WASHINGTON, July 12: The relationship between the US and Germany is enduring and is of vital national security interest, the White House has said, amid fresh round of tension between the two countries over arrest of alleged American spies in that country.
“There is a strong and enduring relationship between the United States and Germany when it comes to our national security and intelligence sharing. That relationship continues,” White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters.
“It’s an important part of ensuring for the stability and security of this country and our interests and allies around the globe. It’s an important part of the German national security and their interest and allies around the globe as well. So, that relationship is continuing, despite any reported differences,” Earnest said.
The Germany Foreign Minister has said that he wants to reinvigorate the US-German relationship “on an honest basis.”
Earnest said the Obama Administration is committed to the strong partnership that exists between our two countries.
“It is our view that a strong, cooperative partnership with Germany, when it comes to national security and intelligence matters, is critical to our own national security,” he said.
“Any differences that we have are most effectively resolved through established private channels, not through the media,” he said.
“These private channels include regular discussions between intelligence officials, diplomatic officials, and national security officials from those two countries. So pursuing that dialogue through those channels is exactly what we’re doing,” Earnest said.
The Obama Administration, he said, strongly values the national security relationship between the two countries.
“That includes extensive sharing of intelligence and is critical to the national security of the United States, and it’s critical to the national security of Germany that that relationship and that intelligence-sharing is ongoing,” he said.
Earnest, however, did not respond to reports that Germany has asked the US CIA station chief in Berlin to leave the country.
“When you’re asking me specific questions about a specific CIA official, it’s going to be difficult for me to talk about that in any environment, let alone here on live television. But I will say this. The US understands the importance of this issue and, as a matter of course, respects the German government’s wishes regarding the accreditation and presence of US diplomats in Germany,” the White House Press Secretary said. (PTI)
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