U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #2, 97-01-03
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Friday, January 3, 1997
Briefer: Nicholas Burns
DEPARTMENT
1 Secretary Christopher's Letter to Serbian President
Milosevic
1 Secretary Christopher's Conversation with Sen. Helms
on the President's Extension of the Suspension of Title III of
the Helms-Burton Act
1-2 Dennis Ross' Update on Hebron Negotiations
2 Secretary Christopher in New York Next Week
FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
2 Demonstrations in Belgrade
2 Foreign Minister Milutinovic's Letter On the OSCE Report
on Annulled Elections
2-4 --Secretary Christopher's Response
5 --Reaction of OSCE to Milosevic Letter
3-5 U.S. Policy and Sanctions on Serbia
5-6 Future U.S. Policy on Serbia
LETTER BOMBS AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB
6 State Dept. Role in FBI Investigation of the Letter Bombs
6-7 Request to Foreign Governments of Assistance in the
Investigation
7 Mail Screening Processes at Federal Facilities
MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
7-8 Dennis Ross' Meetings with Chairman Arafat and PM Netanyahu
8-9 Update on the Hebron Negotiations
SYRIA
9-10 U.S. Response to the Bombing in Damascus
10-11 Syrian Accusations of Israeli Involvement in the Bombing
RUSSIAN/BELARUSSIAN DIPLOMATS
11-12 Update on the Incident in New York Between UN Diplomats
and the NYPD
TAIWAN/CHINA
12 Report of Transit Visa for Taiwanese Vice President
NORTH KOREA
12 Details on the Joint Briefing for the Four Party Talks
SWITZERLAND
13 U.S. Investigation of Nazi Assets in Swiss Banks
SAUDI ARABIA
13 Update on the Khobar and Riyadh Bombings
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1996, 1:28.P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BURNS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department.
I apologize for being a half hour late. I took two phone calls that I
think will be of interest to you. That was the occasion for my being late,
by the way. That's my excuse.
The first was from Secretary Christopher, who is, as many of you know, in
California on leave. Secretary Christopher's leave usually constitutes
working only l0 hours a day as opposed to l4 hours a day. And, in fact,
today he's been doing several things that I think will be of interest to
you. Secretary Christopher sent a message to President Milosevic this
morning, a very tough message -- a message that puts into question the
inclinations of the Serbian Government to play fair on this question of the
November l7 elections. In essence, the Serbian Government responded to the
OSCE today in a letter from Foreign Minister Milutinovic to the OSCE on the
OSCE investigation into the problems concerning the elections. And while
acknowledging - that there may have been some inconsistencies in some of
the constituencies in Belgrade - the letter from Foreign Minister
Milutinovic does not go nearly far enough in acknowledging the obligations
of the Serbian Government to make sure that it respects the voice of the
people.
And I'll be glad to go into this issue with you in just a moment.
Let me just very briefly say, in addition to that, Secretary Christopher
called Senator Jesse Helms this morning. He gave him a preview of the
President's announcement on Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. You've had
a very good briefing from Ambassador Eizenstat on that.
And, third, Secretary Christopher has been following the events in the
Middle East, particularly Dennis Ross' negotiations in Hebron, very
carefully. The second call I had was from Dennis Ross, who just completed,
just about an hour ago, a meeting in Gaza with Chairman Yassar Arafat.
They met for several hours.
As a result of that meeting, there still is no deal between the Palestinians
and the Israelis. They're still working on final details.
They've made some progress over the last week or so but not sufficient
progress to complete an agreement on the redeployment of the Israeli
Defense Forces from Hebron. They will continue to work on these final
details and these final issues tomorrow.
Dennis Ross plans to see Chairman Arafat tomorrow.
Dennis is taking his sojourn out there on a day-to-day basis. He's going
to have to assess, on a day-to-day basis, how useful it is for him to be
there. It's been very useful this week, but we need to see the Israelis
and Palestinians together cross this finish line. The United States cannot
do that for them. It's their job; it's in their self-interest to do so,
we believe, and we think they believe. And they're the only two
parties that can finish these negotiations.
Secretary Christopher has received a full brief on Dennis Ross' most
recent meeting with Chairman Arafat.
Secretary Christopher returns to Washington on Sunday evening. He'll be
back in the Department on Monday morning. He's going to be spending most of
Tuesday in New York City.
