U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #68, 00-06-30
From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>
716
U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
I N D E X
Friday, June 30, 2000
Briefer: Richard Boucher
ANNOUNCEMENTS
1 No Press Briefing Monday, July 3, 2000
2 Secretary Albright to Christen the USS McCampbell, Bath Iron Works,
Maine
1 Secretary Albright to Address Participants in the Monticello
Independence Day Celebration in Virginia
MEPP
1-3 Nothing New Scheduled for Summit
2-3 Secretary's report to the President
4 Secretary's Discussion with Chairman Arafat
4 Oslo Accords were Based on Mutuality, Not Unilateral Decision-Making
4-5 Raising of PHALCON Issue during Secretary's travel to Israel
5 No Official Confirmation from the Government of Israel that the
Deputy Defense Minister will be travelling to Washington
5 No Talks with Sonny Callahan
6, 14 Resolutions 242 and 338 are the cornerstones of the US Approach to
the Middle East
BAHRAIN-QATAR
6 US Supports a peaceful resolution
CHILE
6 Release of Documents by June 30th to Help Families
Previous Release of the Horman and the Teruggi cases
MEXICO
7 July 2nd Elections in Mexico
PERU
8 OAS Mission led by Secretary General Gaviria and Canadian Foreign
Minister Axworthy
8-9 US Supports OAS Recommendations to Strengthen Democracy
KOREAS
10 North-South Korea Talks
11 Visit to Korea Successful
11 Nothing New on a North Korean Official Visit
CHINA / TAIWAN
10-12 Up to Parties to determine basis, modalities for dialogue
IRAQ
13 Meetings with Iraqi Opposition
SECURITY
13 No New 4th of July Celebration Cancellation
ETHIOPIA / ERITREA
13 Technical Talks begin in Washington on July3rd
IRAN
14 US has Raised Concerns Over Trial of Thirteen Jews
CHINA
14-15 World Bank Loan
INDIA
15 Talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
DPB # 68
FRIDAY, JUNE 30, 2000, 1:10 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Where are my fellow travelers? Only one of them
made it here. There's only two of us that have made it here.
All right, anyway, let me make a couple announcements. The first is happy
news: there will be no briefing here on Monday.
QUESTION: What's happy?
MR. BOUCHER: What's happy? That's all those who don't need to come in
on Monday. Obviously, the Press Office will be available to help you out
during the course of the day, as necessary.
A couple announcements we'll put up on the Secretary's weekend activities.
She is not taking the weekend off. She goes on Sunday, July 2nd, to Bath,
Maine, to take part in the christening ceremony of the USS McCampbell, so
she'll be up there on Saturday. And July 4th she'll address people from
around the world as they take the oath of US citizenship at Monticello's
38th Annual Independence Day Celebration and Naturalization Ceremony. And,
of course, that's an event that, given her own personal history, has very
special meaning for her, and she'll be down there on July 4th.
That's it for announcements. Do you have a question on that?
QUESTION: When the Secretary christens a ship, does she use Korbel
champagne?
MR. BOUCHER: We'll have to check on that on the actual day of the
event.
QUESTION: How many -- (inaudible) - does she get out of it?
MR. BOUCHER: I think, given her baseball experience, she might be able
to crack the bottle.
All right, let's go to your questions.
QUESTION: Well, here we are before a long weekend, at least everybody
but the Secretary. What's in store on the Middle East - do I have to call
it a peace process? On the Middle East front. Any talks coming up, like
the Palestinians think there are - or thought there were, anyhow, a few
days ago?
MR. BOUCHER: There's nothing scheduled at this point because there's no
decision from the President about how he wishes to proceed. I think you
saw quite clearly when we were in the region that the parties looked to the
President to determine whether a summit is appropriate at this moment,
whether it would be useful.
The Secretary, based on her trip to the Middle East, has provided the
President with a full report and assessment of where the circumstances lie
right now, what the situation is. The President has not made a decision at
this point. We would expect further meetings with him and discussions
among the senior advisors over the next few days, perhaps, until the moment
whenever the President decides to decide one way or the other.
QUESTION: She also said it doesn't mean everything stops while he
ponders.
MR. BOUCHER: There are continuing contacts among the parties and with
the parties.
