美国国务卿马科·鲁比奥于2026年2月14日在慕尼黑安全会议上发表演讲，以下为其演讲全文转录。转录基于公开来源，包括编辑笔记和演讲视频。演讲主题聚焦于美欧联盟、西方文明复兴等。
演讲正文：
一个拯救了世界的历史性联盟
非常感谢！我们今天作为一个历史性联盟的成员，聚集在这里。这个联盟拯救并改变了世界。你知道，当这个会议于1963年开始时，这个国家，乃至整个欧洲大陆，被割裂着。共产主义国家和自由世界的界限穿过德国的心脏。柏林墙的第一道带刺铁丝网，刚刚在两年前竖起。而当我们的前辈第一次在这里，在慕尼黑开会的前几个月，古巴导弹危机将世界推向核毁灭的边缘。
即使第二次世界大战，仍鲜活地留在美国人和欧洲人记忆中，我们发现自己正盯着一个新的全球灾难的枪口，这个灾难具有比人类历史上任何事物，都更具末日性和终结性的破坏潜力。在那第一次交锋的时代，苏联共产主义正在前进。数千年的西方文明悬于一线。当时，胜利远非笃定。
但我们被一个共同的目的所驱动。我们不仅仅是因为共同反对的事物而团结，更因为我们共同为之奋斗的东西而团结。团结在一起，欧洲和美国胜利了。一个大陆被重建，我们的生活繁荣了。随着时间推移，东方和西方集团重新统一。一个文明再次完整。那堵将这个国家分成两半的臭名昭著的墙倒塌了，随之而去的是一个邪恶帝国。东方和西方再次成为一体。
"历史终结"的危险错觉
但这种胜利的狂喜导致我们陷入一个危险的错觉。我们进入了所谓"历史的终结"："每个国家现在都会成为自由民主国家，贸易和商业的联系取代国家身份。基于规则的全球秩序，这个过度使用的术语，将取代国家利益。我们将生活在一个没有边界的世界，每个人都成为世界公民。"
这是一个愚蠢的想法，它忽略了人性，也忽略了超过5000年有记录的人类历史的教训。它让我们付出了沉重的代价。
我们错误的代价
在这种错觉中，我们拥抱了自由和不受限制贸易的教条愿景，即使一些国家保护他们的经济并补贴他们的公司，系统地削弱、关闭我们的工厂，导致我们社会的大部分被去工业化，将数百万工人阶级和中产阶级的工作岗位运往海外，并将我们关键供应链的控制权交给竞争对手。
我们越来越将我们的主权外包给国际机构，而许多国家以牺牲维持自卫能力为代价，投资于大规模福利支出，同时有些国家以人类历史上最快的速度投资于军事建设，并毫不犹豫地使用硬实力追求自己的利益。
为了安抚气候焦虑，我们对自己强加了能源政策，这些政策正在使我们的人民贫困化，即使我们的竞争对手利用石油、煤炭和天然气以及其他任何东西，不仅用来驱动他们的经济，还用来作为对付我们自己的利器。在追求没有边界的世界的过程中，我们打开了大门，迎接前所未有的大规模移民(专题)浪潮，这威胁到我们社会的凝聚力、我们文化的连续性、以及我们人民的未来。
复兴和恢复的愿景
我们一起犯了这些错误，现在我们一起，为了我们的人民，面对这些事实并前进、重建。在特朗普(专题)总统领导下，美利坚合众国将再次承担复兴和恢复的任务，由一个像我们文明的过去一样骄傲、一样主权、一样关键的未来愿景所驱动。虽然我们如有必要将准备独自做这件事，但我们的偏好和希望，是和你们，我们在欧洲的朋友，一起做这件事。因为美国和欧洲，我们本是一家。
美国成立于250年前，但根源早在很久以前就在这个大陆开始了。定居并建造我所出生国家的那些人到达我们的海岸，带着他们祖先的记忆、传统和基督教信仰，这些作为神圣的遗产，是老世界和新世界之间不可打破的联系。
我们是同一个文明的一部分：西方文明。我们被国家间能分享的最深的纽带所绑定，由几个世纪的共享历史、基督教信仰、文化、遗产、语言、祖先，以及我们的祖先为我们共同文明所做的牺牲所锻造。
对严肃性和互惠的呼吁
所以这就是为什么我们美国人在我们的建议中，有时候可能会显得有点直接和紧急。这就是为什么特朗普总统要求我们欧洲的朋友严肃对待和互惠的原因，我的朋友，是因为我们深切关心！我们深切关心你们的未来，和我们的未来！
