Jan. 24 Republican debate transcript

Williams: We are back in Boca Raton, Florida, where we just now have a quorum back on stage. Our candidates are assembled.

And we are going begin the second segment of tonight's debate, where the candidates can ask the fellow candidate of their choice a question. The answer falls into the 90-second category. In the exigency that a rebuttal is required, those, again, moderator's discretion for 30 seconds.

We're going to start this round with Governor Romney.

Romney: I think Governor Huckabee raised a good question when he spoke about China and the impact of China. I think what you're seeing in the world, as the emergence of Asia occurs, that the demand for more oil around the world is driving prices very high.

The Chinese are supplying to us today toys, and Christmas tree ornaments, and dog food, but they're going to want to make jumbo jets and patents for various medicines and software. They're going to be a much tougher competition, China is, competitor is, than we have seen from Europe in a long time.

And the question that I have is, how are we going to make sure that, as we compete with China -- and I'm going to address this to Mayor Giuliani -- as we compete with China, how do we make sure that trade is done in a way that levels the playing field?

How do we make sure that China stabilizes the world economically, but that we protect American industry and American jobs and do not cause a departure of jobs in this country? What kind of relations do we need to have with China economically? I know our military issues, but economically.

Mayor, what kinds of things do you think we can do to make sure that the trade is done on a level playing field and where American industries are strengthened, and not put in jeopardy by virtue of the growth of this great part of the world?

Giuliani: Before, I told you I wasn't going to answer your question, but I will. We were kidding around about the questions before and who was going to ask whom.

The reality is that China is a great opportunity for America and a great caution for America, both. It's a great opportunity for us to engage, to engage in trade. And the more America engages in trade, the more we get to know a country; the less likely we are to have military hostilities.

I think we should be working with China to try to push down some of these barriers, protection for intellectual property, rule of law, an ability to sue in China, so that you can be protected if you're doing business there.

We've got to be very careful about what we import from China, from the point of view of safety and security, not as much from the point of view of our economy.

And then I think we have to look at the rise of China as a wonderful opportunity. I see 20 million or 30 million people coming out of poverty in China every year. To me, that's 20 million or 30 million more customers for the United States.

That's 20 or 30 million people we can be selling things to.

We should be thinking like aggressive, entrepreneurial Americans. What can we sell to China? We can sell them energy independence. They need it more than we do. We can sell them health processes. We can sell them information processes.

They're at a level of development that's here. We're at a higher level of development. They need to buy what we have.

And then, I believe there's a military aspect to it as well. I think we should increase the size of our military substantially to overcome the damage that Bill Clinton did with the peace dividend. Because when the two of you were talking about the military, what I wanted to jump in and say was, a lot of the cause of this was Bill Clinton's peace dividend, in which he cut the military 25 and 30 percent.

We've never redone or did up -- made up for that damage. We have to do that.

Williams: Time, Mr. Mayor.

And a reminder to our candidates: Number one, these are questions to each other; number two, please use the blinking lights as your guide to when time is up.

Senator McCain, your turn to ask a question of one of your colleagues.