18 June 2003
International Community Must Stand Together on Burma, Powell Says
(Secretary of State's June 18 press briefing in Phnom Penh) (2710)
To be effective against the repressive regime in Burma, the
international community must stand together, says Secretary of State
Colin Powell.
"The brutal rulers of Burma need to understand that the only
acceptable way forward is to release Aung San Suu Kyi and her
supporters, and to resume dialogue with her and with her party," he
told reporters during a press conference in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, site
of this year's annual meetings of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).
The secretary said he was pleased that many of the ASEAN and ARF
members "expressed their clear concerns about the crackdown in Burma,
against Aung San Suu Kyi, and her party." Burma's foremost democracy
leader, Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in an unknown location,
incommunicado, except for a brief meeting she had with a United
Nations Special Envoy. Her supporters are under detention as well, and
their party offices have been shut down.
"Just a year ago," Powell said, "we hoped for rapid progress towards
national reconciliation in Burma, and today we find that Burma has
taken a large step in the opposite direction."
At the ASEAN Regional Forum, which deals with regional security
issues, the United States continued to encourage efforts to convince
member states to take "increasingly specific and concrete steps
against the scourge of terrorism," Powell said.
Powell said he also urged ASEAN and ARF members to help "forge a
constant, concerted, comprehensive and sustained effort across the
region against HIV/AIDS."
"I pointed out," the secretary said, "that HIV/AIDS already has been
more destructive than any weapon of mass destruction, any army and any
conflict, but still is not generally perceived to be a security
threat. That must change."
Following is a transcript of the press briefing:
(begin transcript)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
(Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
June 18, 2003
PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL
June 18, 2003
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
SECRETARY POWELL: Good evening, everyone. I would like to begin by
expressing my special thanks to the Royal Cambodian Government for
hosting these meetings, and for so ably leading the ASEAN Regional
Forum this past year. President Bush sees ASEAN as a major instrument
for stability and cohesion in Southeast Asia.
The ASEAN meetings every summer are a premier event bringing the
leaders of the region and their partners outside the region together
for a wide range of discussions, such as we've had over the past 24
hours. So that means I always make a special effort to attend because
of the region's importance to the United States and to the rest of the
world.
The United States is a strong supporter of regional integration and
free trade as the best means to help close the development gap within
ASEAN. In our discussions, we acknowledge the importance of continued
reform as a means of attracting trade and investment, and we reviewed
the Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative announced by President Bush last
October. This initiative is aimed at rewarding liberalization by
offering prospects for free trade agreements to ASEAN governments that
are committed to openness and reform. We also focused on a number of
security issues, particularly our work against terrorism. We approved
two action-oriented statements on the counterterrorism aspects of
maritime security and border security.
Our government supports and encourages ARF efforts to convince member
states to increasingly specific and concrete steps against the scourge
of terrorism. Indeed, ASEAN nations, and in particular our hosts in
Cambodia, have recently taken some strong and positive steps against
terrorists operating in the region.
We also discussed a number of transnational challenges. I pointed out
that HIV/AIDS already has been more destructive than any weapon of
mass destruction, any army and any conflict, but still is not
generally perceived to be a security threat. That must change. I spoke
about the need for ARF and ASEAN to step up to the problem and to help
forge a constant, concerted, comprehensive and sustained effort across
the region against HIV/AIDS. I will meet tomorrow with Prime Minister
Hun Sen and Foreign Minister Hor Nam Hong.
(Inaudible), as governor of Cambodia has done everything possible to
ensure that the upcoming elections here in Cambodia meet international
standards, particularly when it comes to equal access to the media.
The Cambodian people deserve a government with legitimacy that free
and fair elections will bring, and I'm pleased that the United States
is providing eight and a half million dollars in election assistance
to Cambodia.
We'll also discuss the establishment of a credible Khmer Rouge
tribunal, which we hope will help bring justice to those who are
responsible for the atrocities. This will be a tough job, but we will
work with Cambodia, the United Nations, and others once the elections
are over, and we will do everything we can to help the tribunal
achieve international standards.