如果我们有时无法达成一致，我们的分歧来自于我们对欧洲的深刻关切，我们与之相连的欧洲，不仅仅是经济上的，不仅仅是军事上的。我们在精神上是联络的，我们在文化上也是联络在一起的。 我们希望欧洲强大。 我们相信欧洲必须生存下去。
因为上个世纪的两次伟大战争对我们来说是历史不断的提醒，最终我们的命运是并且永远是与你们的命运交织在一起。 因为我们知道欧洲的命运永远不会与我们无关紧要。
我们在捍卫什么？
这次会议主要讨论的是国家安全，不仅仅是一系列技术性问题。 我们花多少钱在国防上，或者在哪里，我们如何部署，这些都是重要的问题。 是，但不是根本的问题。
我们一开始必须回答的根本问题是，我们到底在捍卫什么？ 因为军队不为抽象而战。 军队为人民而战。 军队为一个国家而战。 军队为一种生活方式而战。
这就是我们正在捍卫的。 一个伟大的文明，它完全有理由为自己的历史感到自豪，对自己的未来充满信心，并致力于永远成为自己经济和政治命运的主人。
欧洲的遗产和承诺
正是在这里，在欧洲，改变了世界的自由思想火种诞生了。 正是这里，欧洲，给了世界法治、大学和科学革命。
正是这个大陆产生了莫扎特和贝多芬、但丁和莎士比亚、米开朗基罗和达芬奇、披头士乐队和滚石乐队的天才。 这里是西斯廷教堂的拱形天花板和科隆大教堂高耸的尖顶的地方，它们不仅证明了我们过去的伟大，也证明了激发了这些奇迹的对上帝的信仰。 它们预示着未来等待我们的奇迹。
但是，只有当我们对自己的遗产毫不掩饰，并为这一共同的遗产感到自豪时，我们才能共同开始构想和塑造我们的经济和政治未来。
扭转破坏性政策选择
去工业化并非不可避免。 这是一个有意识的政策选择，一个长达几十年的经济事业，剥夺了我们国家的财富、生产能力和独立性。
失去我们的供应链主权并不是繁荣和健康的全球贸易体系的功能。 这很愚蠢。 这是我们经济的愚蠢但自愿的转变，使我们依赖他人来满足我们的需求，并危险地容易受到危机的影响。
大规模移民也不是一些无关紧要的边缘注脚，这一直是一场正在改变和破坏整个西方社会稳定的危机。
我们可以一起实现经济再工业化，重建保卫人民的能力。 但这个新联盟的工作，不应该只关注军事合作和恢复过去的产业。 它还应该专注于共同推进我们的共同利益和新的领域，解开我们的聪明才智、创造力和充满活力的精神，以建立一个新的西方世纪。
商业太空旅行和尖端人工智慧、工业自动化和柔性制造，为关键矿产创造一个不易受其他大国敲诈勒索的西方供应链，并共同努力在全球南方经济中争夺市场份额。 团结起来，我们不仅可以重新控制自己的行业和供应链，还可以在定义21世纪的领域繁荣昌盛。
边境管制和国家主权
但我们也必须控制我们的国界。 控制谁以及有多少人进入我们的国家，这不是仇外心理的表现，也不是仇恨，而是国家主权的基本行为。 而不这样做不仅仅是放弃我们欠人民最基本的责任之一。 这是对我们社会结构和文明本身生存的紧迫威胁。
改革全球秩序
最后，我们不能再把所谓的全球秩序置于我们人民和国家的切身利益之上。 我们不需要放弃我们制定的国际合作体系，我们也不需要拆除我们共同建立的旧秩序的全球机构。 但这些必须改革。 这些必须重建。
例如，联合国仍然具有成为世界改善工具的巨大潜力，但我们不能忽视的是，今天在我们面前最紧迫的问题上，它没有答案，几乎没有发挥任何作用。 它无法解决加沙的战争，而是美国领导层将俘虏从野蛮人手中解放出来，并带来了脆弱的休战。 它没有解决乌克兰的战争。 今天，美国领导层与在座的许多国家合作，只是让双方坐在谈判桌上，寻找仍然难以捉摸的和平。 它对限制德黑兰激进什叶派神职人员的核计划是无能为力的。 这需要美国B-2轰炸机精确投下14枚炸弹。 它无法解决委内瑞拉一个毒品恐怖主义独裁者对我们安全的威胁。 相反，美国特种部队将这名罪犯绳之以法。
