U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-08-02

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From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>

Richard Boucher, Spokesman

Washington, DC

August 2, 2001

INDEX:

STATEMENT
1         The Hague Judgment on the Krstic Trial
FRY
1-        US Troop Functions / Satellite Photographs
ARGENTINA
2         Economic Situation
IRAQ
2         Response to Iraqi Comments
MEXICO
2-3       Comment on Senate Vote on Mexican Trucks
CHINA
3         Statements Regarding Taiwan
RACISM CONFERENCE
3-4       Progress of Prepatory Conference / US Policy
MACEDONIA
4-6       Agreement and Situation Update / Pipeline Project / Arms
          Collection Operation Policy
CUBA
6-7       Update on American Citizen After Emergency Landing
RUSSIA
7         Update on Tobin’s Sentence
JAPAN
7         Resignation of Ambassador
LANDMINE DIRECTIVE
7-8       Administration’s Commitment / Review of Policy
UN
8         Dues
PAKISTAN
8-9       A/S Rocca’s Trip / Meeting with Taliban Representative
INDONESIA
9         Former President Wahid’s Comments
VENEZUELA
9-10      Investment Treaty / Relations
ISRAEL/PALESTINIANS
10-12     Arafat Statements / Secretary’s Communications / Israeli Claims
          / View on Recent Violence

MR. BOUCHER: Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming, and it is a pleasure to be here. If I can, I would like to start off with some words about the judgment today in The Hague on the Krstic trial. The United States welcomes this important judgment of genocide that was issued today by The Hague Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. This is the matter of the Prosecutor versus Kristic.

The judgment sends a strong message that genocide will not be tolerated and that perpetrators will be brought to justice. It is our hope that the families of the victims and the others affected by this horrific period in history can find some solace in the fact that justice is being rendered for these atrocities.

Today's decision lays out the historical record and underscores the necessity of apprehending others accused of these horrendous crimes, most notably Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. And we are redoubling our efforts to apprehend them.

We commend the International Tribunal for its pursuit of justice in this matter, and we will continue to support all credible efforts to bring violators of the international humanitarian law to account.

I would point out that this trial was strongly supported by the United States. We have provided imagery products and analysis that were the key to discovering a number of the mass graves. We have provided over 100 unclassified images from the United States that were entered into evidence in the Kristic prosecution, and the court noted that the proof of the mass graves was seen in particular in the aerial photographs that were provided. And I think the verdict, therefore, underscores the importance the United States attaches to this, to reaching justice in these matters.

QUESTION: You spoke about US efforts being expanded. American peacekeeping troops would seem to be ideal for this function. Trained soldiers should be able to know how to apprehend criminal suspects like those on the loose. Do they have a license to do that?

MR. BOUCHER: I think all the forces in the area are under the mandate to try to apprehend criminals that are at large. I think you have seen an effort that is more and more an international effort, that we are working more and more with the states in this area to do their part, and that the criminals are finding the region more and more inhospitable to their efforts to hide and to travel back and forth.

So as we pursue this with the states in the region, I think it becomes less and less easy for them to evade apprehension.

QUESTION: On the imagery provided by the United States, were these satellite photographs taken? And you mentioned that they were unclassified - - I don't know if you can go through how that process works, what photographs are classified and what are not?

MR. BOUCHER: I would have to check on these particular photographs, whether they were taken by unclassified satellites like LANSAT or spot imaging, or whether they were in fact classified photographs that were declassified. But the United States was able to find them and make them available. I'll double-check and see what their --

QUESTION: Whether they were US satellites?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to go back and check and see what their initial origin was; again, whether it was an unclassified image that we were able to obtain and provide or whether it was photographs that were declassified for this purpose.

Okay. Questions on this or other matters?

QUESTION: The White House had a little to say about the exchanges with Argentina. Is there anything State can add to that? Were there problems and such? The President spoke to their president yesterday.

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I have anything to add, but we have been working closely with the White House and with the Treasury in terms of following the situation in Argentina. And I think the White House put out a statement on the discussion.

