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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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QUESTION: Do you have any comment on Lee's televised statement about Chinese air force jets crossing strait lines?

MR. RUBIN: Yes. With respect to that issue, let me say that we, for some time now, have been monitoring the situation over the Taiwan Straits very closely. We are aware that recently a number of sorties have been flown by both China and Taiwan - military aircraft - in the Taiwan Strait.

Any time you have military aircraft flying this close to each other, there is a need for and appropriate for there to be concern about accidents. We have repeatedly stated both to Taiwan and China that it is not beneficial for either side to take steps that increase tensions across the Taiwan Strait. We continue to urge both sides to exercise restraint and not take actions or make statements that make meaningful and substantive dialogue more difficult, and to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner.

QUESTION: What about Congressman Gilman's statement that he supports Taiwan's position? It seems that contradicts --

MR. RUBIN: This is a House delegation that's in Taiwan lead by Chairman Gilman. They are there; they will meet with President Lee and others; they will speak for themselves, as members of Congress do; and it will be up to them to describe their own views. We certainly didn't ask the members to convey a message on our behalf.

QUESTION: Jamie, on Gilman -- I've got this one - are you going to ask the same thing I'm going to ask? In light of this Washington Times story, Jamie, would you like to make any public comments about the Congressman's sense of humor or lack thereof?

MR. RUBIN: Let me suggest to you that sometimes in this job, one is presented with a piece of legislation and a question that the Administration has never even heard about or been provided. That happens quite a bit when some over-eager folks are more interested in having the journalists know about a piece of legislation than they are about actually introducing it or presenting it for serious consideration by the Administration.

In the course of that, that puts the Administration in the uncomfortable position of being forced to respond to legislation through the media that they've never seen before. So on a slow, summer day, I think I made that point humorously and amusingly and obviously not everyone thought it was as funny as I did.

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