case flown to prove that. as soon as they knew that i was going to fight, whether they liked it or not, they said, we would love to study your eyes. i did substantial tests prior to fight, during flight, and post flight. they would literally have a

stylus rubbed on my cornea to identify the center, and count the number of cells, and count the path of cells. that result was __ the reason to be concerned is that there is a fluid in space __ if you're a thin cornea due to surgery, it is reasonable to presume that that might change the curvature of your eyes __ that would be very important. my eye pressure went up __ like most everyone's does __ but there were no other side effects that can be determined. not because of that, but a piece of data that corroborated

the decision, now it is okay for astronaut candidates to have had my surgery. with my mother as an artist, i had to do some art creation. also, my dad had used __ played a practical joke on nasa. i made a video of my mother in space. i played a joke on mission control. i had a sheet that i could click on to where my mother could respond __ at first this was the secret to the rest of mission control. i'm a bit of an amateur musician __ amateur magician __ i did some magic in space. there were two substantial

malfunctions on the struggles that went before me __ they had ballistic reentries. my crewmates had to doa spacewalk and remove a bolt. i mentioned the fire alarms going off. that is because of a water processor __ as the soul of bags of water, drops of water gather around it __ after 10 years, is shorted out. the heat melted a lot of insulation __ it set off fire alarms. it meant turning off all the fans. though the issue is minor, and

fortunately they had a second one of these machines, it was a bit of excitement for one day. finally, it was time to go. when you undock with the space station __ for five hours before you get to the ground. the first few hours are spent slowly drifting away from the space station. one of the things i was shocked by was again how silent and smooth rreentry is. when we began to have contact with our atmosphere __ you begin to see debris melting around you, what you still do not feel any pressure or hear any sound __ i found it, again, a beautiful moment. it was until he got much deeper into the atmosphere that the

parachutes open __ at that point, it is like getting a whip cracked. we began to have to malfunctions. for me __ this black object that you see is an aluminum bottle __ it is meant to be attached to the ceiling where a camera was mounted. the whip crack this large that bottle __ a gut pain between my shoulder and a box. it happened to dislodge a pyrotechnic that raises your seats. everybody else's seat rows, mine tried to raise, bbut i got pain very hard.

i was concern for number of reasons. my mask was cracked. i wanted to get this bottle out before he hit the ground. i managed to get it out, but i was excited about it. once there is an air pressure equalization valve __ some people reported seeing smoke on the control panel. sure enough, there was smoke. i think it was just condensation. warm moist air coming in the control panel. we never determine what was.

finally __ what i found funny about landing __ you are landing in a 6 ton vehicle that bounces and roles just the way boulders shouldn't. i did not find unconscionable at all. it is bone jarring, but not injuring. i was shocked by how close civilization was __ just out of frame was a train. you are on farmland, but is not like being out in the ocean. one of these days, one of these will drop on a house or car.

it takes about three days to readapt to 1g environment. my favorite story __ the function in your inner year is a gravity detector __ in space, there is no gravity to do that. in space, if i move my head forward, that fluid moves back, and it makes me feel like i am falling down. after three days, your brain goes, i get it. when you get back from space, you have this accelerometer in your head. so when you go to sleep, and

you put your head down, you have this excel __ accelerometer going over and over again. there's my dad with me on landing. let me tell you about this thing called the overview effect. again, this is this thing that i had heard about. my father said, richard, during daylight hours, i will schedule your time at the window. when you're over the pacific, or at night, we will do your

experiments. here's how it went for me __ the few others that i have heard have been similar but have different moments in different conclusions. for me, i felt how intimately close you are to earth. when you look straight down, you still see clouds, you see all the things that we are familiar with seeing. you are further away, but not so much further way that it looks alien __ it is a familiar view. i was shocked at how well you can see some things. here's a shot down at san francisco __ there's the golden gate bridge. you can see major highways and bridges __ they are all easy to see.

i was shocked at how familiar this looked, but you're traveling 17,000 mph. it is scrolling by. even if you're 30 seconds late, you __ it is long gone. on the other hand, if you look horizontally towards the edge of earth, you pick up other things. i was shocked at how thin the atmosphere is. you only go about five times further than an airplane __ this amount of air on top of our earth is not that much. to go along with that, when i would notice of forest fire __ just the smoke from the fire would cover whole states. i was shocked at how quickly we

can fill our atmosphere with particulate matter. our ability to pollute our own atmosphere __ my conception of how easy it would be to do went way up. then, i noticed the large_scale systems __ clouds and whether. about half the earth is covered by kyle to any one time. when going over the pacific, it is a whole mass of water, not much land masses. you would see these giant fronts, and fractal shapes that would build. on the other hand, over the atlantic, you would see all this chaos. you see a lot of deserts. that's where you can pick up the geological morphology. from this high vantage point

you get a great layout of these natural processes of the earth. even if you're not at geologist or meteorologists, your knowledge of the subjects goes up they quickly. you seat and less erosion by water. you can look at the landmasses and see how this erosion is happening. similarly erosion by wind. i had no idea what a great fan was, until i looked out the window __ where the wind had sculpted these beautiful formations. things you can only see from space. any place where there is rain on the surface __ where it is green __ it is always full of people. i found no untouchable

wilderness. no part that i traveled over, that was green, did i not see it fully utilized by humanity. i was shocked that even the alpine regions had dance and roads. the people terraforming the earth became much more obvious. the most shocking thing on this front __ these ancient riverbeds. when you take a flight over the earth, you see crops __ i did not realize the whole world looks like this.