QUESTION: On the 11th anniversary of the invasion of Kuwait, do you have anything to say specifically on Iraqi comments on the conspiracy against them?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any particularly fine words on this occasion. I think it's not an anniversary that we like to commemorate in any particular respect, but it is a chance perhaps to remember that the international community stood strong against Iraq's attempts to invade a neighbor and that the international community still stands against Iraq's attempts to threaten its neighborhood and that we do need to continue our efforts because Iraq has evidently not changed its intentions. We have seen over the last months, it not years, continuing signs that Iraq is attempting to evade inspection, to evade its responsibility and to evade its obligations under the UN resolutions.

QUESTION: Does the State Department have any comment on the approval by the Senate of much stricter rules on the entrance of Mexican trucks into the United States, and does it feel that this is in violation of the Free Trade Agreement?

MR. BOUCHER: On Mexican trucks, primary responsibility on that is going to be at the Department of Transportation, so they are going to take the lead on this one. I would just say that as an Administration we are committed to ensuring safety for the American people, but also in living up to our obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement. And so we work with other agencies to make sure to develop a policy that can do that.

QUESTION: On China, in the last 48 hours there have been, I guess, announcements from the PLA regarding Taiwan policy, reiterating that they would use military force if Taiwan declared independence, and also would protect Taiwan from foreign interests.

Given that Secretary Powell described his meetings with the Chinese and their intention at the time to not allow this Taiwan policy to spin out of control, how do you evaluate these comments following the meeting at this point?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think the Chinese in any way changed their views on Taiwan during the course of our meetings in Beijing. We made quite clear -- the Secretary made quite clear directly with the Chinese that our strong and abiding interest was in seeing this issue resolved peacefully. He made clear that China's military deployments had something to do with our decisions on selling equipment to Taiwan to meet its legitimate needs, and that we would continue to support peaceful resolution of the dispute. The Chinese, on the other hand, stated their position. So I don't think we pretended or in any way thought that we had changed their views in that regard.

QUESTION: To follow up, it's not so much whether the Chinese have changed their views, but diplomacy is so much about emphasis and following this important trip, which was in many ways described by the Secretary as a success in terms of US-China relations. For this statement to come out, is it at all troubling that as soon as he leaves, if you will, that they kind of continue with this rhetoric?

MR. BOUCHER: I think you are asking me to do an interpretation of Chinese internal dynamics and politics, which I don't think I am prepared to do from here.

QUESTION: No, I'm asking if the State Department is concerned that they have --

MR. BOUCHER: I say I don't think we changed Chinese views. We did not pretend that we changed Chinese views, and to have the Chinese restate their views after the visit, as they stated them before, shouldn't be too surprising to anybody.

QUESTION: I have a couple of questions, please, on the negotiations, the pre-conference negotiations of the UN Conference on Racism. Does the US have a notion that there is some progress being made, being on the Zionism issue?

MR. BOUCHER: I think it is important to remember that there are about two weeks of this preparatory conference, and it's not going to be possible to do a day-by-day update on leanings or possibilities. We continue to have meetings on the whole panoply of issues that are there, but especially on the two key issues for us, which are the Middle East language and the question of reparations and slavery.

There is really nothing new to report. The Secretary said yesterday, I said yesterday we would certainly like to attend the world conference. It is an opportunity for the nations of the world to act together in a matter of worldwide concern, and we have sent out a strong delegation there to try to work with other countries.

The questions of demands for slavery reparations and the issues of the Middle East as they have been presented by some could indeed derail the conference itself, and so that is why we are working intensively on that. But the discussions are going on out there in Geneva. There will be about two weeks of it. I think it is certainly premature to claim any resolution of these issues.

QUESTION: Let me try something else on it, just to try to get an idea of what the US policy is. The Secretary yesterday spoke not only against what some of the nations that are trying to do about compensation and about Zionism, but he spoke of encumbering a conference with political issues that he didn't see were appropriate.