在一个完美的世界裡，所有这些问题以及更多问题都会由外交官和措辞有力的决议来解决，但我们并不生活在一个完美的世界里，我们不能继续允许那些公然和公开威胁我们公民并危及我们全球稳定的人，在他们自己经常违反的抽象国际法中保护自己。
一起走在共同的道路上
这是特朗普总统和美国走上的道路。 这是我们要求您在欧洲加入我们的道路。 这是我们以前一起走过的路，让我们再次一起走。
在第二次世界大战结束前的五个世纪裡，西方一直在扩张。 它的传教士、朝圣者、士兵、探险家，从海岸涌出，穿越海洋，定居新大陆，建立遍佈全球的庞大帝国。 但在1945年，这是自哥伦布时代以来第一次收缩。 欧洲处于废墟之中。 其中一半住在铁幕后面，其余的看起来很快就会跟上。 伟大的西方帝国已经进入了最终的衰落，无神的共产主义革命和反殖民起义加速了衰落，这些起义将改变世界，并在未来几年将红锤和镰刀披在广大地图上。
在这种背景下，当时和现在一样，许多人开始相信西方的统治时代已经结束，我们的未来注定是我们过去微弱的回声。 但我们的前辈们一起认识到，衰落是一种选择，也是他们拒绝做出的选择。 这是我们以前一起做过的事情，这就是特朗普总统和美国现在想和你一起再次做的事情。 这就是为什么我们不希望我们的盟友软弱。 因为那会让我们更弱。
我们想要能够自卫的盟友，这样就不会有对手被诱惑去考验我们的集体力量。 这就是为什么，我们不希望我们的盟友被内疚和羞耻所束缚。 我们想要那些为自己的文化和遗产感到自豪的盟友，他们明白我们是同一伟大而高贵的文明的继承人，并且愿意并能够和我们一起捍卫它。
这就是为什么我们不希望盟友将破碎的现状合理化，而是要考虑解决它， 因为我们在美国，对成为衰落的西方的礼貌有序的照顾者不感兴趣。 我们不寻求分离，而是重振古老的友谊，更新人类历史上最伟大的文明。
我们想要的是一个重振的联盟，认识到我们社会的弊病不仅仅是一套糟糕的政策，而是绝望和自满的不适。 我们想要的联盟不会因为恐惧而陷入无所作为。 对气候变化的恐惧，对战争的恐惧，对技术的恐惧。 相反，我们想要一个大胆地向未来竞速的联盟。 我们唯一害怕的耻辱，是没有让我们的孩子为我们的国家更强大、更富有而感到骄傲。
一个准备保卫我们的人民，维护我们的利益，并维护行动自由的联盟，使我们能够塑造自己的命运，而不是为了运营全球福利国家和赎罪过去几代人所谓的罪恶而存在的联盟。 一个不允许其权力外包、约束或从属于其无法控制的系统的联盟。 一个不依赖他人来满足其国家生活的关键必需品。 一个不保持礼貌的假装，即我们的生活方式只是众多生活方式中的一种，不必在行动之前征求许可。
最重要的是，一个基于我们西方共同继承的认可的联盟，我们共同继承的东西是独一无二的、与众不同的和不可替代的。 因为，毕竟，这就是跨大西洋纽带的基础。
以这种方式共同行动，我们会帮助恢复理智的外交政策。 它将恢复我们对自我的清晰意识。 它将恢复世界上的一席之地。 这样做，它将斥责和阻止今天威胁美国和欧洲的文明抹杀势力。
美国的欧洲遗产
因此，在头条新闻时代，跨大西洋时代的结束，既不是我们的目标，也不是我们的愿望。 因为对于我们美国人来说，我们的家可能在西半球，但我们永远是欧洲的孩子。
我们的故事始于一位意大利探险家，他冒险进入蛮荒，发现一个新的世界，将基督教带到美洲，并成为定义我们先驱国家想象力的传奇。 我们的第一个殖民地是由英国定居者建立的，不仅流传下我们所说的语言，还奠定了整个政治和法律体系。
我们的边界是由苏格兰-爱尔兰人塑造的，这个来自阿尔斯特山上的骄傲、坚强的家族给了我们戴维·克罗克特、马克·吐温、泰迪·罗斯福和尼尔·阿姆斯特朗。 我们伟大的中西部中心地带是由德国农民和工匠建造的，他们将空旷的平原变成了全球农业强国。 顺便说一句，这极大地提升了美国啤酒的品质。
