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December 4, 2019
Transcript

Secretary Esper In-Flight Interview With Phil Stewart From Reuters

Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper; Phil Stewart, Reuters

PHIL STEWART: So by the time we land I don't know what will be already out there or what will change, but it looked like you guys had a breakthrough on Turkey in the Summit.

SECRETARY OF DEFENSE MARK T. ESPER: You thought we had a breakthrough on Turkey?

MR. STEWART: Looks that way, yes, because they agreed to the defense – the readiness plan.

SEC. ESPER: Yes, I think that was a positive move forward. It has another step or two to go. But I think it was a positive move forward. So I think it's – you've heard me say publically, I think, you know, on one hand where they are going with S-400s is the wrong direction, but they've been a valuable part of NATO for decades, from the earliest days. So it's – we've got to keep them in the fold.

MR. STEWART: Right. Were you in on the meeting on the – on Turkey...

SEC. ESPER: I was in on all the meetings.

MR. STEWART: So then what is your sense on S-400 and on jets in the future? And where do you think they're going?

SEC. ESPER: I'll just say we are where we are. There is no movement at this point.

MR. STEWART: There's no movement. So what were your big takeaways from the NATO summit?

SEC. ESPER: Well, you know, you caught the president's words. He spoke about the important of NATO and the value, and, you know, defended the alliance against the – you know, the statements made by President Macron. So I think that's number one.

Number two, in the plenary session, I've got to tell you, country after country cited the president's leadership in terms of getting the alliance back on the right path, in terms of its commitments and in terms of its focus. And I heard that from country after country.

Number two (sic), and this is related to number one, is, hopefully discussing China. And I think it's the first time ever a NATO statement included China. So that's – that's pretty significant.

And then number three would be NATO readiness. We met with NATO Readiness Initiative marks. And so you think about it, in three years, the spending was flat or going down, now it's up. So you've got to give the president credit for that.

Number two, focus on China. The U.S. presence, we're leading on that. And number three, readiness. I mean, this has been – the DoD, U.S. initiative…is to get readiness back up…so it's relevant. And so I think those are three good things.

MR. STEWART: One thing that the president said was that he had heard from NATO allies that they weren't going to go forward on Huawei. Did you hear anything on that.

SEC. ESPER: If they were, we're not?

MR. STEWART: They were not going to go forward or they were hearing a lot more concern about Huawei.

SEC. ESPER: I can't – he had a couple of private discussions right at the reception. But I know at least one if not two countries that said, yes, they were – they would block Huawei. And they've told (inaudible) or they changed their minds.

https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Transcripts/Transcript/Article/2033394/