He'll be the guest of honor at a dinner by the council offered for him - by
the Council on Foreign Relations. He'll also be seeing a number of your
colleagues in the media establishment in New York on Tuesday. But he's got
a busy schedule for the next few weeks.
So those are the major issues of interest here today. In addition to
Helms-Burton, Serbia, and the Hebron negotiations, I'd be glad to go into
detail on the Serbian question that you might have.
QUESTION: Can you give us some more details on the letter that the
Secretary sent to Milosevic? Can you release the letter?
MR. BURNS: I'm not going to release the letter. It's not been our
habit to release any of the messages that we've sent to President Milosevic,
but I can give you a general sense of it, Carol.
First of all, just by way of a quick background, as you know the
opposition protests continue; and despite some of the coldest weather that
Central Europe has seen in a century, and in fact dangerous and icy
conditions, 30,000 demonstrators marched again yesterday in Belgrade.
The Serbian Government, as I said, issued a statement today in response to
the OSCE mission; and this letter by Foreign Minister Milutinovic
characterizes the visit of the Felipe Gonzalez delegation, the OSCE
delegation, as useful and positive. As I said before, it does acknowledge
some of the opposition victories in several constituencies. Nevertheless,
the letter also contains defensive and legalistic justifications for the
annulment of the November l7 election results. And the letter contains
hollow assurances, in our view, of Serbia's commitment to democracy.
The letter fails to address seriously the recommendations in the Gonzalez
report that would try to help resolve some of these very serious issues
that have led to the political crisis in Belgrade.
As a result, the United States repeats its call for the Serbian
authorities to restore the results of the November l7 elections and to
allow the voice of the Serbian people and their votes to be heard.
Secretary Christopher's message to President Milosevic today urges
President Milosevic to accept the election results, to legitimize the
election results in a fair way and to legitimize the democratic will of the
Serbian people. The message from the Secretary reiterates the call of the
United States, that we have made since the day after the elections, for a
meaningful political dialogue between the Serbian Government and the
Serbian opposition.
The message from Secretary Christopher warns President Milosevic about
the consequences of increased isolation should he fail to take sufficient
action to correct the anti-democratic actions of his own government over
the past month.
Secretary Christopher told me, in our phone conversation, he took great
care with his message. He thought over what he was going to say.
I think it's fair to say that the Secretary believed, at the time of the
Dayton Accords, a little over a year ago, that perhaps events in Serbia
would finally move in the right direction; and, unfortunately, Secretary
Christopher has now concluded that events are moving in the wrong direction
in Serbia - in an anti-democratic direction - and that's of great concern
to the United States.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) I'd like you to elaborate a little bit about the
warning of the consequences of increased isolationism; and, specifically,
I mean, speak to the point that this Government has threatened and warned
Milosevic repeatedly in recent weeks about, you know, he wouldn't get
international financing and other kinds of things that he wants. And this
seems to have had little effect on him. It sounds like your leverage
is pretty nil.
MR. BURNS: As you 'd expect, I don't agree with that analysis at all.
In fact, I think
that the so-called inner wall of sanctions are sanctions that have teeth
and that are felt in Belgrade. What Milosevic needs, what the Belgrade
Government thinks it needs, is it needs increased contacts - economic,
especially - with the West: with Western financial institutions, like the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and with Western private
investors.
It does not have that today, and it doesn't have it because the United
States is using its effective veto in those organizations to make sure
those organizations do not lend money to Belgrade.
Those are sanctions that have teeth and that Mr. Milosevic has to worry
about. And, frankly, what he has done since November l7 is leading to
Serbia's further economic, as well as political, isolation in Europe and in
the West.
QUESTION: Are you saying that these sanctions have effect, yet even you
admit that he's moving in the wrong direction?
He's not gaining.
MR. BURNS: He has been moving in the wrong direction since November l7.
And I think the very clear warning from the United States, embodied in
Secretary Christopher's message, is that should he continue these policies,
he's going to see an increasing determination by the United States and by
our partners in Europe to make sure that he does not have the ability to
rely upon the Western economic institutions for any kind of financial
support.
That is a warning that he ought to heed.
There's also just the basic element here of Milosevic and his cronies
going wildly in the opposite direction from the historical flow of events
over the last five or six years. Most Central European countries are
nascent democracies. Their governments do not steal the elections from
their people. And we've seen an example of that on November l7. He's got
to worry about his political isolation in his own region as well.