顺便说一句，我们沿着法国毛皮贸易商和探险家的脚步向内陆扩张，他们的名字仍然装饰着整个密西西比河谷的街道标志和城镇名称。 我们的马匹，我们的牧场，我们的牛仔竞技表演，成为美国西部代名词的牛仔原型的整个浪漫。 这些人出生在西班牙，我们最大和最具标志性的城市，在被命名为纽约(专题)之前，被命名为新阿姆斯特丹。
你知道，在我国成立的那一年，洛伦佐和卡塔利娜·吉罗尔迪住在撒丁岛皮埃蒙特王国的卡萨尔·蒙费拉託，何塞和曼努埃拉·雷纳住在西班牙塞维利亚。 我不知道他们对从大英帝国独立出来的13个殖民地有什麽了解，但这是我确定的。 他们从未想过，250年后，他们的直系后裔之一今天会回到这个大陆，成为那个新生国家的首席外交官。
然而，我在这裡，被我自己的故事提醒，我们的历史和命运将永远联络在一起。 在两次毁灭性的世界大战之后，我们一起重建了一个破碎的大陆。 当我们发现自己再次被铁幕分割时，自由西方与勇敢的持不同政见者联手，反对东方的暴政，以击败苏联共产主义。 我们互相争斗，然后和解，然后战斗，然后又和解。 我们在从砥平里到坎大哈的战场上并肩流血和死亡。
我今天在这里明确指出，美国正在为新世纪的繁荣开辟道路，我们再次希望与您、我们亲爱的盟友和我们最古老的朋友一起做到这一点。 我们想与您一起做这件事，与一个以其遗产和历史为荣的欧洲一起，与一个拥有创造力和自由精神的欧洲一起，与诞生了我们的文明的欧洲一起，与一个拥有自卫手段和生存意志的欧洲一起，将船只送入未知的海洋。
我们应该为上个世纪共同取得的成就感到自豪，但现在我们必须面对并拥抱新的机遇。 因为昨天已经过去了，未来是不可避免的，我们共同的命运，在等待着！谢谢你们！
RJ编译
SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you very much. We gather here today as members of a historic alliance, an alliance that saved and changed the world. When this conference began in 1963, it was in a nation – actually, it was on a continent – that was divided against itself. The line between communism and freedom ran through the heart of Germany. The first barbed fences of the Berlin Wall had gone up just two years prior.
And just months before that first conference, before our predecessors first met here, here in Munich, the Cuban Missile Crisis had brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction. Even as World War II still burned fresh in the memory of Americans and Europeans alike, we found ourselves staring down the barrel of a new global catastrophe – one with the potential for a new kind of destruction, more apocalyptic and final than anything before in the history of mankind.