QUESTION: All right. I hope you won't consider this too suspicious, but
if on the Ross - you know how he's generally an open person - but on the
Ross level, if you guys resume negotiations, like if you want to limit my
question so that I can then not be - not have any standing for having put
the question, If you guys decide to resume the negotiations like on the
weekend or right afterward on a Ross or a Miller or whatever level - here
or there, or he goes there, or they come here - will there be some public
announcement of such, or will you just go into a secrecy mode, possibly?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that, in almost all cases in the past when we've
decided that negotiations should begin or recommence or continue in a
different location, that we've been up front with you and talked about
those. Obviously, the parties have had some consultations that they
haven't necessarily talked about, and that's up to them. But, in the end,
as far as where we think we need to go in next steps, we said that was
something the President would decide, and at this point he's continuing
discussions with the Secretary and his other senior advisors to make that
determination.
QUESTION: So, Richard, has she already given her initial briefing upon
returning from the trip?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes, they had a meeting yesterday afternoon and they went
through the circumstances and the situation, but I would expect to have
some further follow-on discussions before the President makes his
decision.
QUESTION: As you know, there are going to be some documents released at
the Archives today concerning three Americans who apparently were murdered
in Chile.
QUESTION: Can we stay on the Middle East for just a second? Sorry.
QUESTION: Okay.
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, let's do the Middle East and then we'll go over the
Chile stuff.
QUESTION: I just wanted to clarify, make very clear on what Barry is
asking you. Are you saying that the Ross talks could resume before the
President makes a decision, or nothing will resume until the President
makes a decision?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to try to hem in the President. What I'm
saying is the President will decide on next steps. He could decide that
it's the time for the summit; that, as I think he himself made clear, there
are certain issues that can only be decided at the summit level. And we
all recognize that the decision involves a lot of factors, including
whether the President's own intervention would change the dynamic of the
discussions. So he has to consider this.
Now, it may be that he and his advisors decide that there is some interim
step to be done before the summit. I don't want to try to limit his
options. But, obviously, as the President considers the issue of the
summit he recognizes, as he has said, that there is a different dynamic at
that level, and if we've done everything we can at other levels, he may
want to go to that level to resolve the issues.
QUESTION: So the talks at the Ross level that had been said from the
region to be - that the Palestinians wanted to resume those in Washington
after the 4th, should we say those are tentatively scheduled, not scheduled,
to be determined?
MR. BOUCHER: I would say that, at this point, there's been no agreement
on next steps because everybody recognizes the President will have to
decide, and the President hasn't announced any decisions at this point.
QUESTION: There seems to be a shift in emphasis somewhat. A few weeks
ago, it was we'd have a summit when there was enough progress made to have
the leaders come together, and now it seems like a summit would be a last-
ditch attempt because everything else has failed.
MR. BOUCHER: No, I wouldn't conclude that. We still look for there
being a basis for the summit. But, as I think we've made quite clear
before, a basis for the summit doesn't mean everything is agreed in advance
and we just go to sign a piece of paper. There is a different dynamic that
kicks in at the summit level, and certain decisions have to be made at the
summit. The question is whether that basis exists and that we're close
enough that we think that the summit can be effective. And that's the kind
of assessment that the President and his advisors are making.
QUESTION: But there's only going to be one summit, correct, in this
process between now and September? I mean, you can't have a summit now if
the things aren't agreed to; is that correct?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, the summit is to reach final agreement, so ipso facto
that would imply the goal would be to reach a final agreement on all the
key end-of-conflict issues.
QUESTION: Which is the September goal.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't want to preclude options down the road, but the
goal, as we've said quite clearly, is to reach final agreement on the end-
of-conflict issues on all the core issues that need to be dealt with at
that level.
QUESTION: Has she made any phone calls, by the way, since she got back?
And I mean, you know, to players.
MR. BOUCHER: She's made phone calls. Not to the Middle East.
QUESTION: Can you tell us more about in her discussions with Arafat what
he said to her concerning his intentions to go ahead with declaring a
state?
MR. BOUCHER: No. There is an observation I can make on that. I think
the Secretary addressed this a little bit when she was in the region, but I
think I'd say that the Oslo Accords that have gotten us to this stage were
based on mutuality; they were not based on unilateral decision-making, and
we would be against unilateral declarations.
QUESTION: So Rebecca got some of my question, but what is the reaction
of the Secretary and the United States Government generally about the
pressure that the Palestinians have applied by threatening to announce a
state, the Palestinian state, threatening to go back to Intifada and those
kinds of tactics? What is our reaction to that?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I gave you a specific reaction on one thing. I think
the only other thing I'd say is that we've always urged the parties to help
create an environment where it's conducive to an agreement. So we're
always looking for the parties to help do that.