QUESTION: Nick, does the U.S. Government feel, as The New York Times
expressed today, that there may be a crackdown, a lockup of the opposition?
Is there such a plan afoot, do you believe, by Milosevic?
MR. BURNS: We're not aware of any imminent plans to take any kind of
action like that against the opposition, but we reiterate our call today
for Mr. Milosevic and his security forces not to use force against the
demonstrators who, since late November, have been marching and organizing
and demonstrating peacefully without resort to violence in any way.
So any resort to force by the Milosevic government would be a serious
miscalculation and I think would find great opposition on the part of the
United States and our allies.
QUESTION: Nick, does the Secretary mention any additional sanctions or
any further tightening of the outer wall, or whatever is still left, of
sanctions in his letter?
MR. BURNS: I'm not going to go into the details of the Secretary's
letter, except to say, David, the Milosevic government understands the
policy of the United States and the existing sanctions will remain; and the
United States has no intention of lifting those sanctions if we see a
continuation of this kind of reprehensible behavior by the Milosevic
government.
QUESTION: As Carol said it, it doesn't - I mean, those sanctions are in
place. What you've so far told us makes it sound like all you're really
saying is those sanctions will remain in place, which clearly hasn't
affected Mr. Milosevic's behavior one bit so far.
MR. BURNS: I beg to differ in this sense. The presence of the
sanctions is a reminder - a concrete reminder to Mr. Milosevic - that there
are concrete penalties for the anti-democratic behavior of the Serbian
Government. Furthermore, I think it is absolutely fair to say that his
actions might have been quite different, had he not feared the reaction of
the West - had he not seen the kind of resolute public statements that the
United States in particular has been issuing since day one of this
crisis.
The playbook, the standard operating procedures, for an authoritarian
regime in that part of the world would probably have led to a violent,
repressive crackdown against these demonstrations far earlier, had the
United States not supported Radio B-92, had the United States not spoken
out publicly and warned him publicly about the consequences of his actions,
and had we not warned, as we do today, that the teeth in our sanctions,
that the sanctions have teeth, will continue. So I think actually the
United States and our allies in Europe have had an effect on his behavior.
QUESTION: Could I just ask whether - you feel that he's been restrained
somewhat from more extreme action. What has he been restrained by? Have
there been private warnings of additional sanctions if he were to take
further steps?
MR. BURNS: There have been public warnings and there have been private
warnings, and I'm not going to go into the detail about all the specifics
of those warnings, but they've been quite specific and quite concrete.
Yes, Betsy.
QUESTION: Are there any other steps being planned with our European
allies to try and tighten the noose on him?
MR. BURNS: As you know, the OSCE met today in Vienna to review the
response to the OSCE by Foreign Minister Milutinovic, that response being
quite inadequate. The OSCE will continue to study the Serbian Government
response, and we'll continue to have a discussion with the Serbian
Government about what we think should happen. So I can't predict exactly
what the reaction of the OSCE will be next week, but we think it's going to
be probably pretty much as tough as the United States Government reaction
has been today.
QUESTION: Now my question is whether the U.S. Government is going to
try and work with the OSCE and other organizations like that in Europe to
bring this threat of continuing sanctions or of other sanctions home to
them more forcefully? Is there any action being contemplated by the U.S.
and these other groups together?
MR. BURNS: I can't anticipate what future decisions are going to be
made in the next week or two or three by the West in response to the
Belgrade Government's actions. But let's just summarize what our position
is -- the position of the United States.
We support the right of the Serbian people to take to the streets
peacefully and to demonstrate to gain their democratic rights and to have
the election results restored, to have democracy win; and we oppose the
actions of the Milosevic Government that are fundamentally anti-democratic.
We reserve the right to take any action necessary to make that policy - our
policy - succeed.
QUESTION: Is the Administration holding off on any major new decisions
concerning Serbia until after the successor takes office -
MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of any such strategy.
QUESTION: Has the Secretary been in touch with Madeleine Albright on
this subject?
MR. BURNS: I know they've had a number of conversations about a lot of
issues. I don't know if they specifically discussed this subject in the
last couple of days. We have a fully functioning government here. We have
a President, we have a Vice President, we have a Secretary of State, and
we'll soon have a new Secretary of State. I think there's a great deal of
unanimity in this government about the seriousness of this political crisis,
for Serbia's future and for the future of the Balkans. I don't anticipate
any dramatic changes in the next couple of weeks, because we do have a
unified government, and certainly we have the leadership of President
Clinton on this. You heard him speak about this in his last press
conference in a quite forthright way.