At the time of that first gathering, Soviet communism was on the march. Thousands of years of Western civilization hung in the balance. At that time, victory was far from certain. But we were driven by a common purpose. We were unified not just by what we were fighting against; we were unified by what we were fighting for. And together, Europe and America prevailed and a continent was rebuilt. Our people prospered. In time, the East and West blocs were reunited. A civilization was once again made whole.
That infamous wall that had cleaved this nation into two came down, and with it an evil empire, and the East and West became one again. But the euphoria of this triumph led us to a dangerous delusion: that we had entered, quote, "the end of history;" that every nation would now be a liberal democracy; that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood; that the rules-based global order – an overused term – would now replace the national interest; and that we would now live in a world without borders where everyone became a citizen of the world.
This was a foolish idea that ignored both human nature and it ignored the lessons of over 5,000 years of recorded human history. And it has cost us dearly. In this delusion, we embraced a dogmatic vision of free and unfettered trade, even as some nations protected their economies and subsidized their companies to systematically undercut ours – shuttering our plants, resulting in large parts of our societies being deindustrialized, shipping millions of working and middle-class jobs overseas, and handing control of our critical supply chains to both adversaries and rivals.
We increasingly outsourced our sovereignty to international institutions while many nations invested in massive welfare states at the cost of maintaining the ability to defend themselves. This, even as other countries have invested in the most rapid military buildup in all of human history and have not hesitated to use hard power to pursue their own interests. To appease a climate cult, we have imposed energy policies on ourselves that are impoverishing our people, even as our competitors exploit oil and coal and natural gas and anything else – not just to power their economies, but to use as leverage against our own.
And in a pursuit of a world without borders, we opened our doors to an unprecedented wave of mass migration that threatens the cohesion of our societies, the continuity of our culture, and the future of our people. We made these mistakes together, and now, together, we owe it to our people to face those facts and to move forward, to rebuild.
Under President Trump, the United States of America will once again take on the task of renewal and restoration, driven by a vision of a future as proud, as sovereign, and as vital as our civilization's past. And while we are prepared, if necessary, to do this alone, it is our preference and it is our hope to do this together with you, our friends here in Europe.
For the United States and Europe, we belong together. America was founded 250 years ago, but the roots began here on this continent long before. The man who settled and built the nation of my birth arrived on our shores carrying the memories and the traditions and the Christian faith of their ancestors as a sacred inheritance, an unbreakable link between the old world and the new.
We are part of one civilization – Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir.
And so this is why we Americans may sometimes come off as a little direct and urgent in our counsel. This is why President Trump demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe. The reason why, my friends, is because we care deeply. We care deeply about your future and ours. And if at times we disagree, our disagreements come from our profound sense of concern about a Europe with which we are connected – not just economically, not just militarily. We are connected spiritually and we are connected culturally. We want Europe to be strong. We believe that Europe must survive, because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as history's constant reminder that ultimately, our destiny is and will always be intertwined with yours, because we know – (applause) – because we know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.
National security, which this conference is largely about, is not merely series of technical questions – how much we spend on defense or where, how we deploy it, these are important questions. They are. But they are not the fundamental one. The fundamental question we must answer at the outset is what exactly are we defending, because armies do not fight for abstractions. Armies fight for a people; armies fight for a nation. Armies fight for a way of life. And that is what we are defending: a great civilization that has every reason to be proud of its history, confident of its future, and aims to always be the master of its own economic and political destiny.
It was here in Europe where the ideas that planted the seeds of liberty that changed the world were born. It was here in Europe where the world – which gave the world the rule of law, the universities, and the scientific revolution. It was this continent that produced the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, of Dante and Shakespeare, of Michelangelo and Da Vinci, of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. And this is the place where the vaulted ceilings of the Sistine Chapel and the towering spires of the great cathedral in Cologne, they testify not just to the greatness of our past or to a faith in God that inspired these marvels. They foreshadow the wonders that await us in our future. But only if we are unapologetic in our heritage and proud of this common inheritance can we together begin the work of envisioning and shaping our economic and our political future.