QUESTION: So we would be asking the Palestinians to back off of those
kinds of pressures, those kinds of threats?
MR. BOUCHER: That kind of gets to the original question of can I clarify
what we may have said in those discussions. And, no, I'm afraid I can't,
but I think our general attitude has been stated.
QUESTION: I understand the PHALCON question came up while she was there
as well. She raised that in Israel, correct?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes, and she said there were serious discussions going
on.
QUESTION: Period?
QUESTION: Mr. Sneh is coming here next week?
MR. BOUCHER: No, let me deal with the reports that are out today. I
mean, the Secretary did raise it and discuss it while she was in the
region. And I think you also saw that Foreign Minister Levi said that
Israel would never do anything they felt would harm the security of the
United States. And that was certainly welcome.
There have been discussions and meetings at various levels. The Secretary
raised this during her visit with various people. I think Secretary Cohen
has been involved in this as well. We don't have, actually, official
confirmation from the Government of Israel that the Deputy Defense Minister
will be traveling to Washington at this time. We have discussed things
with him before, but we just haven't been told by the Israelis that he's on
his way. So whether that newspaper report is right or wrong will depend on
what they tell us.
QUESTION: I saw a report saying late July, so that wouldn't - does that
change it at all?
MR. BOUCHER: I think - yes, I think it's in a newspaper in Israel but,
as I said, we don't have any official notice from the Israeli Government
yet. But there are discussions that have been ongoing in various channels
at various levels; among them, the Secretary is raising this. And it's a
serious issue that we want to see resolved and we will continue our
discussions with the Israeli Government.
QUESTION: Did she talk to Sonny Callahan following that, that you're
aware of? Do you know?
MR. BOUCHER: Following?
QUESTION: Her discussions with the Israelis?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't think so. Not at this stage. She talked to
him last - I can't even remember the timing - two weeks ago, ten days
ago.
Okay, Middle East. Are we done?
QUESTION: The little bit reminds me of one other thing. Just in the
general sense, you know the problems, I don't have to recite it - has she
talked, even at this early stage, to prominent Members of Congress about
the financial aspects of a peace agreement between Israel and the
Palestinians? The unquestioned - the almost certain US huge sums of money
to replace Israel's land with wires and other things?
MR. BOUCHER: It's a pretty broad question. I mean, I'm not aware of any
in the 24 hours or so since the trip that she would have done that.
QUESTION: Well, because, you know –
MR. BOUCHER: There has been - this general question has been in the air,
and I'm sure it's come up in discussions. We obviously are not in a
position to starting to put numbers or to - well, we're not in a position
to specify exactly what's required until we get the deal. But the general
issue of the United States being ready to support a peace process is
certainly something that comes up all the time with Members of Congress.
Okay, Middle East. Are we done yet?
QUESTION: On the Middle East, on the Gulf. Today, many newspapers in
the Gulf –
QUESTION: Can we stay on the peace talks -- (inaudible) –
MR. BOUCHER: All right, let's jump around.
QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the Israeli court decision today
that Resolution 242 does not apply to the Palestinian talks because the
Palestinian entity did not exist then?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not sure it was a court decision. I thought I saw a
statement to that effect. But, anyway, I guess the only thing I would have
to say on this, that 242, Resolutions 242 and 338 have been the cornerstone
of the US approach to the Middle East for 30 years. And it's our view that
all negotiations should be based on Resolutions 242 and 338, all negotiations
between Israel and the Arabs, including the negotiations between the
Israelis and the Palestinians. That's the framework that we've always
worked in, and it's the one we believe we should continue to work
in.
QUESTION: On the Gulf, many newspapers today came out with controversial
reports about statements made by your Ambassador in Bahrain, Mr. Young,
advocating that the border lines between Bahrain and Qatar should remain as
they are; the status quo should continue. We know there are - there is a
court case now in The Hague pending now. Do you agree with the statement
of your Ambassador? And if you don't, what is your position on the border
dispute and the present borders between these two countries?
