18 October 2001
Transcript: Powell Says China's Help Against Terrorism Encouraging
(October 18 APEC joint press conference in Shanghai) (760)
The United States has been encouraged by the response from China on
support for the campaign against international terrorism, according to
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
"I think that will be reflected in the conversations that President
Bush will have with President Jiang Zemin tomorrow," Powell told
reporters October 18 at a joint press conference at the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) Ministerial Meeting in Shanghai.
Following is a transcript of Secretary of State Colin Powell's
question and answers at a joint press conference October 18 in
Shanghai:
(begin transcript)
U.S. Department of State
Office of the Spokesman
(People's Republic of China)
Secretary Powell Q&A at
APEC Ministerial Joint Press Conference
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
October 18, 2001
The journalist from Germany:
Q: I have a question to Mr. Secretary.... This meeting has been a
declaration of antiterrorism...taking some measures to fight
terrorism, but there is no mention of the ongoing (unintelligible)
attack in Afghanistan. We understand that this morning some of the
countries have political concerns about the ongoing campaign. Can you
shed some light on what kind of concerns have been mentioned? Thank
you.
Secretary Powell: I think that this meeting will discuss terrorism, it
is important that the ministers do so, and that the leaders do so this
weekend when they arrive, because as a result of the tragedies that
occurred on the 9/11 date that we have all come to know so well, we
have a new threat against our economies, against the civilized world,
and we have to respond all together, and I'm very proud of the way the
world has come together to say that terrorism cannot be tolerated,
that those who practice terrorism are not following any faith, they
are criminals, they are murderers and they have to be dealt with and
brought to justice. I was pleased that in our meetings this morning,
there was a uniform understanding of this basic concept, and I had the
opportunity to explain to my colleagues that the military campaign was
just one part of a much, much broader effort that includes financial
controls, intelligence activity, legal activity, political and
diplomatic activity. The military campaign is necessary to root out
the terrorists in Afghanistan and also to separate them from the
regime, and punish the regime for harboring terrorism. I found
understanding among my colleagues. There was hope that the military
campaign would be ended quickly on a note of success, but I cannot say
that concerns were expressed, just the hope that it would achieve its
purpose soon.
Q: I'd like to ask the Prime Minister of China and the Secretary of
the United States. My question is: after the September 11th attacks,
how do you perceive the turning point of the relations between China
and the United States at tomorrow's summit? In addition to the
terrorist attacks, what other issues will be brought up?
Secretary Powell: Well, thank you very much. I think before the 11th
of September, the relationship that the United States enjoyed with the
People's Republic of China was very good, and I think that since the
11th of September, we have been encouraged by the response that we
have had from China on support of the campaign against terrorism. I
think that will be reflected in the conversations that President Bush
will have with President Jiang Zemin tomorrow. And my colleague and I
have had many discussions in the past several months. And I think he
would agree with me that our relationship is thriving in a number of
different areas: with respect to trade; with respect to free flow of
goods; with respect to accession to the World Trade Organization; with
respect to getting behind certain problems that had existed, for
example, the plane incident of earlier this year which we worked our
way through and got behind. Obviously, there continue to be
differences, as you would expect between two big nations. We talk
about issues of proliferation and issues of human rights. Because we
do have a friendly relationship, a relationship that we both think as
valuable and in the best interests of the Asia-Pacific region to keep
moving forward, we can speak candidly about the areas in which we
disagree, and move forward on the areas on which we do agree.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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