Deindustrialization was not inevitable. It was a conscious policy choice, a decades-long economic undertaking that stripped our nations of their wealth, of their productive capacity, and of their independence. And the loss of our supply chain sovereignty was not a function of a prosperous and healthy system of global trade. It was foolish. It was a foolish but voluntary transformation of our economy that left us dependent on others for our needs and dangerously vulnerable to crisis.
Mass migration is not, was not, isn't some fringe concern of little consequence. It was and continues to be a crisis which is transforming and destabilizing societies all across the West. Together we can reindustrialize our economies and rebuild our capacity to defend our people. But the work of this new alliance should not be focused just on military cooperation and reclaiming the industries of the past. It should also be focused on, together, advancing our mutual interests and new frontiers, unshackling our ingenuity, our creativity, and the dynamic spirit to build a new Western century. Commercial space travel and cutting-edge artificial intelligence; industrial automation and flex manufacturing; creating a Western supply chain for critical minerals not vulnerable to extortion from other powers; and a unified effort to compete for market share in the economies of the Global South. Together we can not only take back control of our own industries and supply chains – we can prosper in the areas that will define the 21st century.
But we must also gain control of our national borders. Controlling who and how many people enter our countries, this is not an expression of xenophobia. It is not hate. It is a fundamental act of national sovereignty. And the failure to do so is not just an abdication of one of our most basic duties owed to our people. It is an urgent threat to the fabric of our societies and the survival of our civilization itself.
And finally, we can no longer place the so-called global order above the vital interests of our people and our nations. We do not need to abandon the system of international cooperation we authored, and we don't need to dismantle the global institutions of the old order that together we built. But these must be reformed. These must be rebuilt.
For example, the United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world. But we cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role. It could not solve the war in Gaza. Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce. It had not solved the war in Ukraine. It took American leadership and partnership with many of the countries here today just to bring the two sides to the table in search of a still-elusive peace.
It was powerless to constrain the nuclear program of radical Shia clerics in Tehran. That required 14 bombs dropped with precision from American B-2 bombers. And it was unable to address the threat to our security from a narcoterrorist dictator in Venezuela. Instead, it took American Special Forces to bring this fugitive to justice.
In a perfect world, all of these problems and more would be solved by diplomats and strongly worded resolutions. But we do not live in a perfect world, and we cannot continue to allow those who blatantly and openly threaten our citizens and endanger our global stability to shield themselves behind abstractions of international law which they themselves routinely violate.
This is the path that President Trump and the United States has embarked upon. It is the path we ask you here in Europe to join us on. It is a path we have walked together before and hope to walk together again. For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding – its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe.
But in 1945, for the first time since the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins. Half of it lived behind an Iron Curtain and the rest looked like it would soon follow. The great Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that would transform the world and drape the red hammer and sickle across vast swaths of the map in the years to come.
Against that backdrop, then, as now, many came to believe that the West's age of dominance had come to an end and that our future was destined to be a faint and feeble echo of our past. But together, our predecessors recognized that decline was a choice, and it was a choice they refused to make. This is what we did together once before, and this is what President Trump and the United States want to do again now, together with you.
And this is why we do not want our allies to be weak, because that makes us weaker. We want allies who can defend themselves so that no adversary will ever be tempted to test our collective strength. This is why we do not want our allies to be shackled by guilt and shame. We want allies who are proud of their culture and of their heritage, who understand that we are heirs to the same great and noble civilization, and who, together with us, are willing and able to defend it.
And this is why we do not want allies to rationalize the broken status quo rather than reckon with what is necessary to fix it, for we in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West's managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history. What we want is a reinvigorated alliance that recognizes that what has ailed our societies is not just a set of bad policies but a malaise of hopelessness and complacency. An alliance – the alliance that we want is one that is not paralyzed into inaction by fear – fear of climate change, fear of war, fear of technology. Instead, we want an alliance that boldly races into the future. And the only fear we have is the fear of the shame of not leaving our nations prouder, stronger, and wealthier for our children.
