June 10, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release June 10, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING
BY MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:57 P.M. EDT
..................
Q Where is this big China speech and what's it all
about?
MR. MCCURRY: The President will be tomorrow addressing
his upcoming trip to China. As we indicated to you last week, and as
we often do in advance of a major foreign trip, the President likes
to set forth some of his goals and objectives and frame the overall
context for our policy, which I expect him to do at 10:20 a.m.
tomorrow at the National Geographic Society Building.
Obviously, with his upcoming trip to China coming at a
moment that is critical in terms of the U.S. presence in the region
and in terms of our own bilateral relationship with the People's
Republic, the President will seek to set out the broad parameters
that exist in this relationship, the reason why our strategy of
engagement at highest levels is working and has worked to produce
significant progress in some of the areas that we exchange views with
the Chinese on.
And I expect the President will directly answer those
critics that suggest that it would be better at this point in human
history to isolate the billions of people who live in China and treat
that nation as a rogue nation. So I think it will be a very
interesting speech, and I'm sure you will all want to follow closely
the President's remarks.
Q Did the President -- or did anybody at the White
House pay attention to these hearings on the Hill today on forced
abortions in China?
MR. MCCURRY: The President was well aware of the
hearings being held. There have been a number of issues that have
been addressed on the Hill recently, but that particular area is an
area that is of longstanding concern to our government. We have
raised with the government of China concerns that we have about
practices and international norms with respect to family planning.
You know -- or it may or may not have been adduced at
the hearing today -- the government of China officially prohibits and
tells us that they officially prohibit the use of force to compel
people to submit to abortion and sterilization. But we are well
aware, and I think that the anecdotal evidence that comes forward
suggests that there's poor supervision of local officials who are
sometimes under very intense pressure to meet family planning
targets. And that results in clear instances of abuse, forced
abortion, sterilization. And those are, obviously, practices that we
consider abhorrent.
We have raised that at high levels in the past with the
government of China; it is part of the working dialogue we have with
the government and no doubt will be part of the President's upcoming
trip. We have suggested to the Chinese that our expert view is that
birth rates could be stabilized without coercion, through voluntary
family planning, through reproductive health services, maternal and
child health care, basic education for young women, and through
fighting discrimination against women, and generally through better
practices with respect to human rights. And those are the points we
have made in our dialogue. And one utility of this dialogue we have
is that we can press our argument in matters like that.
The other thing we've done is to address the needs of
those who feel that they have been discriminated against or have been
compelled to do things against their wish, contrary to their own free
expression of their human rights. In 1996 the President signed into
law immigration provisions that make clear that persons who have
experienced forced abortion or sterilization, or have reasonable
fears of such practices, may be eligible for asylum in the United
States. And there have been -- that has led to consideration of some
cases, I believe, involving people from China who felt they've been
discriminated against.
Q Mike, there's a report today that Chinese
authorities have given the White House the go-ahead for the President
to do live radio and television broadcasts while he's in China. Is
that true, and if so, what would that mean for the trip?
MR. MCCURRY: I haven't seen those reports. I don't
have anything at this point indicating that that's something that we
plan to do. We are always conscious that a foreign trip is an
opportunity for public diplomacy, and the President will choose
carefully the ways in which he addresses his own thoughts to the
people of China. But I suspect as we develop and finalize the
schedule, we'll be able to tell you more about those occasions. I'm
not aware that we've got some opportunity to do exactly what that
wire report indicated was suggested.
Q Did Sandy have any discussion with the Chinese when
he was there about this book that the Chinese were apparently --
MR. MCCURRY: No, and to my -- and we've checked with
our embassy and no one at the embassy has, as well. I mean,
obviously, you could read a lot worse about Bill Clinton anywhere
here in the United States, so it wouldn't be of any practical fact of
banning that kind of literature. And one of the things that we are
promoting on this trip is freedom of expression, which includes
freedom of press.
Q So you didn't ask that it be withdrawn?
MR. MCCURRY: Absolutely not.
Q Mike, while you've been anxious to point to the
release of some of the more high profile dissidents, correspondents
in China are reporting that a number of people have been rounded up,
shipped off to other parts of the country -- people in the specific
areas the President's going to visit. There was the Times story
yesterday about the effect on students from here who have visited
home and been sent back. What are his concerns about the effect of
his visit on political activists in China?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, they are identical to the case that
we press all the time as we talk to the Chinese about the suppression
of dissent, about the ability that people should have to freely
express themselves in any society that subscribes to international
norms with respect to human rights. They are part and parcel of the
dialogue that we have. It has been sometimes the case that the
authorities become more intense in and around visits of high ranking
U.S. officials and that is a subject that we have raised directly
with the Chinese government through our embassy in Beijing.
Q How recently has that been raised?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd have to check and see but I know that
our human rights concerns clearly were expressed by the President's
National Security Advisor when he was there. Our interest in having
a trip that goes smoothly is very well known to the Chinese
government, and our views about those who are freely expressing their
own political beliefs are very well known to the Chinese authorities.
Q Is that why he's not going to meet with any
dissidents while he's there?
MR. MCCURRY: We've not suggested what his final
schedule is, and when I'm in a position to brief you on his schedule
I will brief you.
Q From his remarks yesterday it seemed the President
thinks he's going to have a big impact on the human rights aspect of
this. Are there any prior agreements, anything he's going to sign?