I know this is looking a bit ahead, but is it the introduction or the attempt to use the conference, for instance, to make points on the Middle East something the US objects to, or is it the way that it's being done? Because by all accounts, they are going to get off the Zionism is racism track and get on another one, which is to simply call Israel a colonial power for having Jews live on the West Bank.

Does the US object to any such inclusion of Middle East difficult issues in a draft document, or can there be language that would be -- at least the US would acquiesce to?

MR. BOUCHER: In many ways, that is a hypothetical question. We are dealing with what has been presented. What has been presented is clearly unacceptable. It is offensive language that asserts that Israeli policies are racist, that they constitute some form of apartheid. Words like "crime against humanity" and "threats to peace and security" that are being thrown about denigrate the horror of the Holocaust. This language is very objectionable, is very offensive, is very unacceptable, and we have made clear our opposition to that in the strongest terms.

We really don't believe this the place for language that singles out a specific country, and I think would look at anything that might come along in the future with that in mind.

QUESTION: Can you comment on the agreement that was achieved yesterday in Ohrid, Macedonia, and also the killing of one policeman yesterday, and today one was wounded?

MR. BOUCHER: On the agreement that was reached yesterday, we certainly welcome the important step that was taken. It was an agreement among the parties under the leadership of President Trajkovski that was reached. It's a provisional agreement on the issue of minority languages. The provisional agreement is still subject to final confirmation as part of an entire package agreement and framework and annexes attached as well. We think the parties should work hard to resolve the remaining points, rapidly conclude the final agreement.

The European Envoy Leotard and Ambassador Pardew remain deeply engaged in helping party leaders to bring the talks to a successful conclusion. Political talks are recessed today for a national holiday but they will resume tomorrow, and we would certainly congratulate the citizens of Macedonia on their National Day and reiterate our strong support for the efforts to find a political settlement that brings peace to all of them in this region.

As far as the shootings, I think generally we would say that the cease-fire has been holding. Certainly any shootings and any harm that has come to policemen is very regrettable, but I think in general the cease-fire is holding and the situation is relatively calm.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) of the pipeline project that is happening?

MR. BOUCHER: The pipeline project. I have somewhere back here some information on. State Department people recently met with representatives of the Albanian-Macedonian-Bulgarian Oil Pipeline Corporation. We view this project as a potential contributor to the peaceful economic development and integration of the South Balkans. If it can prove its commercial viability, this pipeline may offer an additional export route for energy resources of Central Asia, where we have always supported the idea of multiple routes, multiple pipelines, multiple options.

QUESTION: On another part of that problem or situation, we have heard the Secretary on a potential role in collecting arms. The House Democratic leader Gephardt today, in a catalogue of complaints about Administration foreign policy, included Macedonia, and he put it under the heading of where the US is worrying the Europeans by its indecision on a role. In other words, he is saying that the US -- the Administration -- hasn't come to a decision, a policy, whether the US would be part of an arms -- a weapons collection operation in Macedonia.

We have heard the Secretary, but is there a unified US policy that you could possibly share with us? Or is it something still up --

MR. BOUCHER: Not having had a chance to go through the entire catalogue, I don't want to criticize any particular statements that were made, but I would point out that on this matter of arms collection, the United States and its NATO allies have agreed on a basic formula and a process by which we would participate in that, once there is agreement among the Macedonian parties to make this part of their overall political agreement.

So there is not indecision on our part. But we have a plan that will be implemented once there is final agreement among the parties on a political settlement, of which arms collection is expected to be part. So once that is done by them, we will come in and do what we need to do to make that happen. And the United States and other countries have agreed on the different elements that they can bring to this process, that the United States will provide logistics and transportation and other kinds of support that we have largely available from people that are on the ground.

QUESTION: And (inaudible)?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, people. People, trucks, command and control, communications, medical, logistic support. We have some unique capabilities out there that we can apply to this task, and we will do so.

QUESTION: Did you ever put a number to that?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we ever put a number to it, because our contribution is not so much bodies as it is capabilities in terms of command and control, medical support, logistics support, communication support.

