VOA标准英语2009年-US, Georgia, Sign Partnership Charter

But at the charter signing ceremony with Georgian Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze, Secretary of State Rice reaffirmed U.S. support for the country's territorial 8 integrity.

"The United States supports, and will always support Georgia's sovereignty and its territorial integrity, as well as its Euro-Atlantic aspirations 9 and its integration 10 into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic," she said. "The pace of Georgia's integration with NATO should depend on the desires of Georgians themselves, and on Georgia's ability to meet NATO standards."

NATO leaders endorsed 11 eventual 12 membership for Georgia and Ukraine at their Bucharest summit last year, but a U.S.-led effort to offer them a formal membership action plan was rebuffed by alliance members concerned about Moscow's reaction.

After the Russia-Georgia conflict, NATO foreign ministers again endorsed membership for the two countries in principle, but through existing structures. In his remarks at the ceremony, Georgian Foreign Minister Vashadze said he hopes the charter with the United States will be one such vehicle.

"This is something the Georgian nation has been aspiring 13 to, and this is a stepping-stone which will bring Georgia to Euro-Atlantic structures, to membership within NATO and to return to the family of western and civilized 14 nations," he said. "We're very proud that we lived to see this day, and we would like to stress that we appreciate what the United States has been doing for us, and understand that this document of our strategic partnership brings not only rights, but also obligations for Georgia to be a responsible ally, to be a democratic open and liberal society."

Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Matthew Bryza, the Bush administration's point-man for Caucuses affairs, said the United States will continue working diplomatically against any further recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhzia.

Bryza said only Nicaragua and the Palestinian radical 15 group Hamas had followed Russia's lead in accepting the two area's self-proclaimed independence and said he hoped Moscow itself will eventually realize it made a mistake.

"The perspective is that we have to keep on fighting diplomatically through the Geneva process, more broadly in all of our interactions with Russia to make clear that it's violation 16 of its own policy of supporting Georgia's territorial integrity, was a bad decision," he said.

Bryza suggested that over time, a combination of economic and democratic strides by Georgia, and political outreach to the two breakaway areas, might persuade them to accept the authority of the Tbilisi government.