"...I think that we have to have a clear sense of what our values are and what our ideals are. I don't think that we should shy away from being straight with the Russians about human rights violations," Obama said in an interview to CNN.
"We should not shy away from talking to the Chinese about those same subjects ... We have to be tough negotiators with them when it comes to critical issues," he said.
"We have to engage and get them involved and brought into dealing with some of these transnational problems. And that kind of tough, thoughtful, realistic diplomacy used to be a bipartisan hallmark of US foreign policy.
"And one of the things that I want to do, if I have the honour of being president, is to try to bring back the kind of foreign policy that characterised the Truman administration with Marshall and Acheson and Kennan," Obama said.
Harry S Truman was the US President from 1945 to 1953