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Interview of Secretary of State Colin L. Powell by Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts of ABC'S "This Week"

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
For Immediate Release
February 5, 2001

INTERVIEW OF
SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN L. POWELL
BY SAM DONALDSON AND COKIE ROBERTS
OF ABC'S "THIS WEEK"

February 4, 2001
Washington, D.C.

MR. DONALDSON: All right. China has just taken possession of two
Russian destroyers that are meant to hunt and kill aircraft carriers.
It has four more destroyers on order that will be there.

What is China up to?

SECRETARY POWELL: China is up to, I presume, modernizing its forces.
Their forces are really quite behind the times. So they are doing
force modernization. It is nothing that surprises or shocks --

MR. DONALDSON: Does that threaten us or Taiwan?

SECRETARY POWELL: I think we have to make sure that we remain strong
in the region. I think there should be no question that we will
maintain a military presence in the region because we think it is
American military presence in the region that is sort of a flywheel
that keeps the whole region in a rather stable situation.

But a nation such as China that has the wherewithal to improve its
military, I would expect it to improve its military. I'm more
interested in what kind of policies it adopts that might be disturbing
or threatening to the region. And that is why I am looking forward to
having good, solid conversations with the Chinese, and I have started
that. One of my first visitors was the Chinese Ambassador, and I look
forward to greeting other Chinese visitors in the very near future.

MR. DONALDSON: President Clinton put on hold the sale of two Aegis-
class destroyers to Taiwan. Will this administration sell those
destroyers and/or other advanced weapons systems?

SECRETARY POWELL: In the course of the spring we will examine what the
Taiwanese have asked for, and we will make our decisions on individual
weapons systems in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act that you
are well familiar with, the various communiqués that have come from
that Act, as well as what the Congress has said with respect to
enhancement of Taiwan's defense capability. But it will be done in a
way that is deliberate, with full understanding of the implications of
each one of these weapons systems for relationships between Taiwan and
the People's Republic of China.

MR. DONALDSON: Let me show some of the words from one of those
communiqués, the third one in 1982, the joint communiqué issued by the
United States and the People's Republic of China on the question of
arms sales to Taiwan. And here is what it says: "The United States
Government states that it does not seek to carry out a long-term policy
of arms sales to Taiwan; that its arms sales to Taiwan will not exceed,
either in qualitative or quantitative terms, the level of those
supplied in recent years; and that it intends gradually to reduce its
sale of arms to Taiwan."

The plain reading of that language suggests that Aegis destroyers would
be off-base.

SECRETARY POWELL: The plain reading of the language of the TRA and the
various communiqués over time would suggest that we have an obligation
to Taiwan to make sure that their level of defense capability remains
constant over time and they are in a position to defend themselves
against any threats that might come their way. And so we will always
be looking for that balance in our arms sales policy with respect to
Taiwan.

MR. DONALDSON: When you said goodbye to the outgoing Chinese
Ambassador, you read him the riot act - my words, not yours - on
human rights. And on the 19th of March, the United Nations Human
Rights Commission meets in Geneva. Traditionally, the United States
supports a condemnation resolution. But there is some suggestion that,
this year, this Administration would not.

Will we?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, I wouldn't say "read him the riot act." We
had a good businesslike discussion of human rights, and I made it clear
to him that the Bush Administration would measure all of our
relationships with other countries dealing with human rights, as well
as all other issues that might exist between the two of us. And I
didn't want there to be any mistake with our Chinese interlocutors that
we were interested in human rights.

And you are quite right, there is a conference coming up. And the
question will be which nations will we try to introduce or have
introduced a resolution of disapproval, of condemnation.

MR. DONALDSON: Would we support it?

SECRETARY POWELL: Well, we haven't made a decision yet. We have
started to examine it. I talked to our Ambassador in Geneva yesterday,
and we have begun the process of coming to a conclusion as to how we
will proceed in Geneva next month.

MR. DONALDSON: Secretary Powell, if we don't now, the United States,
support a resolution of condemnation, isn't that a great victory for
China on the very subject that you say you are so concerned with -
human rights?

SECRETARY POWELL: We are concerned with human rights, and we will make
a judgment as to whether we will or will not support in due course.
But I would think you will find that whatever we do or do not do in
Geneva will be consistent with the principles of human rights and our
support for human rights throughout the world.