MR. BOUCHER: Okay. I think the report somehow indicated that we did not
believe in the proceedings at The International Court of Justice, and those
reports, I can say, are wrong. Our positions regarding the Bahraini-Qatari
border dispute has not changed. The US remains strongly committed to
supporting a peaceful resolution to the Bahraini-Qatari territorial
dispute. We take no sides in the matter. We believe that Bahrain and Qatar
should work out the issue peacefully through mutually acceptable means.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) -- issue your Ambassador of the new guidelines on
these, because he doesn't seem to have understood these guidelines.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I'm not sure the reports are correct, first of all.
And second of all, as I said, the policy has not changed. We continue to
stick with what we've believed in the past about this.
Okay, we had a question on Chile to go to.
QUESTION: The documents that are being released on the three American
citizens who apparently were murdered there back in the '70s and '80s. Can
you tell us what you expect the documents will reveal, you know, what
really is the news there? And is anything being held back?
MR. BOUCHER: Well, unfortunately, as much as I would like to sometimes,
you guys don't usually give me a chance to write the news. So I'm going to
have to decline to tell you what I think the news is. You'll have to
figure it out yourself.
This release of documents is an effort to help the families, in particular,
understand the situation that occurred in the past and to help them see
what happened to their loved ones and help the families and, second of all,
to help the historians who will be writing about these periods. So it is
an effort to be responsive to the families. There are numerous documents
in the Department's holdings on the Horman and the Teruggi cases that have
been previously released in the earlier tranches of the Chile documents.
The most significant new information probably relates to the Weisfeiler
case that occurred in 1985. Those documents will be covered extensively
also in September. The release was called tranche three of these Chile
documents.
I do want to make clear we continue to urge the Chilean Government to
clarify what happened in all three of these cases of deaths of American
citizens, and we would continue to do that.
The documents that were released - we've released some 7,300 documents to
date on this, but what we found is the third tranche that we expected to be
able to release by June 30th was not as small as we thought. It turns out
to be more than twice as big as what we thought it was, so there is some 11,
000 documents, more than the total of the previous two that forced a delay
in completion of this whole project until September. But then we wanted to
release documents to the family by June 30th, and that's what we've just
done. We've released, I think, 471 documents to the families that relate
particularly to the fate of their loved ones. And that's what we've done
as of June 30th.
QUESTION: Is anything being held back by CIA or State?
MR. BOUCHER: There is a handful of documents related to this particular
situation that are being held back because they deal with questions of
sources and methods. But we can assure the families and the readers that
those documents don't change in any way the substantive conclusions of the
situation.
QUESTION: If I could just follow on a related matter, Armando Larios in
Miami is purported to be an assassin in the Pinochet regime. This idea of
an extradition - would the State Department - would State support
that?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid that's something we never comment on. We don't
comment on extradition cases so I can't deal with that.
QUESTION: On Latin America, too. My question, it's about Mexico.
They're going to have elections July 2nd and, for the first time in 70
years, there is an independent organization that is monitoring the process
in order to make sure that they have a fair election. I'd like to know if
you have any comments on this.
And, also, I have another question which is about Peru. The OAS just
proposed several reforms to the government of President Fujimori. Could
you please comment on those two?
MR. BOUCHER: On the Mexican election, obviously we follow the situation
with great interest and we'll see how the voters of Mexico decide. We're
also interested in the election monitoring process. The ability of
monitors, both domestic and international ones, to follow the election is a
very important part of the process to us. As you know, in Peru, it was
something that was very deficient and we're glad to see that it's going
forward in Mexico.
How things turn out and what the monitors have to say in the end is
something we'll look at after the election is over.
QUESTION: And about the OAS?
MR. BOUCHER: On the OAS mission to Peru, let me go over that, if I can.
Here we go, okay, the mission that was led by Secretary General Gaviria and
Canadian Foreign Minister Axworthy has done what we think are thoughtful
and comprehensive recommendations to President Fujimori on measures to
strengthen democracy, and we certainly commend them for that work and for
the mission.
The recommendations included specific suggestions on reforms in the areas
of the judiciary, human rights, the electoral process, press freedom, as
well as changes to the intelligence and armed services. In addition, we
welcome the Government of Peru's acceptance of these proposals as a basis
for discussion with the political community and civil society. We urge the
government to follow up with concrete action to demonstrate its commitment
to political and democratic reform. We look forward to the full response
of the Government of Peru to the OAS mission recommendations.
We'd also say that effective democratic reform can not be achieved without
the full participation of the political opposition and civil society, and
we would urge all parties to work cooperatively and to begin the dialogue
now.
