Heiko, thank you.
Good afternoon.
I am delighted to be in Germany for this historic week.
This morning Foreign Minister Maas and I spent in Modlareuth.
We were vividly reminded of the painful separation that was caused by the wall.
We saw guard towers, bunkers, remains of the very structure President Reagan called the
“scar of a wall.”
It was a bit of a walk down memory lane for me, or memory strasse.
You could say I saw – you could say I saw a piece of history that I was a tiny little
part of back in the late 1980s.
There was a plaque honoring American troops who protected peace and freedom in Western
Europe.
I was proud to play that small role.
I think it’s indicative of the incredible, important relationship between our two countries
over decades and decades and decades and decades as we move forward together as well.
As you said, I go out in a little while – I’ll continue my visit here in Leipzig.
We’ll visit St. Nicholas Church, a sacred birthplace of German freedom.
I’ll talk with some of the brave demonstrators who 30 years ago helped bring down the wall
that divided people.
We’ll then have a chance to visit the Halle Synagogue, the site of the vicious anti-Semitic
attack just last month on Yom Kippur, a sickening reminder of how there remains much work to
be done and the vigilance in the fight for religious freedom remains an imperative for
each of our two countries.
The vets of 1989 remind me of what binds us, our two countries, free societies, transatlantic
allies and friends.
We share a strong belief in the rule of law and in democracy, human dignity, free speech,
freedom of religion, and so many other unalienable rights, things we know to be central.
These values link us together as people and as nations, and they define our policy – our
foreign policy choices.
Not all nations share these liberal values.
I spoke last week in New York City about the nature of how Chinese Communist Party, China’s
governing entity, views the world, and we should speak frankly about such things.
I know Germany, too, is facing its decision about how to handle its telecommunications
network.
This isn’t just a simple decision.
It’s complicated, but it comes in the face of the challenges that are presented by the
Chinese Communist Party.
Heiko and I spent a fair amount of time this morning, as he said, talking about Syria.
The United States will continue to monitor the ceasefire and hold human rights violators
there accountable.
We’re investigating allegations of war crimes, and we’ll continue to deliver on our humanitarian
mission there, and we’ll keep urging Russia and Turkey and the regime and its allies not
to take steps that would further destabilize that already difficult region that has caused
the mass displacement and refugee flows that we have already seen.
I know, too, that Germany prides itself on being an important and valuable multilateral
partner, and I expressed my deep appreciation for Germany’s commitment to multilateral
efforts that are in both our interest as well as in Europe’s interest.
Germany has been a great partner in supporting our efforts to attempt to denuclearize North
Korea.
You’ve maintained pressure on Russia to meet its commitments to implement the Minsk
agreements.
You’ve stood alongside the United States and many European partners trying to achieve
democracy in Venezuela, and in September you stood along with France and the United Kingdom
in ascribing responsibility for the Iran attacks – or for the attacks by Iran on Saudi oil
facilities.
Each of these issues has at its core the mission of protecting unalienable rights and human
dignity, something that communists of East Germany failed to do for so many years.
I look forward to working with you, Heiko, to protect our shared values.
There is no better way to do that than to be here to remember the victory of 1989.
Heiko, thank you for hosting me on this very memorable visit.
I will certainly never forget it.
Thank you.