QUESTION: Does the State Department have any role at all in the
government's efforts to get to the bottom of the letter bombs?
MR. BURNS: First, let me just say the FBI is actively investigating the
letter bombs that were uncovered yesterday at the National Press Club and
investigating these incidents as possible acts of international terrorism.
The State Department's role in such investigations is to assist the FBI by
requesting the cooperation of foreign governments that might have relevant
information about these letters. We are doing so in this case.
We have notified all American Embassies and all American Consulates to
review their security measures in light of these incidents, particularly
mail and package screening procedures.
As the FBI statement yesterday warned, the American public should report
any suspicious mail. We are likewise advising American citizens overseas
to report any suspicious mail delivered to them to the relevant American
Embassy or American Consulate where they are residing.
We have been in touch with the Government of Egypt, because we believe
that some of these letters - not all of these letters - were sent from
Egypt, and I'm pleased to say that the Government of Egypt has pledged its
full support and full cooperation to the State Department and to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation so that we might get to the bottom of this
and find out who sent these letters.
I should just say we were very concerned yesterday for the welfare of
all of our colleagues, particularly those foreign journalists who have
offices in the National Press Club and particularly concerned with two
friends of ours, Rafik Maalouf and Dana Sandarusi, and we're very, very
pleased that there were no injuries incurred by anyone at the Foreign Press
Center.
QUESTION: There were also two sent to Kansas.
MR. BURNS: Excuse me?
QUESTION: There were also two sent to Kansas.
MR. BURNS: That's right.
QUESTION: Can you tell us any other governments in the Middle East that
have been asked to help in this investigation?
MR. BURNS: At this point I know that we have contacted the Government
of Egypt, and we have its full cooperation. We will be contacting other
governments, as necessary, and if the trail of information and evidence
seems to lead in the direction of other countries. Obviously, at this
point there's no question - I don't believe any evidence has been uncovered
of any governmental involvement, but we need the cooperation of governments
because some of these letters certainly, if not all of them, emanated
from the Middle East.
QUESTION: Did you contact Saudi Arabia?
MR. BURNS: I just don't know if we have or not.
QUESTION: Has anyone taken responsibility?
MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of any claim of responsibility.
QUESTION: Any thought as to why Washington - why this bureau in
Washington and why Kansas? Do you see any link?
MR. BURNS: It's hard to fathom the mentality of terrorists, and these
people are terrorists. Your guess is as good as mine.
QUESTION: I realize that this might not be your purview, but is the
pertinent mail from pertinent sources being screened so that people are now
protected?
MR. BURNS: All I can say is that we're following here at the Department
of State, and we're urging our Embassies and Consulates to follow a very
vigorous policy of screening mail.
We've had such a policy in place for a very long time, and we've simply
reminded people to keep security procedures in place. Terrorists should
know that we are vigilant, and that we will hunt these people down who seek
to inflict terrorism on the United States.
QUESTION: That's not what I was referring to specifically, though. The
mail that's coming from abroad that might contain these types of devices -
is that being screened as it comes into the U.S.?
MR. BURNS: I think my answer was sufficient. I think I answered your
question, with all due respect. We always screen mail.
QUESTION: To go back on the Middle East, Dennis' negotiations - he
spent today with Yasser Arafat. You said tomorrow he plans to spend with
Arafat as well. There has been some reporting that suggests that the
Palestinians really are the ones who are digging in their heels at this
time. Do you have an opinion about that, whether it's the Palestinians who
seem -
MR. BURNS: I don't agree with it, based on my conversations with
Dennis. Look, there's a very practical reason why Dennis Ross met with
Chairman Arafat this evening - there's a seven-hour time difference - and
tomorrow, and that is the Shabat - the Jewish Holy Day. Israeli Government
officials do not have meetings between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday.
I'm sure that Dennis will be in touch with the Israeli Government on
Saturday evening, as he normally is, and on Sunday.
But again, he's taking it on a day-to-day basis. We don't agree with
this conventional wisdom of the press that you ought to point the finger at
one of the parties and say, "There's the problem." The fact is they're
engaged in a very intense political and emotional dialogue about incredibly
difficult issues, and you know how difficult Hebron is. It has a religious
and political component to it, and they've got to cross the finish
line together. They've got to work together. They've got to make
compromises together. They've got to listen to the other's concerns.