We understand the OAS will organize working groups in Peru to address the
specific thematic issues and that a secretariat will be established in Lima
to provide monitoring oversight. We urge all parties to the dialogue to
use this office as a resource and to address any questions or concerns on
the process with them.
QUESTION: Just to follow up, in 1992, the OAS made the same suggestions
when Fujimori shut down the Congress. What makes you think that this time
Fujimori will comply with these suggestions that –
MR. BOUCHER: I mean, obviously that remains the issue. We think these
are good recommendations and should be implemented. We welcome that the
government has at least accepted these proposals as a basis, but we want to
see them follow up. And, obviously, the whole hemisphere is watching.
QUESTION: Can you update us at all on the unilateral sanctions the US
said it was considering after the election?
MR. BOUCHER: I think what we've always said is we wanted them to adhere
to the OAS process and follow the OAS process, so any further decisions
would be based on whether they do that or not. And at this point
–
QUESTION: Already after the election we were considering our options.
MR. BOUCHER: I think we said we are following the OAS process. We urge
them to adhere to the OAS recommendations. That's what we continue to do,
and we would reserve other options if they don't. So they are still, at
this point, working with the OAS.
QUESTION: The New York Times said today that the OAS had proposed the
removal of the security chief. Do you have any comment on that? And,
apparently, this proposal had US support, according to The New York
Times.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, I don't want to deal with the specifics. It's
obviously Secretary General Gaviria's and Foreign Minister Axworthy's
report. But we just expressed our support for it and we support their
recommendations. We have certainly noted the issue of the roles of the
security forces and the intelligence services in Peru. We've talked about
that in various places, including in our annual human rights report. There
were, in fact, numerous allegations during the electoral process of the
improper use of these services, so we fully support the recommendation that
the OAS group made to reform these services, and we would urge the Peruvian
authorities to act quickly on those recommendations.
QUESTION: And would you support the removal of the security chief?
MR. BOUCHER: I think I'd leave it to say that we support their
recommendations, and then see the key need to reform these areas.
QUESTION: Senator Brownback is calling on the Administration that before
the Prime Minister of India visits here in September, all the US sanctions
should be lifted and, also, he should address the both houses of Congress.
What are the comments from this Department?
MR. BOUCHER: I'd have to look at that. I haven't seen that report.
I'll look at that and see if we have any comment.
QUESTION: And another one. According to the reports, Lebanon is willing
or ready or will sell fighter planes, which is I think transmit to
Pakistan. And also according to the report, Pakistan is ready for another
Kargil-type conflict with India.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I'm not going to deal with every single
report that appears in the region. We could be doing that all day long,
every day. I really think we've urged all parties to exercise restraint
and try to reduce tensions, and we continue to work on that.
QUESTION: What about the fighter planes?
MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen anything on that, and I don't think there
are -- (inaudible).
All right, let's go over here now.
QUESTION: My question is, during the recent Red Cross talks between
North and South Korea, North Korea refused to allow a reporter from South
Korea's daily -- (in Korean) - to enter the country. Do you have any
comment on that? Now it has become a big issue among the press community
and the world.
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't have any comment on that. Obviously, we think
the more open the better, but how this is handled in the context of the
Korean talks is really between the Koreans.
QUESTION: Do you have any reaction to the agreement signed today between
North and South Korea concerning the reunification of families?
MR. BOUCHER: We've seen the initial reports and certainly we welcome
them. We'd look forward to seeing more details of this.
We are of course pleased, first of all, for the families because this is an
important step for them in personal terms, but we're also pleased to see
any progress in the implementation of the joint declaration that was signed
at the inter-Korean summit. As you know, the Secretary discussed this when
she was out in Korea, discussed with the president of South Korea and
others the next steps and how they would unfold. And one of the issues
that kept coming up in her discussions and her public statements was the
desire to see implementation. So we welcome the fact that we're seeing
implementation of some of these steps.
QUESTION: On China/Taiwan. Does the State Department think they're
making any headway in narrowing the differences on One China? Are you
pleased with the ping-pong diplomacy on One China?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any general observations for you, other than
that we continue to adhere to a policy of supporting and promoting peaceful
dialogue and looking for a peaceful resolution of the cross-strait
tensions. It's up to Beijing and Taipei to determine when they have the
basis for the dialogue and the modalities for that dialogue.
