bob bob zoellick or graham allison or henry kissinger or a new generation of scholars like mike greene at csis, who have been thinking about these issues, the asia-pacific, the rise of china for decades. their articles, books, speeches are critical to devising national strategy to advance america's interests in the region. this is a long-term endeavor, mr. president, for you will aof us -- for all of us. it is imperative that it remains on our radar screens through the course of state visits, through the course of elections, through the course of changing administrations. and contrary to what some say, we as a country do have the capacity to think and act in our long-term strategic interests. as a government. our successful bipartisan strategy dealing with the soviet union started by cannon's famous ex-telegram which created the course of containment. over the course of decades, several different administrations, several different congresses. it was a successful long-term strategy for the united states. so from my perspective, mr. president, as we look at this issue, the asia-pacific, its importance, the rise of china, i think a few key toach stones are important -- touchstones are important to remember. first, america is an asia-pacific power. my state of alaska is an asia-pacific state. the united states has strong networks of alliances throughout the asia-pacific, and we -- we -- our country have built the post-war -- post world war ii architecture you that has enabled this dynamic region of the world to thrive in terms of peace and in terms of prosperity in fact, when you look at the last 70 years of history in that region, we have been the linchpin of that peace and prosperity. for all countries in the region, whether our strongest allies, like japan and korea and australia, or other countries, countries even like china. and we have earned the trust of our allies for our commitment. so we need to maintain that trust as we move forward and we need to listen to our allies in the region. second, mr. president, we need to understand the history of the region and our involvement there better as we think through what the strategy is moving forward. you know, i'd had the opportunity to go to the national archives a number of times already since i joined the senate and there's a statute outside the national archives and it's got a command on it. it says simply "study the past." study the past. and again, i think that's something as we're looking at our strategy in that region, how critical it is, we need to be doing that. professor allison's article, books, is a good start and i think all of us need to continue that focus. and third, no matter what strategy we end up pursuing vis-a-vis china and the asia-pacific region, we have to be strong, again, at home. my biggest surprise as a new freshman senator -- my biggest surprise in this body is how little we, or certainly for that matter, the obama administration, talks about our economy. talks about the strength or the lack thereof our economy. perhaps because the performance of our economy has been so lack lust -- lackluster. we've even dumed down expectation. they have this term in washington called the "new normal." american growth rates have typically been in, 3%, 4% g.d.p. growth throughout most of our history. last six years, we can't even break 2% g.d.s., 1.5%. two quarters ago we went back into recession. they're now calling this the new normal, we need to accept this. you rarely hear the president or even the treasury secretary come out to the american people and say, no, we have to grow, we have to grow at trawcial levels of american -- traditional levels of american growth, approximate. -- approximate.5% approximate.5% -- 3.5%, 4%. we have to grow at that level. we have to get back to strength at home. but a continued weak u.s. economy, the new normal, growing at 1.5% for the next five, not tin years, that will create all kinds of additional challenges for us and in my view will make trap that professor allison talks about more likely for the u.s. and china. yes, china has certain advantages but in so many areas, so many areas, the united states holds all the cards. so many different areas. if we were in a global poker match and we were all at the table, the big countries, you would look at our hand and you would see aces. let me just name a few, mr. president. the high-tech sector, still the envy of the world. and its not just silicon valley, it's all over america. our agriculture sector -- we feed the world. universities. we have the best universities in the world by far. by far. certain states in america have better top universities than all of china. finance and commercial aspects of our economy, the best entrepreneurs. energy. we have a renaissance in energy where we're now the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. and the largest producer of renewables. this is a huge advantage. it's creating a rebirth in manufacturing in america. seafood, we harvest more than any other countries in the world. look at our allies in asia, they're coming to the united states in terms of wanting to deepen their relationship with us. and, of course, the u.s. military, the finest in the world. right now, it is right now, mr. president. i had the opportunity to go down to the world war ii memorial this morning, saw a couple honor flights coming in, seeing those veterans of ours who fought and defended this great nation in world war ii. we've had the best military for decades and we're going to continue to do that. the key is, we have to unleash our economic might once again, which has been so dormant during the obama administration. we have to do this. and if we do this, we can view the rise of china from a standpoint of strength and confidence and opportunity. not trepidation. as bob zoellick mentioned 10 years ago in his responsible stakeholder speech -- quote -- "you hear voices that perceive china solely through the lens of fear but america succeeds when we look to the future as an opportunity, not when we fear what the future might bring." mr. president, i've had the opportunity to view the u.s.-china relationship from a variety of lenses -- economic diplomatic and even to some degree military. i previously served as the commissioner of natural resources of energy in alaska and was able to take a trip over there with some alaskans to look at ways to deepen our economic and trade and energy relationship between my state and china. and have them visit alaska and participate in those meetings. i served in terms of diplomacy as an assistant secretary of state and had numerous opportunities to travel to china with some of our top u.s. government leaders at the time bob zoellick or secretary of the treasury paulson, secretary of state rice, to discuss ways in which