They've got to take account for the other party's position in a negotiation.
So this has to be a mutually agreed upon deal, and it takes two to
tango, and both are responsible. So we're not pointing the finger at the
Palestinians or the Israelis and saying that one or the other has more
responsibility than the other to make an agreement.
QUESTION: Nick, you're not disputing that analysis.
You're just unwilling to point the finger yourself.
MR. BURNS: I'm disputing the analysis and saying I'm unwilling to point
the finger. I don't think it's accurate, based on my knowledge of these
negotiations. In any negotiations, it's just simply not helpful to take a
snapshot of a negotiation and say, "On the 84<SUP>th day of the talks,
this party is responsible." The fact is there are ebbs and flows
and ups and downs. The only thing that matters is the final result,
and they've got to cross the finish line together.
QUESTION: But what's your analysis today of why they seemed so close
earlier in the week, and there were predictions of a summit, and then a
summit again, and then a summit, and now things seem to be farther
apart?
MR. BURNS: As the most experienced negotiator that we have in the State
Department, Secretary of State Christopher often says when you get to the
end-game of a negotiation - the end; this is clearly the end-game - the
negotiations often and in this case certainly have become much more
difficult and much more intensive. I think that's perhaps part of the
reason why there has not been an agreement yet. But Dennis is going to
take this on a day-to-day basis. He is there representing the United
States as the good-faith intermediary and partner. We think a deal can and
should be made.
It's up to the Palestinians and Israelis to make it.
QUESTION: Did the Palestinians in any way change their positions
following the market square attack on Wednesday?
MR. BURNS: Again, Judd, I'm going to keep true to the policy we've had
of not characterizing the negotiating positions of either party.
QUESTION: Nick, has that complicated the negotiations?
MR. BURNS: As I said yesterday in response to Carol's question, we
commend Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat on the productive way
that they handled that crisis. Both of them did and said the right thing,
and both of them, I think, took account of the position of the other in
their public statements and in their actions. You saw the reports that the
Palestinian Security Chief and the Israeli Interior Ministry officials
and security people had a meeting in Hebron. They're working together.
You saw Prime Minister Netanyahu say the right things, condemn this in
absolute terms, as we have condemned it.
You've seen Chairman Arafat take a very responsible position in the
wake of this, and you can imagine the pressure upon him in a situation like
this where six or seven people have been wounded by a terrorist wielding a
gun. So I think we've been pleased to see the reactions by both the
Palestinians and Israelis.
QUESTION: Nick, does the United States believe, as at least one of the
parties does, that this is a negotiation that is not exclusively about
Hebron? Does the United States believe that there needs to be a statement
about where the parties go from here, with some specifics in it, as part of
this agreement, or does the United States not believe that?
MR. BURNS: The United States believes many things, but we reserve those
beliefs - the communication of those beliefs for Israel and the Palestinians
privately. It just would not be helpful, David, if I were to go into our
negotiating position at this point.
QUESTION: Different subject?
MR. BURNS: Yes.
QUESTION: Nick, your statement yesterday concerning the bombing in
Damascus raised a lot of eyebrows in Syria and beyond. It was observed
that you failed politically to condemn the act as a terrorism act. It was
observed that you failed morally in even extending the condolences of the
U.S. Government to the families of the victims, which is something the
United States is very quick to do when Israelis are subjected to the same
act.
Would you care to add anything to the record?
MR. BURNS: Those are quite serious charges leveled against the State
Department. Let me tell you the facts. When I came out to the podium
yesterday, we in this building - and that includes the Bureau of Near
Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of Public Affairs, my Bureau - were not
aware of any of the details of the terrorist attack in Damascus. We didn't
know exactly what had happened.
We didn't know if anyone had been killed or if anyone had been wounded.
We simply saw press reports, but we had no independent information from the
Government of Syria. That accounts for the fact that we did not make a
statement on the incident at yesterday's briefing.
Subsequent to my briefing yesterday, we have been in touch with the
Syrian Embassy. I talked to the Syrian Ambassador this morning. Assistant
Secretary Pelletreau talked to him yesterday afternoon. The Syrian
Government has been in touch with our Embassy in Damascus, and this is what
we understand: we understand that a bomb exploded on a passenger bus in
Damascus; the Syrian Government has said that nine people were killed in
the explosion; that many more were wounded.
