WELLINGTON: US President Donald Trump has told his top diplomat to ignore trouble in Washington and re-engage with Russia to rebuild ties, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Tuesday.
With eJames Comey, former director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), due to testify to Congress on Thursday, Tillerson was asked if he feared the adminstration would be brought down over allegations of Trump’s election campaign ties with Moscow.
“The president has been clear to me, ‘Do not let what’s happening over here in the political realm prevent you from the work you need to do in this relationship’,” he told reporters in New Zealand.
Comey’s testimony will be his first public remarks since being fired by Trump last month, and represents a moment of danger for the president.
His sacking came as the FBI probes possible collusion between Trump’s election campaign team and Russia — which US intelligence believes hoped to tilt the election in the Republican’s favor.
Tillerson said he could not comment on the investigations into Russian ties and was “really ... not involved in any of these other issues.”
But he added: “The president has been very clear with me that Russia is an important global player and today our relationships with Russia are at a very low point and they’ve been deteriorating. So the president asked me to begin a re-engagement process with Russia to stabilize that relationship so it does not deteriorate further.”
Trump wanted him to “identify areas of mutual interest where perhaps we can build some level of trust and confidence so that there are areas where we can work together.”
“And that’s the process that’s under way today,” Tillerson said.
“He has been quite clear with me to proceed at whatever pace and in whatever areas we might make progress.”
Tillerson met New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee on Tuesday after stopovers in Australia and Singapore.
Tillerson also reiterated the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region as global leaders have expressed growing mistrust over the Trump administration, which has withdrawn from key international agreements since taking office.
Tillerson said the Asia-Pacific region remained “extremely important” for the US both in terms of national security and economic interests.
The Trump administration has come under fire for withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and more recently the Paris Climate accord — both key to the region and to the small island nation of New Zealand.
“We do believe that engaging globally remains important and we will be seeking ways to remain engaged and there are many ways we can do that, through the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change as well as economic and trade forums that we will obviously be very active in as well,” he said.
A senior US official said David Rank, the chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Beijing, has left the State Department over the Trump administration’s decision to quit the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change.
A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Rank’s departure, but said she was unable to verify Twitter posts that said he resigned as he felt unable to deliver a formal notification to China of the US decision last week to quit the agreement.
“He has retired from the foreign service,” said Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the department’s East Asia Bureau.
“Mr. Rank has made a personal decision. We appreciate his years of dedicated service to the State Department.”
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, president Donald Trump’s pick as the next US ambassador to Beijing, is expected to take up the post later this month.
A tweet from China expert John Pomfret quoted unnamed sources as saying that Rank had resigned as he could not support Trump’s decision last week to withdraw from the Paris agreement.
With eJames Comey, former director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), due to testify to Congress on Thursday, Tillerson was asked if he feared the adminstration would be brought down over allegations of Trump’s election campaign ties with Moscow.
“The president has been clear to me, ‘Do not let what’s happening over here in the political realm prevent you from the work you need to do in this relationship’,” he told reporters in New Zealand.
Comey’s testimony will be his first public remarks since being fired by Trump last month, and represents a moment of danger for the president.
His sacking came as the FBI probes possible collusion between Trump’s election campaign team and Russia — which US intelligence believes hoped to tilt the election in the Republican’s favor.
Tillerson said he could not comment on the investigations into Russian ties and was “really ... not involved in any of these other issues.”
But he added: “The president has been very clear with me that Russia is an important global player and today our relationships with Russia are at a very low point and they’ve been deteriorating. So the president asked me to begin a re-engagement process with Russia to stabilize that relationship so it does not deteriorate further.”
Trump wanted him to “identify areas of mutual interest where perhaps we can build some level of trust and confidence so that there are areas where we can work together.”
“And that’s the process that’s under way today,” Tillerson said.
“He has been quite clear with me to proceed at whatever pace and in whatever areas we might make progress.”
Tillerson met New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English and Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee on Tuesday after stopovers in Australia and Singapore.
Tillerson also reiterated the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region as global leaders have expressed growing mistrust over the Trump administration, which has withdrawn from key international agreements since taking office.
Tillerson said the Asia-Pacific region remained “extremely important” for the US both in terms of national security and economic interests.
The Trump administration has come under fire for withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal and more recently the Paris Climate accord — both key to the region and to the small island nation of New Zealand.
“We do believe that engaging globally remains important and we will be seeking ways to remain engaged and there are many ways we can do that, through the UN intergovernmental panel on climate change as well as economic and trade forums that we will obviously be very active in as well,” he said.
A senior US official said David Rank, the chargé d’affaires of the US Embassy in Beijing, has left the State Department over the Trump administration’s decision to quit the 2015 Paris agreement to fight climate change.
A State Department spokeswoman confirmed Rank’s departure, but said she was unable to verify Twitter posts that said he resigned as he felt unable to deliver a formal notification to China of the US decision last week to quit the agreement.
“He has retired from the foreign service,” said Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the department’s East Asia Bureau.
“Mr. Rank has made a personal decision. We appreciate his years of dedicated service to the State Department.”
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, president Donald Trump’s pick as the next US ambassador to Beijing, is expected to take up the post later this month.
A tweet from China expert John Pomfret quoted unnamed sources as saying that Rank had resigned as he could not support Trump’s decision last week to withdraw from the Paris agreement.