QUESTION: Will the people come from the existing presence that are already --

MR. BOUCHER: Largely from the existing presence in Kosovo and Macedonia.

QUESTION: New subject? Do you have anything more on the guy who flew to Cuba?

MR. BOUCHER: The guy who flew to Cuba. Let's see. As he will be henceforth be known -- yes, that's right. Soon to be a major motion picture.

He has a name today. He is Milo John Reese. Consular officers visited him yesterday afternoon at the Cuban Naval Hospital in Cojimar, outside Havana. Mr. Reese does not appear to have been seriously injured, but doctors wish to keep him for another day or two for medical observation.

We are working with Cuban authorities on the next steps, including Mr. Reese's return to the United States and the disposition of the aircraft. In addition, Cuban authorities are investigating the crash.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) come back?

MR. BOUCHER: As Mr. Reese did not sign a Privacy Act waiver, we cannot provide any additional information at this time.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: Or his age?

MR. BOUCHER: Right.

QUESTION: Or his profession?

MR. BOUCHER: Right.

QUESTION: His first name is Milo, M-i-l-o?

QUESTION: Or his language?

MR. BOUCHER: Milo John Reese.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on John Tobin?

MR. BOUCHER: The situation with Mr. Tobin is that there have been some discussions. He has reached, I think as you all know, half of his sentence, and therefore was up for parole.

We understand that the warden of the prison camp where Mr. Tobin is currently serving his sentence has forwarded his recommendation for Mr. Tobin's parole to the Voronezh courts today. The judge is scheduled to conduct the parole hearing tomorrow, August 3, and we have US embassy staff traveling down there to be there tomorrow.

QUESTION: (Inaudible.)

MR. BOUCHER: That depends on the judge. But as we have said all along, he becomes eligible for parole when he has served half his sentence, and that moment has been reached. So we have been working with him throughout, from the very first days of his incarceration, and have been working with his family, and we continue to work with him and keep in touch with Russian authorities. So we are doing that again now. We are going down there, and we will see what happens.

QUESTION: This morning, the Japanese Ambassador here said she is quitting her job to take responsibility for the scandal in the Ministry, and the resignation was accepted by Tokyo. Would you comment on that?

MR. BOUCHER: No.

QUESTION: Do you see any effect of this, or the reason Japanese Foreign Ministry's -- or the scandal, the personnel-changing turmoil has any effect on this bilateral relationship with Japan?

MR. BOUCHER: No. Any other questions?

QUESTION: Did you make a farewell call? Has anybody said goodbye to him?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know.

QUESTION: Will you cooperate or offer any assistance to the Japanese Foreign Ministry if they are looking for bank records in the United States or that sort of thing?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that we have been asked to do any such thing.

QUESTION: I don't know that you'll have anything on this. Does the Bush Administration -- does it remain committed to the former President Clinton's Presidential Directive on Landmines in which he said that the United States would abandon them outside Korea by 2003 and abandon them completely by 2006 if alternatives are available?

MR. BOUCHER: I'll have to check on that specific directive. I would say that we remain very strongly committed to working on landmines. We have followed the Convention on Unusual Conventional Weapons. This is a convention that deals with the banning of anti-personnel landmines. As you know, the Secretary has met with a number of people on this topic and has indeed carried forth diplomatically our efforts to work on this. But at the same time, we have reserved the need to use them as necessary in Korea. I am not aware that we have changed that policy, but I would have to double- check before I can --

QUESTION: You didn't quite answer the question. Is there -- but is there - -

MR. BOUCHER: Well, you have asked a very specific question about a very specific statement which I don't happen to have with me. What I can tell you is that we have taken this subject seriously, we've worked very hard on it, we've made a lot of international efforts on banning anti-personnel landmines that are long-lasting and strewn around battlefields of the world. We don't do that ourselves and we have taken a lot of steps to stop that from happening and to clean up where that has happened.

QUESTION: Can I put it another way? Is there some kind of review underway of landmine policy?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know. I'll have to check. Not that I'm aware of.

QUESTION: The UN yesterday complained that the US has not paid their dues, despite an agreement. What is your answer to that?