QUESTION: Do you think one side is trying harder than the other
particularly?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to try to characterize it. We're really
urged them to exercise the flexibility that we've asked for and to see if
they can't get started on what we think is an important process.
QUESTION: I'd like to go back to Korea. There are reports in the press
that Secretary of State Albright sent a letter of thanks to President Kim
Dae Jung of Korea after her visit there. Can you confirm that she did send
this letter? And one more question. According to the article, Mrs.
Albright wrote in her letter that, prior to her recent visit to Korea she
had misunderstood about the issue of the American forces in Korea they
discussed in the summit, but hearing President Kim's explanation of the
summit, her misunderstanding has been cleared up.
Is that true?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know of any specific letter. The attempt to put
words in the Secretary's mouth - I mean, that's not - what you're saying
there is not consistent with what she said when she was in Korea.
Certainly we discussed when we were in Korea with the Korean Government the
issue of US troops and the need to be there to preserve deterrence and
stability on the Peninsula, and that was the understanding that we've had
all along with the Korean Government. So I don't see anything new on that
front, and we made quite clear when she was in Korea what the situation
was.
I would say, without getting into any specific letter - and I'm not aware
if there's been one or not - the Secretary was very pleased with her
discussions in Korea, that the visit to Seoul, I think, was very successful,
not only in learning and assessing completely the summit between the two
Korean leaders, but also in terms of discussing with our Korean allies the
next steps that we want to take and different tracks. And you see things
going forward with our trilateral consultations that are going on in
Honolulu now. We've announced the missile talks with the North Koreans.
We've seen some follow-ups on the Korean side with the Red Cross unification
things. So these are all things - this process of implementation and
follow-up was discussed when we were in South Korea and we're pleased to
see those things going forward.
QUESTION: Any word on when a North Korean senior official might be
coming here?
MR. BOUCHER: No, I don't think there's anything new on that.
QUESTION: Richard, on China, what do you say to the Chinese Government
in response to Beijing's dismissal of President Chen's recent conversion, I
guess you would call it, where he says that he can now accept a One China
policy and Beijing dismissed it and said it wasn't sincere enough. What do
you say to that?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll say what I said before. Ultimately, it's up to the
parties, to Beijing and Taipei, to determine if they have the basis for a
dialogue and the modalities for that dialogue. But we would continue, as
we have all along, to emphasize our support for resumption of cross-strait
dialogue and to say that the United States is committed to promoting peace,
stability and prosperity in the region. Our abiding interest is in a
peaceful resolution of the differences between the two sides, and we will
certainly continue to advocate that and to welcome any steps that would
foster dialogue, but also urge the parties to refrain from any actions that
would increase tensions in the region.
QUESTION: Having said all of that, would you urge Beijing to accept the
comments as sincere?
MR. BOUCHER: Again, it's up to them to decide whether any particular set
of comments or any particular expressions are the basis for dialogue. We
continue to urge them to go forward with this.
QUESTION: Do you think the comments were sincere?
MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't make any judgment. I'd have to assume that
everything everybody says is sincere.
QUESTION: I don't want to sound too suspicious either, but a suspicious
person in Beijing reading your response might note that twice now you've
said that about peaceful resolution without having mentioned a One China
policy.
MR. BOUCHER: If I have to get here and renounce - and read every mantra
every day, we're going to take even longer than if we have to answer all
the rumors in the Indian press. I guess what I would say is our policy -
the three pillars of our policy remain the same. They have not changed.
We have a One China policy, a belief in peaceful dialogue, and a strong and
abiding interest in a peaceful resolution of cross-strait tensions. And
I'll say that any day you ask me.
QUESTION: You don't have to -- (inaudible) - rumors in the Chinese
press?
MR. BOUCHER: No.
QUESTION: You need a free press to have rumors.
MR. BOUCHER: Over here.
QUESTION: Just one more over here.
MR. BOUCHER: I think we better start dealing with some of these other
questions.
QUESTION: Two Iraqi Kurdish groups have been holding talks here for
efforts to reconcile their differences. Do you have anything to report on
that? The talks are here in Washington. Is there an agreement?
MR. BOUCHER: I think we talked about the meetings with the Iraqi
opposition over the last few days. I don't have anything new on it for you
today. I'll check and see if there is anything, but I'm not aware of
anything new.