The United States condemns this terrorist attack against innocent people,
and there's every reason to believe that these were innocent people on that
bus - civilians - who ought not to have to fear for their lives when they
travel around the City of Damascus. The United States extends our
condolences to the families of the victims.
The United States would have made this statement yesterday, had we known
about the incident in any kind of detail. But we make this statement today,
and we have great sympathy for the people, obviously, who were killed and
wounded and for their families.
QUESTION: You could see yesterday, Nick, from press reports and you
have a fully functioning Embassy in Damascus; the explosion took place on
Tuesday; many foreign diplomats reported the incident. And yesterday you
were also quick in criticizing the Syrians for insinuating or saying
explicitly that the Israelis were behind this. Now, if the Syrians have
not produced any evidence to support their claims, certainly you do not
have any counter-evidence to support that their - to say that their claims
are incorrect, and that's why you and the Administration appeared to be
extremely insensitive to what happened in Damascus. And then you can
see why the Syrians reacted the way they did.
MR. BURNS: You're going to have to trust our reliability and our
sincerity and the sincerity of what we say up here, and I would ask you to
do that, because I've been very straight with you today. You can choose
whether you want to believe what I'm saying or not. That's your choice.
But these are sincere words of condolence on the part of the U.S.
Government. We did not know in this building at 1:00 p.m. yesterday, or
1:30 p.m., when I briefed what had happened. It is very irresponsible of
any government to make a public statement about an incident when you
don't understand what has happened.
Let's get to the second part of your question. The Syrian Government and
press again today made statements in effect accusing the Israeli Government
of complicity in this bomb attack and in other such bombings. It is not
wise for any government to accuse another government of an act of terrorism
without a foundation of evidence to support it. The United States is not
aware of any evidence whatsoever that would link the Israeli Government
to the bomb attack of a couple of days ago or the other bombings in
Damascus.
Furthermore, you have seen from Jerusalem an absolutely clear statement
of denial by an adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and I think it's
incumbent on the Government of Syria and the Syrian press for that matter -
your colleagues in Damascus - to exercise some responsibility here if they
don't have any information to back up these claims.
QUESTION: The Syrian press can write whatever it wants.
The Syrian Government, it says whatever it wants. It's not my concern
really. What I'm asking you, these two governments have been in a state of
war. They've been leveling charges against each other. Something happens
in Israel, then the Israeli Government and Israeli press accuse the Syrians
or groups supported by Syrian -
MR. BURNS: And you saw from the Israeli Government - in fact, the Prime
Minister of Israel yesterday publicly condemned an act of terrorism in
Damascus - this bombing. I think you ought to give the Government of
Israel its due on that.
QUESTION: Nick, in the contacts between the U.S. and Syria, did the
Americans try - ask the Syrians straight out what kind of evidence lay
behind this charge?
MR. BURNS: Certainly, we've made the suggestion to the Syrian
Government that to make such a charge publicly is not wise, absent the
information. I'm not aware that we've been given any information. In fact,
I'm quite sure we've not been given any information that would substantiate
those claims of Israeli Government involvement.
QUESTION: Did you ask for such information?
MR. BURNS: This is not a matter for the United States to adjudicate.
This is really a matter for Syria and Israel, but it's ultimately a matter
for the Syrian Government to decide how it's going to characterize its own
position, and I can't do that for them. We have made the suggestion to
them that it's not right or wise to make these claims, absent information.
These are very serious charges.
QUESTION: And was there something today about what the motivation is
for Damascus pointing the finger at Israel?
MR. BURNS: I think that's a question that the Damascus Government and
Syrian officials are far better prepared than I am to respond to.
QUESTION: Do you have anything - to change the subject - on the
protests from the Russians about the incident involving those two diplomats
in New York?
MR. BURNS: Yes. I know that the Russian Government has protested quite
vigorously to the United States about the alleged - the alleged - police
treatment of the Russian and Belarusian diplomats. We've also heard from
the City of New York. Mayor Giuliani has written to Secretary Christopher,
asking that the two diplomats - the Russian and Belarusian diplomats - who
are assigned to their missions at the United Nations - that these
people be removed from any diplomatic posting in New York City.