MR. BOUCHER: I didn't see the UN complaint so I won't answer the UN, but I will tell you that we have been working very hard with Congress on payment of the dues, on payment of the $582 million tranche that we have been trying to free up for payment to the UN. And we have also been working with Congress on trying to lift the 25 percent cap on peacekeeping so that we can keep the scale agreement that was negotiated last December. If we don't get the cap lifted, we would accrue another 77 million in arrears this year, and we don't want to do that. We want to get ourselves current and then stay current. So we have been working very intensively with Congress. Some of these bills are currently being discussed and debated on the Hill right now, and we have been making extensive efforts with people on the Hill to get this passed and through so that we can make our payments.

QUESTION: Do you see -- any idea of when it could be happening or solved?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't make an exact prediction, no.

QUESTION: Assistant Secretary Rocca met today with the Taliban Ambassador to Pakistan. Can you give us any details of her meeting? And also, apparently she issued a statement reiterating the US demand that bin Laden surrender, or that the Taliban bring him in.

MR. BOUCHER: Good for her. I don't have a copy of the statement. I'm sure we can try to get it for you from our posts out there. She has been on a two-week visit to India, Nepal and Pakistan. She has been meeting with senior officials of host governments with business, nongovernmental organizations, consulting with our colleagues in embassies and consulates.

She is finishing up her visit to Pakistan right now. She leaves the country tomorrow morning, August 3. She has met there with President Musharraf, Finance Minister Aziz, Interior Minister Haider and Foreign Minister Sattar. And yesterday in Peshawar, she visited a refugee camp, held talks with the governor of the Northwest Frontier, and it was today that she met with the Taliban representative in Islamabad.

We have met routinely with representatives of Afghan factions and with other Afghans to convey our ongoing concerns. As you know, we do a lot of humanitarian work, urge the parties in Afghanistan to end their support for terrorism, protect human rights, and help the Afghans establish a broad- based government. So that general policy is the one that she was carrying out to the region, and certainly urging the Taliban to take the steps necessary to comply with the United Nations resolutions, particularly when the United Nations has now felt it was necessary to establish a monitoring presence in the area, that that's an important part of our policy and one that she was carrying forward in her visit.

QUESTION: Former President Wahid complained that the US supported ousting and actually supporting now Megawati. What is your comment on this?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I am not going to try to comment on everybody's comment on everybody's comment on events. I think our policy on that has been well known. We have supported a constitutional process in Indonesia. We have supported democracy in Indonesia and we will continue to do so.

QUESTION: Can I follow up on that? In the same interview, Mr. Wahid said that there were six, I believe, or eight US submarines that were going towards Indonesia the day that the Congress was deliberating on his ouster, which they eventually obviously did. I mean, is there -- can you put this out there? You said intelligence reports show --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know anything about that, never heard anything about that, and you can ask at the Pentagon if there is any validity to that statement.

QUESTION: The Minister of Commerce of Venezuela is coming up with a delegation this week, or next week -- Monday -- to meet with appropriate US functionaries. Any idea of taking up again the long-delayed treaty on investment in that country?

Also, it was announced that they are going to hold hearings now in the parliament on the FTAA. Does this -- then they have had an oil mission up here trying to make like they want to help the US with its energy crisis. Does this represent, in your view, a change in Venezuelan policy? Does it affect US-Venezuelan relations?

MR. BOUCHER: As far as your first question, whether it represents a change in Venezuelan policy, you would have to ask the Venezuelans. It is not for me to decide whether they have changed their policy or not. In terms of US-Venezuelan relations, I think we have always made clear that we want to cooperate with Venezuela where we can. We want to work with them, especially in the economic area. And we want to try to resolve issues that we don't particularly agree upon.

QUESTION: Have you seen the comments, or the latest comments by Yasser Arafat, in which he says publicly that he asks for a stop to all forms of violence and reiterates a call for international observers?