QUESTION: Richard, yesterday we heard that two 4th of July celebrations
at embassies abroad were canceled. Do you have any update on that? Have
any been added to the list?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of any new cancellations. Phil, did you get
anything further yesterday? No, those are the only two I'm aware of: one
in Amman because of specific and credible information; and the second one
in Brussels, and I believe the Embassy's statement in that regard has been
shared with you so you know the reasons for that as well.
QUESTION: Do you have anything further on the structure of next week's
Eritrean and Ethiopian peace talks, whether it will be face to face or how
they'll actually unfold, who will attend?
MR. BOUCHER: Okay, let me tell you what I can. The talks will be, I
think, initially as - let me double check on this. The talks are likely to
begin on a proximity basis; that s, separately. Expert-level discussions
begin in Washington on Monday, July 3rd. The talks are going to focus on
technical issues and procedures for further negotiations to achieve a
comprehensive peace agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
The talks will begin Monday. They will be moderated by senior members of
the State Department's Office of the Legal Advisor. They will seek to
focus and clarify procedures on compensation and boundary issues in order
to facilitate the OAU's efforts as it works on a comprehensive peace
agreement between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Our Africa Bureau Assistant Secretary Susan Rice, former National Security
Advisor Anthony Lake, NSC Senior Director Gayle Smith and other senior
officials will be following the talks closely, but the discussions will be
among technical experts and, as I said, will be moderated by senior people
from our Legal Advisor's Office.
QUESTION: Do you expect them to meet face to face, the two sides?
MR. BOUCHER: Certainly that's the expectation, although initially they
may start off as proximity talks.
QUESTION: Richard, you mentioned today that 242 and 338 are considered
the cornerstone of US policy towards the peace process. Can we deduce from
that is that you support the implementation of all United Nations
resolutions concerning the Middle East, including 191, 194, 198, that
conclude also the right of return and compensation for the refugees?
MR. BOUCHER: I certainly think our support for UN resolutions is quite
clear, but I wouldn't want to start - I wouldn't want you to go a step
further and try to translate that into support for specific negotiation
positions.
QUESTION: But you support United Nations resolution; you're not
excluding any resolution that came out from the Security Council concerning
the Middle East, including the right of return and compensation?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we've ever excluded any UN resolutions but,
again, don't try to lock us into a particular negotiating position. It's
up to the parties to agree on how to resolve some of those very difficult
issues.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) - resolutions on this point.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a problem supporting the United Nations,
no.
QUESTION: The judge in the case of the 13 Jews being held in Iran says
that he'll rule tomorrow. Do you have anything on that? We've expressed
concern from this building before about the trial.
MR. BOUCHER: We have obviously expressed concern in the past about the
trial, about the due process that was being afforded, or not. We have
certainly not changed our views. The concern that we have and that the
international community has always been that the Iranian community needs to
live up to its commitments to accord the suspects due process, in keeping
with internationally recognized legal standards. The manner in which the
trial has been conducted, in our view, does not meet those standards and
we'll be watching carefully how this situation evolves.
QUESTION: We haven't talked about it for quite a while, but we didn't
see - in your opinion, we haven't seen the situation improve?
MR. BOUCHER: We still think the trial doesn't meet international legal
standards.
QUESTION: Back to China for just a second. The World Bank is about to
approve a $40 million loan to China that would allow resettlement of the 60,
000 farmers into Tibet. Tibetan activists are saying it's cultural
genocide.
What's the State Department response to that?
MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to get you a view on that. I'm not sure if we've
taken a position yet on that particular loan. I think we have, in the past,
expressed a lot of concerns about this loan and about the situation that
might be created. So I'm not sure if we've said how exactly we're going to
vote, but certainly we've raised concerns about this loan in the past. And
I think, according to some reports, those have been raised also in internal
reports in the World Bank. So we are concerned about this situation.
QUESTION: The national assembly in the Indian state of Kashmir have
worked for autonomy for Kashmir, or Kashmiri people, and same measures are
being taken by the Government of India in Delhi. And the Foreign Minister
of Pakistan was here, who had talked with Mr. Talbott and others in the
State Department. Do you think these steps are encouragement by the Indian
Government? And, also, in brief, what Mr. Sattar had discussed here as far
as Kashmir is concerned and other issues in –
MR. BOUCHER: I think we've done a rundown of the talks with the
Pakistani Foreign Minister here, so I don't have anything to add to that.
And as far as some of these other decisions, I'm not aware of them. I'll
see if we have anything to say.
(The briefing was concluded at 1:50 P.M.)
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