THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New York, New York)
___________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 8, 2000
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY WITH
PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN OF CHINA
Waldorf-Astoria
New York, New York
10:40 A.M. EDT
Q Can you offer any assurances to President Jiang on the China
trade bill, that it will eventually be passed, and on the national
defense system that you deferred last week?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: I believe the legislation will pass, and I'm
pleased at the progress it's making in the Senate. But, of course, we
still have some work to do. The missile defense issue will be resolved
by my successor, although I hope we get a chance to talk about it a
little bit today.
Q Mr. President, will you make any requests of President Zemin
on the question of human rights as attached to the permanent normal
trade relations bill?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: We're going to discuss human rights issues,
as we always do, but I feel very strongly that PNTR should pass. And
I think over the long run it's good for the development of democracy
and human rights in China, and I know it's good for America-Chinese
relationships over the long run.
Q Mr. Clinton, I know that yesterday you were present at the
P-5 summit which was a Chinese initiative. So as the President of the
United States, also a permanent member of the Security Council, what
would you say about the P-5 summit yesterday? And also, how do you
see the role of China for international peace and security in this
century?
PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, first of all, I think it was a very good
idea by President Jiang to have the P-5 meet. I was amazed that they
had never met, or hadn't met in a long time. And I think it was a
very good idea. And we actually made a specific decision to, as a
group, help the Secretary General implement his report on peacekeeping,
and to continue to explore what else we could do together.
I think it might be a forum in the future that would provide an
opportunity for Chinese cooperation with the other members of the P-5
in a way that would be very helpful to the rest of the world as well.
Q Could you describe your encounter with Fidel Castro yesterday?
THE PRESIDENT: What Joe said is right. It just happened. There
were a whole lot of people in a line. I was talking to them. I turned
around and he was standing there. He apparently had come up and
waited, and we must have -- the encounter lasted just a few seconds.
That's all that happened.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END 10:50 A.M. EDT
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