In our meetings today we also discussed the situation on the Korean
peninsula. ARF members made it abundantly clear that we all need to
work together to see a nuclear weapons-free Korean peninsula. ASEAN's
help in keeping pressure on North Korea is absolutely necessary to
achieve a diplomatic solution that leaves the peninsula, the region,
and the world safer.
Members also expressed their clear concerns about the crackdown in
Burma, against Aung San Suu Kyi, and her party. She is being held in
an unknown location, and she is incommunicado, except for a brief
meeting that she had with UN Special Envoy Razali. Her supporters are
under detention as well, and party offices have been shut down. Just a
year ago, we hoped for rapid progress towards national reconciliation
in Burma, and today we find that Burma has taken a large step in the
opposite direction.
To be effective, the international community must stand together. The
brutal rulers of Burma need to understand that the only acceptable way
forward is to release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, and to
resume dialogue with her and with her party. I was pleased that so
many ASEAN and ARF members spoke out strongly on this issue.
It has been a very successful series of meetings, and there will be
more meetings in the morning with the PMC, a collection of nations
coming together to continue these discussions. And now I'll be pleased
to take your questions.
QUESTION: George Gedda, of AP. Tomorrow, Mr. Secretary, you'll be in
Jordan, tomorrow night. Very little is known about your activities,
could you tell us who you plan to see, where you plan to go, and what
your goals are?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'll be in Jordan tomorrow night after stopping in
Bangladesh for a few hours, and one of the reasons for going to Jordan
is to participate over the weekend in the World Economic Forum
activities. We'll be talking about economic development issues related
to the Middle East and to the world in general, and in the course of
the World Economic Forum discussions, I'll have an opportunity to meet
with a number of world leaders who'll be attending the forum,
President Karzai of Afghanistan will be there. There will also be a
meeting of the Quartet this coming Sunday afternoon, and I'll have a
chance to discuss the Middle East situation, and our plans with
respect to the roadmap, at that Quartet meeting with Foreign Minster
Ivanov, with the European Union presidency representative, Foreign
Minister Papandreou of Greece, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will
also be there.
I have left time in my schedule for a trip into the region, into
Jerusalem and perhaps elsewhere in the territories, but I haven't
finalized my itinerary with respect to that part of my trip yet.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, could you be more specific about what
criteria the U.S. will use to determine whether the upcoming elections
here in Cambodia are free and fair? I'm particularly interested in
your concerns about media coverage.
SECRETARY POWELL: As I have said in my statement, and I discussed in
the course of the ARF meeting and I will discuss with government
leaders tomorrow, we believe the media should be free to cover the
election, to say whatever ever they wish about the respective
candidates and parties. I'm a strong believer in the value of the
media, in holding elected and appointed officials to account, to the
wishes of the people, and I believe that for a democracy to survive,
there must be open, free, uninhibited, occasionally annoying media.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what are the main sticking points in the
talks about Israel handing over security control of northern Gaza to
the Palestinians, and do you think Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas
actually has the capacity to not merely to enforce security there, but
also to dismantle some of the militant groups active there?
SECRETARY POWELL: I think he has the capacity to do that which he has
expressed a willingness to do, and that's to take over security
responsibilities and certainly a part of the Gaza strip. I think
what's happening now is they're working out the modalities of that
takeover. Both sides have to be satisfied that they can do it. Israel
will not withdraw or turn it over completely to the Palestinians
unless they are confident that the Palestinians have the capacity to
do what they say they're going to do.
I think that as we continue down the roadmap, we work very hard with
our partners in the region and our partners in the European Union and
elsewhere to add to the capacity of the Palestinian Authority so that
they can increase their reach in Gaza and ultimately to the West Bank
communities as well. As they increase their capacity, I think they can
do more than just perhaps seek a cease-fire with some of the militant
groups, those who've sponsored terrorist activities, but can begin the
process of removing their capacity to undertake such terrorist
activities. But this will be a long-range effort and this is the time
to begin.
