The White House Briefing Room
March 16, 1999
PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART
1:22 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 16, 1999
PRESS BRIEFING BY
JOE LOCKHART
The Briefing Room
1:22 P.M. EST
...............
Q Joe, on Los Alamos, more and more Republicans are
coming out criticizing the way the administration has handled it.
Even Senator Hollings, who's a Democrat, is also quoted some deep
concern.
MR. LOCKHART: Yes. Well, I think what we've heard from
Senator Hollings and Senator Helms was basically on the issue of WTO
and trying to link that somehow to other issues, and somehow to the
labs. I think that would be unfortunate. I think we -- three or
four administrations, going back 13 years, we have been negotiating
with the Chinese to find some way to bring them, in a commercially
viable way, into the WTO, because it's in the interests of America,
and it's in the interests of American business.
If you look at the situation now, China enjoys much of
the WTO benefits, as far as access to our market, but American
business doesn't enjoy access to the Chinese market that the WTO
brings. So I think it would be wrong to try to link these issues.
Our China policy is based on our national interest, what's in
America's interest. And we have made some progress on moving the
Chinese toward a viable negotiation, and I think we should continue
working that way.
Q Wait a second. Did you just say that China gets
benefits -- the WTO benefits without the responsibilities right now?
MR. LOCKHART: They certainly have access to the U.S.
market.
Q Why would they want to come in?
MR. LOCKHART: Because they do. I think China has made
efforts to join the international trading community, because as an
economy develops, there are benefits to China. But this is an issue
that fundamentally is in our interest, and I'd say that there are
some -- for every one like Senator Helms, there's -- Representative
Goss, today, who has been a critic of our China policy in some areas,
who said, this is a trade issue and should be dealt with like a trade
issue.
Q I'd like to follow up this question. Joe, you said
it would be unfortunate to link these, in that one is a trade issue,
and the other is what it is. But we link trade with other political
issues all the time, with Libya and Iran and Cuba. It sort of raises
the question: is there anything Beijing could do that the Clinton
administration say, okay, we have to start linking it?
MR. LOCKHART: You're asking me a hypothetical and --
Q Hydrogen bomb secrets -- how's that? (Laughter.)
MR. LOCKHART: There are certainly, as you know, because
this is a serious subject, there are allegations that those type of
transfers happened in the 1980s. We're dealing now in the late
1990s. And we think that there are enormous benefits to the
engagement policy we have with China to our national interest as far
as security around the world, as far as security in the region
whether it's North Korea or India-Pakistan as far as
nonproliferation. So we will make judgments based on what we believe
is our national interest, and what is in our national interest, and
we think it is in our national interest to remain engaged on a wide
variety, including trade.
Q How about a non-hypothetical question? What price
does China pay for spying on the United States?
MR. LOCKHART: We have very strict export controls --
Q That's it?
MR. LOCKHART: We have very -- let me finish -- we have
very strict export controls on what we can sell to them, what
technology is available to them, and we will remain -- have been and
will remain very vigilant to countries like China and other countries
around the world who seek to, by whatever means, get access to
secrets here or to technology. But I think it would be wrong to say
that we would have no relationship with any country around the world
who seeks to do this because -- and I think it would be naive.
Q I'm not saying no relationship, I'm just asking
you, what does the Clinton administration do to punish China for
spying on the United States?
MR. LOCKHART: Well, again, there is an ongoing
investigation now to what happened here in the 1980s. As far as how
we deal with this on a daily basis, we do it through strong controls
of what gets exported. And that includes many countries beyond
China.
Q Is the Shanghai Communique still the cornerstone of
our China policy -- is there one China?
MR. LOCKHART: There has been no change as far as I
know.
Q Why are we defending Taiwan then?
Q -- with the steady drumbeat on the China issue,
that Republicans see this national security question, targeting China
in particular, as a way of making some short-term political gains.
And if this is the case, wouldn't it be unconscionable to adventure
to sacrifice a 20-year relationship, put it in danger just for the
sake of some petty political points that they wish to make?
MR. LOCKHART: I'm not sure I could have said that
better, but let me try to answer. No, it's a serious one. You know,
I think there are legitimate and serious issues. I mean, the Cox
Committee made a series of recommendations which we are taking up as
far as security at labs. We think that all well-intentioned
information and recommendations for increasing the security, whether
they be at the labs or anyplace else, should be looked at and taken.
But I do think there is an element here of partisan point-scoring
that's going on. And we shouldn't put an important relationship at
risk to whatever the daily political battle here in Washington is.
Q The Chinese leader who is coming here very shortly
says he doesn't think he's going to get a big hug when he comes here
and wonders if he's going to get a hostile --
MR. LOCKHART: I'd say he's got good intelligence.
Q -- denies that his country engaged in the theft of
nuclear secrets, does the U.S. regard that as a lie?
MR. LOCKHART: I tell you that there is an ongoing
investigation of activity in the 1980s, as I told you yesterday. I
think, as Mr. Berger has acknowledged, we believe there was some
transfer in an unauthorized way of information. We're trying now,
many years after the fact, to do an assessment of the damage to that.
And that's our position.
Q Joe, if you already announced this, forgive me, but
have you made a decision on what you're going to do in Geneva about
the human rights --
MR. LOCKHART: No.
Q Last year, when it came up before, you agreed not
to push for it because China had said it was going to sign this
convention. Instead China went ahead and arrested dissidents and a
whole lot of things that are clearly --
MR. LOCKHART: I know that there certainly are policies
on promoting human rights in China -- there are a number
of ways to do that. We are currently looking at Geneva as one of the
contexts of a way of doing that.
Q I guess what I'm asking in relation to this other
matter, some of this, whether or not China joins the WTO or does
other things, is just a matter of trust, right -- they say they're
going to do certain things as part of an international convention and
you have to believe that they actually will do them.
MR. LOCKHART: Well, if you look at the WTO, they have
to do a number of things in order to enter as far as it being viable
commercially. And then the WTO has a strict set of rules. And there
are a number of countries -- I mean, we're in a dispute right now
with probably our oldest ally, members of the European Union, and we
will find a way to litigate this. It doesn't mean we don't trust
them. But this is why you have international trading organizations,
this is why you have rules.
Q What are you doing to keep the Chinese from firing
missiles at Taiwan?
Q Missile defense again.
MR. LOCKHART: Well, I'm sorry, in what sense.
Q Easing tensions in the Taiwan Straits.
MR. LOCKHART: Listen, let me answer it in a broad way,
which is you ask -- or those have asked, what have we gotten out of
engagement with China? Well, one of the things we've gotten out of
engagement with China is the lessening of tensions in the Taiwan
Straits. And that is something that is very real and is very
tangible.
Q Can we withdraw the 7th Fleet then?
MR. LOCKHART: I'm not going to announce that today.
Q If the tensions are lessening, why are we proposing
a missile defense?
.....................
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END 2:05 P.M. EST
#62-03/16
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