The State Department's position is that we need to see a report from the
City of New York. We understand that the New York Police Department is
preparing an investigative report that would detail its view of the
incident --what happened, what was the cause for stopping these people -
and it would also include a formal investigation by the City of New York
itself. We understand that once these investigations are complete - and we
would expect this to happen any day now - that this report will be sent
to the State Department. Then we'd have to look at it, and we'd
determine whether any appropriate action should be taken.
As I said yesterday, we have no reason to question the professionalism or
the competence of the New York Police Department, and we're not questioning
that today. But we do have an obligation to see all the facts in a formal
way before we can speak formally about this problem where you have the
Russians wanting some action taken, on the one hand - the Russian
Government - and we have the City of New York wanting opposite action taken
on the other.
It's a very difficult situation. We will do our best, obviously, to make
sure that we take the appropriate action, if that is necessary.
QUESTION: I thought you said that you were supposed to receive the
report yesterday.
MR. BURNS: We thought we would, but we understand now that the New York
City officials are looking over the report, and they're conducting a formal
investigation. That has to be married with what comes out of the Police
Department, and we haven't received the report yet. So we've seen the
statements by Mayor Giuliani, but we really don't have a lot more to say
until we receive the official report.
QUESTION: It says it did send a report last night to the State
Department.
MR. BURNS: Our officials here say that we have not received a report.
Maybe they didn't send it by FedEx. Maybe they sent it by U.S. mail.
QUESTION: (Laughter) That has to be checked, right.
MR. BURNS: We don't have a report here, as of 2:00 p.m., Friday
afternoon.
QUESTION: Any decision on the Taiwan visa?
MR. BURNS: I think, as you saw, I was behind the curve yesterday when
that question was asked. We have received a request from the Vice
President of Taiwan for a transit. He's attending another inauguration in
the hemisphere, but we've not yet acted upon that request. It's interesting.
There have been so many democratic elections in the Western hemisphere of
late - so many democracies, with the exception of Cuba, that it gives a lot
of opportunity for other people around the world to attend their
inaugurations, in this case Taiwan officials. It's a kind of interesting
connection. I thought it was interesting. You're not very impressed by -
QUESTION: (Inaudible)
QUESTION: Has there been any agreement on the place for the North Korea
briefing?
MR. BURNS: We have not yet agreed with the North Koreans on a date and
place for the briefing, but, as Winston Lord told you the other day, we do
believe that that should be put together very quickly. It's a matter of a
week or two. It shouldn't take much longer than that.
Yes, Carol.
QUESTION: How about the study on the Nazi assets in Swiss banks.
MR. BURNS: Yes.
QUESTION: When do you expect that to be released?
MR. BURNS: When do we expect it to be completed? Ambassador Eizenstat
is a very busy person; is in charge of the investigation by the United
States, and that's really centered here in the State Department in our
Office of the Historian to look at our own archives to ascertain whether or
not the United States Government in the years immediately following the
second World War did and said the right thing on this current issue.
We have seen some statements by the Government of Switzerland recently on
this issue that were quite surprising, frankly, to see. We certainly
reject any charges that the United States or any branch of the United
States Government has anything other than the best intentions on this
issue. We feel that we have an obligation to the historical truth
here.
We have tens of thousands of survivors of the Holocaust who are affected
by whether or not all of us as governments are doing the right thing by
them. We need to look into this question of the financial assets that were
stolen from Jews and others by the Nazis. Frankly, to make a charge that
somehow an agency of the United States Government is attempting to
destabilize the Swiss banking system or is blackmailing the Swiss
Government is ludicrous.
We saw such a charge from a very senior official of the Swiss Government
over the weekend. We care deeply about this issue, and we're going to get
to the bottom of the issue. If the evidence from our historians leads us
to even unpleasant truths about the actions of the United States Government
in the late 1940s, so be it. People have a right to see the truth, and
I think the Swiss Government ought to take the same position on
this issue.
Yes, sir.
QUESTION: Thank you, Nick. Anything new with regard to the investigations
in Saudi Arabia, the Khobar and the Riyadh bombings, and -
MR. BURNS: Not that I'm aware of, no.
QUESTION: And anything more with regard to U.S. speaking out about
possible penalties to be paid for these atrocities?
MR. BURNS: Nothing further to what we've said repeatedly.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. BURNS: Thank you.
(The briefing concluded at 2:02 p.m.)
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