The window of opportunity was opened at the Aqaba meetings some ten
days or so ago, and we were concerned the first few days afterwards
with the increase in terrorist activities and the responses that it
brought from Israel. But I hope that now both sides realize, and I'm
encouraged that both sides seem to realize, that they cannot allow
this immediate wave of terrorism to stand in the way of progress down
the roadmap. There is no alternative. We have to keep moving, we have
to find a way forward and I'm pleased that both sides remain committed
to the obligations that they undertook in Aqaba, that are explicit in
the roadmap, and are trying to move forward.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary State of America, when will you resume
assistance for Cambodia? Can you say unless the free and fair election
in this country?
SECRETARY POWELL: We have some limited assistance programs now. We
have a $20 million program for child assistance activities, we have a
program I mentioned with respect to supporting the election, eight and
a half million dollars, and there's another two and a half million
dollars we are using for demining efforts in Cambodia. And we hope
that as we move forward after this election period and continue our
discussion with Cambodian leaders, there might be opportunities to do
more. I hope that they do have the kind of election that I've spoken
about, and I do hope that after the elections there will be more
opportunities for us to pursue dialog and potentially other programs
with Kingdom of Cambodia.
QUESTION: Tom Intire with CNN. You've apparently spent a great deal of
time talking to the ARF about North Korea. At about the same time
North Korea, through its statement to the media, admitted for the
first time that they do possess nuclear weapons but continue to push
the line that multi-party talks they're not interested in, only with
the United States. You call on ASEAN to continue to put pressure to
maintain a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. Did you get any assurances
back from ASEAN in you request?
SECRETARY POWELL: You say today they announced for the first time?
They've been saying it quite frequently and they even said to us that
they told us ten years ago that they had nuclear weapons but we didn't
hear them correctly at that time. So they have been making this claim
for some time, and for some time we have said that we attribute that
capability to them, that they might have one or two nuclear weapons.
We know that they had reprocessed enough material for that, and that
they probably also had the wherewithal to build such weapons, so we
attributed that capability to them.
There was a consistent view in the discussion today, every nation
talked to this, that we cannot tolerate in Asia nuclear weapons in the
Korean peninsula. There was a consistent view that North Korea
therefore had to find a way to abandon its program. And there was a
consistent view that it affected North Korea's neighbors just as much
as it attracted US interest and, therefore, should be dealt with in a
multilateral way. I enforced the US position that we believe that all
of North Korea's neighbors have an interest in this. It is not a
US-North Korea issue alone, and we must not let North Korea try to
isolate itself from the wishes and will and the equities of its own
neighbors. And there was strong support for that position as well. I
think if you look at the Chairman's statement you will see that
reflected.
QUESTION: If the elections here in Cambodia are not judged to be free
and fair, what would the US be willing to do?
SECRETARY POWELL: I'm sorry, I didn't hear the question.
QUESTION: If the elections in Cambodia are not judged to be free and
fair what would your position be?
SECRETARY POWELL: We would be very disappointed with that kind of a
result. I think the international community would be disappointed, and
of course the people of Cambodia should be disappointed. But I would
not prejudge now what our actions might be based on a hypothetical
outcome. Let's hope instead for free, fair, open elections where we
see the clash of idea, the clash of political personalities in a
peaceful way, no violence in the election, and an aggressive media
helping the people of Cambodia understand what their political leaders
are saying to them. That should be our desire and hope and that's the
outcome we expect.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what has to happen before you decide whether
or not a trip to Jerusalem and perhaps Ramallah would be useful? What
are the factors in your thinking on whether to go?
SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I expect to go. I just don't have an itinerary
for you yet or any details, but I have programmed time in my calendar
to do so, and I can tell you with some confidence that over the next
24 hours I will be able to tell you more with respect to the details
of the trip.
QUESTION: Well, then, if I could rephrase that. Can you shed a little
more light on the kinds of things that you want to accomplish when you
go?
SECRETARY POWELL: I want to talk with my team there, with my
Ambassador, Ambassador Wolf who's there now, as well as with our
Consul General and to get a first-hand update on the discussions that
have been taking place over the last several days. And then when I go
there I hope to speak to both leaders in the Palestinian Authority and
leaders in Israel as well, depending on availability of folks, to see
how we are coming along with respect to the security arrangement that
we were discussing concerning Gaza, and to make sure that we continue
putting energy and momentum into the roadmap as well as into the
commitments made by parties at Aqaba.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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