21 October 2001
Transcript: Bush Tells Pacific Leaders War on Terror Is Long-Term
(Holds bilaterals with Peru, Singapore, Brunei leaders) (1610)
President Bush is telling Pacific Rim leaders that the war on
terrorism is a long-term effort, and is pledging to share relevant
intelligence with allies who join the anti-terror coalition, a senior
Bush Administration official told reporters October 20.
Bush, in Shanghai for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
leaders' meeting, is holding a series of face-to-face talks with
individual heads of government, aiming to bolster international
support for the multiple efforts underway in the campaign against
terrorism.
In separate bilateral meetings September 20 with the Sultan of Brunei,
Prime Minister Goh of Singapore and President Toledo of Peru, Bush
made clear that intelligence-sharing "is a two-way street," the
official said. The president's message was: "If we get anything that
would be of interest to you, we'll make sure that we provide it to
you," the official said.
In the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United
States, Bush has repeatedly said that information and
intelligence-sharing are crucial to locating terrorist networks and
putting an end to their activities. He has also asked his counterparts
around the world to cooperate in cutting off the money flows that may
be feeding terrorist networks.
The leaders of Brunei, Singapore and Peru "expressed their support to
the president for his leadership and pledged to do what they can," the
Bush Administration official said.
Asked if the leaders had discussed the situation in the Middle East,
the official said that Bush has emphasized "that it was important to
look at the long-term causes of these issues," and that Secretary of
State Colin Powell is in "frequent contact" with Mideast leaders and
offering his services to help resolve issues in the region.
Following is the transcript of the White House background briefing:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Shanghai, People's Republic of China)
For Immediate Release
October 20, 2001
BACKGROUND BRIEFING BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ON THE
PRESIDENT'S AFTERNOON BILATERAL MEETINGS
Portman Ritz-Carlton
Shanghai, People's Republic of China
MR. MCCORMACK: Good evening, everybody. We have a senior
administration official who will be able to give you a readout of the
President's meetings with the Sultan of Brunei, Prime Minister Goh of
Singapore, and President Toledo of Peru.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President, with all three leaders,
spoke about -- spent a lot of time talking about the war on terrorism,
saying it would be a long-term effort and appreciated the support that
was offered, understanding that everyone can contribute in their own
way; focused on the importance of information and
intelligence-sharing, and that it was a two-way street, and that they
could provide information, and that if we had any information we'd
provide it to them. And also, the second thing was to focus on the
importance of cutting off the money flows that might be going through
their countries.
All three expressed their support to the President for his leadership
and pledged to do what they can. There was no specific offers made,
other than, as I mentioned, the discussion of intelligence, where they
said they would share information and, in some cases, had shared
information.
The President discussed with Prime Minister Goh and with President
Toledo his commitment to free trade and asked for their support to
launch the new trade round.
And I'll take questions now.
Q: Was there any discussion of the Singapore-U.S. free trade
agreement, and did they move forward on that at all?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No. Actually, the only discussion on
trade was in the context of the next round, and the specifics of the
Singapore free trade agreement were not raised there.
Q: Were either the Middle East or the downed helicopter come up in any
of the --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President mentioned that we had
lost some forces in the event and that he was saddened by their loss.
And the President just raised it in his presentation of the -- in the
context of the discussion that he had on the war.
And on the Middle East, he mentioned that it was important that we did
have to take a look at the long-term causes of these issues -- this is
the President speaking -- and that Secretary Powell, who was present
in all of these meetings, was working very hard on these issues and
was in frequent contact with the leaders in the Middle East, and that
they were making efforts to do what they could to work through the
process in the Middle East.
Q: Was the issue of Shining Path raised in the --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No. No.
Q: Did the Sultan have any views on the air campaign in Afghanistan?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He did not mention anything about
that.
Q: You mentioned some discussion of intelligence-sharing being a
two-way street. Who raised that matter?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President, in his presentation. He
said that not only would we be interested in any information that you
have, but I can assure you that I -- meaning the President -- that we
will provide you information. If we get anything that would be of
interest to you, we'll make sure that we provide it to you.
Q: In the meeting with President Toledo, was there any discussion
about the situation of former President Fujimori?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There was a brief reference to him,
and the response -- the President asked how that was going and the
reply was to the effect that we're trying to work out extradition with
Japan, but it's still -- the prospects of that are rather open.
Q: Did President Toledo ask President Bush for support to get the
extradition from Japan?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No. No.
Q: Did the President raise the presence of any al Qaeda cells in any
of their countries?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There was a discussion of the al Qaeda
-- some al Qaeda that may be related to al Qaeda people that the
President said had been -- that we had arrested several people --
several hundred people around the world. There was no specific mention
of people -- including the United States -- there was no -- I don't
mean that he meant definitely al Qaeda, but people that had been
detained, including in the United States. But there was no specific
mention of them in any of the other countries. I'm trying to remember
which discussion that was with. I think it was with Prime Minister
Goh, where that came up.
Q: Backing up to the meeting with Prime Minister Mahathir earlier,
similar question -- there's obviously some evidence that al Qaeda was
operating in Malaysia, and, of course, the famous photograph of the
Cole suspects with one of the hijackers. Did they get into that at
all, and did they discuss the nature and activities of al Qaeda
operating in Malaysia?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Only in general terms. There was a
discussion about -- the Prime Minister had mentioned how they had long
experience with -- first with the communist terrorists and now with
the more Islamic-natured terrorists of which he said there were some
that were related to -- that had been trained by al Qaeda, that had
been arrested in Malaysia. But there was no reference made to the
Cole, or that specific incident was not raised.
Q: How about further intelligence-sharing of the kind that led to that
photograph --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The idea on intelligence sharing, the
President praised the cooperation we have in intelligence sharing with
Malaysia and that we would continue to go in that -- continue in that
effort.
Q: Two questions. Was it President Bush who raised with President
Toledo the issue of the status of President Fujimori? The first one to
mention that was President Bush?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yes.
Q: The second question, I haven't seen President Fox of Mexico on
President Bush's schedule. They're best friends and all that sort of
thing. Is that going to be taken care of before this is over?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There will not be -- the only
bilateral that's remaining is with -- the only scheduled is with
President Putin. And there will be an opportunity tomorrow during the
six hours of meetings for him to meet with the other leaders. They
have lots of time there and I'm sure he will have a chance to see
several of them.
Q: So there will be no bilateral?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: There's no scheduled bilaterals, but
there is an opportunity to have many interactions there. But there's
not a formal pull-aside or a meeting scheduled, like, per se.
Q: The Russians and the Chinese apparently agreed today that the
military phase in Afghanistan should end as soon as possible. Do you
have any reaction to that? Are you troubled by that?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, I don't have any comment on that.
Q: What, if anything, did the President tell him about U.S. ground
operations in Afghanistan?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: They talked about, in general terms,
about the -- in all of the meetings, that the air war was in order to
prepare the way for the use of ground forces.
Q: Do you have any idea about a letter from Taiwan's President,
protesting the absence of Taiwan's representative in today's leaders
meeting?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I have not seen that letter.
(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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