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U.S. Rep. Justin Amash speaks with members of MLive's editorial board on July 18, 2014.

(MLive.com File Photo)

People walk past a banner for "The Interview" at Arclight Cinemas, Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2014, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. A U.S. official says North Korea perpetrated the unprecedented act of cyberwarfare against Sony Pictures that exposed tens of thousands of sensitive documents and escalated to threats of terrorist attacks that ultimately drove the studio to cancel all release plans for the film.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — As foreign policy dominates national headlines in recent days, U.S. Rep. Justin Amash shares his take on the most pressing issues.

Amash, R-Cascade Township, said the decision not to show a movie because a dictator doesn't like it "sets a very dangerous precedent." A U.S. official recently announced the North Korean government is behind the Sony Pictures cyberattack, which led to the release of once-private employee emails.

Officials conclude the attack was motivated just prior to the planned showing of "The Interview," featuring journalists who assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The congressman also praised a change in U.S. relations with Cuba, calling for more opportunities for the Cuban people to strengthen the relationship.

Read on for questions and answers with the congressman:

MLive: What's your reaction to Obama's announcement of cooling relations with Cuba, and what is the preferred path of relations between the two countries?

Amash: I agree that we need to find a new path forward. ... Isolationism hasn't worked. This idea that you can just keep them in a box and things will get better hasn't proven true.

The best way to end the dictatorship in Cuba and provide opportunity for the people of Cuba to join the free people of the world is to open dialogue with them, is to trade with them, to show them our culture and our people and develop friendships. I think that's our best opportunity.

MLive: Devil's advocate ... you're dealing with a so-called evil regime, a dictator ... why interact with them?

Amash: If the policy of the U.S. government is to not interact with any regimes that we consider evil, then there are a whole host of countries across the globe we would have to immediately cease interacting with. I can name multiple countries in the Middle East that are as repressive as Cuba but which the United States has seemingly normal relations.

MLive: And, like Cuba, China is a communist country, but we have relations with them. How is this different?

Amash: Unfortunately, the policy has been to be for the government to act more concerned about counties' human rights records when they don't trade with us and, you know, as soon as they're an important trading partner like China, ... it seems like the government tends to forget that it's a communist country or has some policies we disagree with very strongly.

MLive: We've heard North Korea is behind the attack of Sony Pictures ... shouldn't it be taken seriously because we have a regime hacking into an American company? What's to say hackers wouldn't attack our infrastructure or utility systems?

How does our government react to this attack from North Korea, and what does government do to strengthen our infrastructure and keep interests at home safe?

Amash: This is precisely what the NSA should be working on, preventing attacks from other countries, keeping our infrastructure safe. These are the kind of things that would be productive uses of their time rather than collecting information on every American and keeping it stored. So, there is a role for the government to defend American infrastructure, American companies, American citizens from cyberattacks. I think, in this case, the U.S. government will monitor it very carefully and very closely.

I'm not sure North Korea really wants to start a war over a movie. (laughs) If they do then they are, the regime is even more extreme than we realize or than we believed. But I think that the companies have to make their own decisions about what they think is in their best interests whether they feel like whether it's safe to release a film or not.

I do have serious concerns about this notion that a dictatorship, one of the worst and most repressive regime on the planet, can tell us they don't like a movie and then we don't show it. I think that sets a very dangerous precedent, but you have to leave it to the companies to make decisions about what they do. It's their movie, their theaters and I think you have to leave it up to them.

MLive: In terms of the movie itself, let the companies figure out what they want to do ... some say put it on Netflix and let's watch it during the holidays.

Amash: They own the movie, I think they probably should release it in some format at some point, but they have to make the call on what they think is best.

MLive: In terms of how the U.S. reacts to this ... what do we do now?

Amash: It's an ongoing problem, you have countries around the world that try to hack into our systems. I'm confident that North Korea is not the only one with the capability to commit these types of cyber attacks on American companies but ... this is again the role of our intelligence community and something I've long said the NSA should be focused more on rather than gathering information on every person who lives in the United States.

Andrew Krietz covers breaking, politics and transportation news for MLive and The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at akrietz@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.