MR. BOUCHER: I haven't seen those particular statements. I heard about them. I haven't had a chance to examine them in detail, but I would say that we have made clear again and again, and would make clear again today, that both sides need to meet their obligations to exert maximum efforts to halt the ongoing tragedy in the Middle East. They need to avoid escalation. They need to desist from provocation and incitement. They need to strive to create a sustained environment of trust and confidence so that they can move forward with implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations in all their aspects.

We have made quite clear to the parties that we think a maximum effort is necessary, and that each needs to show in word and deed that they are willing to do that.

QUESTION: The US has often called on Arafat to publicly renounce violence, and he has seemed not to meet the expectations that the US had for him. Does a statement like this do it for you -- ask for a stop to all forms of violence?

MR. BOUCHER: Again, not having seen the particular statement, I don't know what language he made it in. I don't know to what audience he made it in. So I would just say that we think it is important for all the leaders in the region to keep making clear in their words and their actions that they are against incitement, that they are against violence, and that they want to exert every possible effort, and that they want their people to exert every possible effort to calm the situation.

QUESTION: As a follow-up, Richard, I wasn't here yesterday, and you might have mentioned it, but has the Secretary, since he has returned, talked to any of the leaders in the region?

MR. BOUCHER: I didn't mention it yesterday because he hadn't, but yesterday afternoon he talked to Prime Minister Sharon. They discussed the situation, including the continuation of violence. The Secretary expressed our concerns about the rocket attack on the apartment building, and about targeted killings in general. Ambassador Kurtzer has also been engaged on this issue with the highest levels of the Israeli Government. So we will continue our efforts with both sides.

As we have said, we have active diplomacy in the region through our representatives out there, with both sides, to try to get them to take every possible step to restore an atmosphere of calm and to get on with implementation of the Mitchell Committee recommendations.

QUESTION: I just want to -- you said the rocket attack on the apartment building, but do you acknowledge the Israelis' claim that this was a headquarters for Hamas? Do you sort of -- would you say that on the record?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't think we have ever tried to pretend that kind of knowledge. No, I wouldn't. I just don't know.

QUESTION: So as far as the State Department is concerned, it was an attack on an apartment building, and you don't know whether it was a Hamas headquarters?

MR. BOUCHER: I think whether it was or not, we are against this practice of targeted killings, and we are against this particular attack. So I don't have that information for you. We may or may not know.

QUESTION: Did the Prime Minister defend the attack as legitimate self- defense?

MR. BOUCHER: It is for the Prime Minister to describe what he said.

QUESTION: I thought you might say that, but it is very hard to report one half of a conversation. You're saying --

MR. BOUCHER: It is not for me to report his statements, is it? You would have to get it from him.

QUESTION: Well, to have any sense of whether the Secretary made any headway, we would have to know what the response is, unless he was just doing a monologue, which I doubt very much. I'm sure it was a conversation.

MR. BOUCHER: It was a conversation, and Mr. Sharon expressed his views on the continuing violence. I wouldn't characterize it any further than that because it is up to him.

QUESTION: Does the Secretary consider the Palestinian violence excessive? Has he considered Israel's retaliation excessive?

MR. BOUCHER: Barry, that is a sort of rhetorical and general question that I will decline to answer. We have commented on specific situations and specific cases, and we encouraged both sides to stop the violence.

QUESTION: If I can follow up, just -- has the Secretary, in this conversation or other conversations, offered any kind of alternative to address Israeli concerns about security? They say that they need to do this sort of thing for security reasons; has he -- has there been any kind of American proposal, well, you could handle it, but not necessarily do it this way?

MR. BOUCHER: I am not going to be able to go into details of all these conversations that we have had with the Israelis. I would point out, though, that we have consistently urged both sides to take steps that would calm the situation, that would stop the violence. We have certainly pressured the Palestinian side to arrest people who might be engaged in violence or planning attacks. We have offered US auspices to try to help them work on security matters with each other, and so the US has been very, very actively engaged in the search for ways to calm the situation and to work out security cooperation and to get on with the implementation of the Mitchell Report.

Thank you. [End]

Released on August 3, 2001

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