An alliance ready to defend our people, to safeguard our interests, and to preserve the freedom of action that allows us to shape our own destiny – not one that exists to operate a global welfare state and atone for the purported sins of past generations. An alliance that does not allow its power to be outsourced, constrained, or subordinated to systems beyond its control; one that does not depend on others for the critical necessities of its national life; and one that does not maintain the polite pretense that our way of life is just one among many and that asks for permission before it acts. And above all, an alliance based on the recognition that we, the West, have inherited together – what we have inherited together is something that is unique and distinctive and irreplaceable, because this, after all, is the very foundation of the transatlantic bond.
Acting together in this way, we will not just help recover a sane foreign policy. It will restore to us a clearer sense of ourselves. It will restore a place in the world, and in so doing, it will rebuke and deter the forces of civilizational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike.
So in a time of headlines heralding the end of the transatlantic era, let it be known and clear to all that this is neither our goal nor our wish – because for us Americans, our home may be in the Western Hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe. (Applause.)
Our story began with an Italian explorer whose adventure into the great unknown to discover a new world brought Christianity to the Americas – and became the legend that defined the imagination of a our pioneer nation.
Our first colonies were built by English settlers, to whom we owe not just the language we speak but the whole of our political and legal system. Our frontiers were shaped by Scots-Irish – that proud, hearty clan from the hills of Ulster that gave us Davy Crockett and Mark Twain and Teddy Roosevelt and Neil Armonstrong.
Our great midwestern heartland was built by German farmers and craftsmen who transformed empty plains into a global agricultural powerhouse – and by the way, dramatically upgraded the quality of American beer. (Laughter.)
Our expansion into the interior followed the footsteps of French fur traders and explorers whose names, by the way, still adorn the street signs and towns' names all across the Mississippi Valley. Our horses, our ranches, our rodeos – the entire romance of the cowboy archetype that became synonymous with the American West – these were born in Spain. And our largest and most iconic city was named New Amsterdam before it was named New York.
And do you know that in the year that my country was founded, Lorenzo and Catalina Geroldi lived in Casale Monferrato in the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. And Jose and Manuela Reina lived in Sevilla, Spain. I don't know what, if anything, they knew about the 13 colonies which had gained their independence from the British empire, but here's what I am certain of: They could have never imagined that 250 years later, one of their direct descendants would be back here today on this continent as the chief diplomat of that infant nation. And yet here I am, reminded by my own story that both our histories and our fates will always be linked.
Together we rebuilt a shattered continent in the wake of two devastating world wars. When we found ourselves divided once again by the Iron Curtain, the free West linked arms with the courageous dissidents struggling against tyranny in the East to defeat Soviet communism. We have fought against each other, then reconciled, then fought, then reconciled again. And we have bled and died side by side on battlefields from Kapyong to Kandahar.
And I am here today to leave it clear that America is charting the path for a new century of prosperity, and that once again we want to do it together with you, our cherished allies and our oldest friends. (Applause.)
We want to do it together with you, with a Europe that is proud of its heritage and of its history; with a Europe that has the spirit of creation of liberty that sent ships out into uncharted seas and birthed our civilization; with a Europe that has the means to defend itself and the will to survive. We should be proud of what we achieved together in the last century, but now we must confront and embrace the opportunities of a new one – because yesterday is over, the future is inevitable, and our destiny together awaits. Thank you. (Applause.)
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I'm not sure you heard the sigh of relief through this hall when we were just listening to what I would interpret as a message of reassurance, of partnership. You spoke of intertwined relations between the United States and Europe – reminds me of statements made decades ago by your predecessors when the discussion was: is actually America a European power? Is America a power in Europe? Thank you for offering this message of reassurance about our partnership.
This is actually not the first time that Marco Rubio is here at the Munich Security Conference – been here before a couple of times, but it's the first time he has been and he is the speaker as Secretary of State. So thank you again. We have only a couple of minutes now for just a few questions, and if I may, we collected questions from the audience.