MR. MCCURRY: I think the President believes that our
engagement with Chinese leadership and our pressing on these human
rights concerns that we do have has resulted in some progress, and
that's been the point of having this engagement with them and the
point of raising our concerns in dialogue with them. And I think
there is ample evidence that we've made some progress. There's still
a ways to go, clearly.
Q Who's the audience for tomorrow's speech and was
there any particular reason that setting was chosen?
MR. MCCURRY: They were looking for a setting that would
accommodate the audience they have -- I think it's experts in China
policy. We're inviting people who were involved in both
opinion-making and policy-making with respect to Asian affairs
generally, and beyond that I know that they've contacted several
groups. I'm not sure exactly the full mix of the audience.
Q You said that the President's going to answer the
criticism about this trip. Is he feeling a lot of heat about this
trip, thinks that he has to try to defuse this before it gets much
further?
MR. MCCURRY: I think that he believes that a fair
amount of politics has been injected into the debate about China.
And I think he wants to separate politics from questions of policy
and make a substantive policy-driven case on why our engagement with
China has been useful and has been manifestly in the interest of the
American people. I think that strong case overrides some of the
political chatter that has grown up around this issue.
Q Will he specifically answer criticisms about
technology transfers?
MR. MCCURRY: That will be an element of the speech,
although I will not suggest to you that will be the sole focus of the
speech.
Q A lot has been made about how hasty this speech was
thrown on. Do you feel that you have been losing the battle on the
Hill at least in the P.R.?
MR. MCCURRY: We generally, before a major foreign trip,
find some opportunity, some venue, to give a speech that's sort of a
curtain raiser for the speech, so that's been my plan to do that for
some time.
Q Yeah, but there wasn't a word about it in the week
ahead.
Q This is pretty far in advance.
MR. MCCURRY: Mr. Lockhart recalls briefing on this when
he did the week ahead.
Q Mike, I'm not sure I understood your answer to
Peter. Is the White House concerned about the idea that Chinese
dissidents are being rounded up, presumably to make the President's
trip go smoother?
MR. MCCURRY: If that is the case, and we clearly have
got reports and seen reports to that effect, it is of concern. And
those concerns have been expressed generally, and as we get specific
cases that we hear about they will be addressed specifically.
Q When does the President plan to handle the issue
regarding all of the political contributions? I mean, we've been
through this before when Gore went over and said he was going to deal
with it, and there was some confusion about whether or not he did.
How does the President plan to deal with that?
MR. MCCURRY: I think by sticking factually to the
advances that have accrued to the people of America because of
policy. That's where the argument lies, and that's where it should
lie.
Q Well, no, what about the campaign contribution
part?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, what about the campaign? I mean,
the campaign contributions come from many different sources, many
different people. That has nothing to do with our policy with
respect to China.
Q No, I was getting to the allegations that China may
have funnelled money to the DNC.
Q Exactly.
MR. MCCURRY: Well, you know we have had dialogue with
the government of the People's Republic on that point and --
Q Was he satisfied with their denials?
MR. MCCURRY: We continue to have dialogue with the
government of China on that issue.
Q Is he going to have more dialogue when he's over
there? I mean, that's what we're asking.
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not going to preview that for you, and
we'll let you know when we're on the trip.
Q What do you say to those critics who say the
President's kowtowing to the Chinese government?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, they will get a very clear, forceful
response when the President points out the benefits that exist to the
American people through a strategy of constructive engagement with
the leadership of the People's Republic.
Q Mike, when you say that you have dialogue, I mean,
you're not suggesting ongoing dialogue on that, right? I thought it
was pretty much left at the status quo: they denied it, you said it
would be serious if there's evidence to the contrary, but so far
there is not.
MR. MCCURRY: I have not inquired as to when we last
raised any concern with respect to that matter. I'd need to do so
again, but we have raised that concern at the highest levels in our
government in our exchanges with the People's Republic.
...............
Q Mike, does the President have any further views on
what it is that might have prompted Chinese officials to try to
funnel money into political coffers -- campaign coffers?
MR. MCCURRY: There's no way, shape, or form I'm going
to comment on that, because whether or not that happened is the
subject of an effort that the Justice Department is undertaking to
look into. And that's -- obviously that's not something I'm going to
comment on.
...............
Q Are you going to release any documents today -- NSC
documents on the Loral and other waivers?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't plan to here, no.
Q Well, does anybody at the White House on your
staff?
MR. MCCURRY: I can check with them.
Q Are they making them available to the Hill?
MR. MCCURRY: There have been documents that have been
made available to the Hill on and off the last couple of days.
Q Will we have access to them here?
MR. MCCURRY: You can inquire of Mr. Kennedy. I don't
know what plans they're making.
.................
Q Mike, can I go back to the first topic of the
briefing, which was these hearings on forced abortions in China, and
you're raising them now as something -- the reason why you should go
to China, have dialogue. What will the President offer as an
alternative?
MR. MCCURRY: As an alternative to --
Q Will he say there shouldn't be abortion, or there
shouldn't --
MR. MCCURRY: No, what he'll do is to urge the Chinese
government to embrace the comprehensive approach to
population-related matters that were conceived of and adopted by the
population conference in Cairo. That is an approach that governments
throughout the world acknowledge as being the right way to deal with
family-related issues, and I think we'll impress the utility of that.
As a practical matter, our money does not go in the programs that are
operated by China because of the restrictions that exist in our own
law, so there's not a question of U.S. funding. But I think a
dialogue with them about the approach that the international
community embraced at Cairo is the proper dialogue.
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