One of the key issues here yesterday, today, is, of course – continues to be the question of how to deal with the war in Ukraine. Many of us in the discussions over the last day, the last 24 hours, have voiced their impression that the Russians – let me put it colloquially – the Russians are playing for time, they're not really interested in a meaningful settlement. There is no indication that they're willing to compromise on any of their maximalist objectives. Offer to us, if you could, your assessment of where we are and where you think we can go.
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I think where we are at this point is that the issues at play that have to be – here's the good news. The good news is that the issues that need to be confronted to end this war have been narrowed. That's the good news. The bad news is they've been narrowed to the hardest questions to answer, and work remains to be done in that front. I hear your point about – the answer is we don't know. We don't know the Russians are serious about ending the war; they say they are – and under what terms they were willing to do it and whether we can find terms that are acceptable to Ukraine that Russia will always agree to. But we're going to continue to test it.
In the meantime, everything else continues to happen. The United States has imposed additional sanctions on Russia's oil. In our conversations with India, we've gotten their commitment to stop buying additional Russian oil. Europe has taken its set of steps moving forward. The Pearl Program continues in which American weaponry is being sold for the Ukrainian war effort. So all these things continue. Nothing has stopped in the interim. So there's no buying of time here in that regard.
What we can't answer – but we're going to continue to test – is whether there is an outcome that Ukraine can live with and that Russia will accept. And I would say it's been elusive up to this point. We've made progress in the sense that for the first time, I think in years, at least at the technical level, there were military officials from both sides that met together last week, and there'll be – and there'll be meetings again on Tuesday, although it may not be the same group of people.
Look, we're going to continue to do everything we can to play this role of bringing this war to an end. I don't think anybody in this room would be against a negotiated settlement to this war so long as the conditions are just and sustainable. And that's what we aim to achieve, and we're going to continue to try to achieve it, even as all these other things continue to happen on the sanctions front and so forth.
QUESTION: Thank you very much. I'm sure if we had more time there were many questions on Ukraine. But let me conclude by asking a question about something entirely different. The next speaker here in just a couple of minutes will be the foreign minister of China. When you served in the Senate, sir, people considered you a kind of a China hawk.
SECRETARY RUBIO: So did they.
QUESTION: So did they?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah.
QUESTION: The – we know that there will be, in about two months' time, a summit meeting between President Trump and President Xi Jinping. Give us your expectation. Are you optimistic? Can there be a, quote/unquote, "deal" with China? What do you expect?
SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I would say this. The two largest economies in the world, two of the big powers on the planet, we have an obligation to communicate with them and talk, and so do many of you on a bilateral basis as well. I mean, it would be geopolitical malpractice to not be in conversations with China. I would say this: because we're two large countries with huge global interests, our national interests will often not align. Their national interests and ours will not align, and we owe it to the world to try to manage those as best we can, obviously avoiding conflict, both economic and worse. And that – so it's important for us to have communications with them in that regard.
On areas in which our interests are aligned, I think we can work together to make positive impact on the world, and we seek opportunities to do that with them. So – but we have to have a relationship with China. And any of the countries represented here today are going to have to have a relationship with China, always understanding that nothing that we agree to could come at the expense of our national interest. And frankly, we expect China to act in their national interest, as we expect every nation-state to act in their national interest. And the goal of diplomacy is to try to navigate those times in which our national interests come into conflict with one another, always hoping to do it peacefully.
I think we also have a special obligation because whatever happens between the U.S. and China on trade has a global implication. So there are long-term challenges that we face that we're going to have to confront that are going to be irritants in our relationship with China. That's not just true for the United States; that's true for the broader West. But I do think we need to try to manage those the best we can to avoid unnecessary friction if it's possible. But no one is under any illusions. There are some fundamental challenges between our countries and between the West and China that will continue for the foreseeable future for a variety of reasons, and it's some of the things we hope to work together with you on.
QUESTION: Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary. We've run out of time. I'm sorry that I can't take questions from all those who wanted to ask questions. Mr. Secretary of State, thank you for this message of reassurance. I think this is much appreciated here in the hall. Let's offer a round of applause. (Applause.)
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