Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
State Department Noon Briefing
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2001 - 2:00 P.M.
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)
Q: On the photo - the Chinese have given members of the family a
photo --
MR. BOUCHER: We've given members of the family a photo.
Q: You have?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
Q: Well, what do you make of it? I mean, what does the photo say? Does
it say anything that --
MR. BOUCHER: The photo says that our people in the meeting on Tuesday
took a photograph of the family members, and we provided the
photograph to the families so they could see their loved ones.
Q: And if the loved ones look at the photograph, as I'm sure they do,
will they get any contrary impression to the one we've been given that
everybody is just in great shape?
MR. BOUCHER: Again, I'm not going to speak on behalf of the families.
Don't expect me to start doing that now. We're taking care of the
families. We're giving them information. We're giving them
photographs.
Do you think we should take a picture of the families and - of the
individuals and not show it to the families?
Q: By extension, you might as well give it to the media, too.
MR. BOUCHER: I think we do things for the families and we try to take
care of them.
Q: Do you have any - can you say whether you are in the process of
drafting a letter with the Chinese which lays out the framework of a
resolution of this?
MR. BOUCHER: Can't say that.
Q: Why, then - well, perhaps you can tell us exactly what Senator
Warner was just talking about.
MR. BOUCHER: I'm sure Senator Warner told you what he was talking
about.
Q: Yeah, but --
Q: Richard --
Q: Hold on, he's not going to get away --
MR. BOUCHER: I'm going to keep moving around.
Q: You're not going to get away that easy on this. (Laughter.)
Senator Warner mentioned that a letter was being drafted. He also
talked about a special meeting of committee. Now, is he completely
wrong? Is he out of the loop on this?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything to say on what Senator Warner might
have said.
Q: Richard, he's talking about Secretary Powell as giving him this
information.
MR. BOUCHER: I managed to catch only the tail end of Senator Warner
and read only the front part of the transcript, but at least what I
heard he said he was not speaking on behalf of anybody in particular.
Q: When he was briefed by the Secretary yesterday, that this is what
the Secretary told him was going on.
MR. BOUCHER: I'm sorry, I'm not in a position to talk about what
Senator Warner may or may not have said.
Q: Let's talk about what really is, then. Is there such a meeting
being set up, whether Senator Warner said it or not?
MR. BOUCHER: Sorry. What such a meeting?
Q: A meeting between the two sides that will enable the experts who
are most knowledgeable about aircraft and other matters to sit down
and assess the facts.
MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary talked to you about exchanging
explanations. He said that was what we saw as part of the solution.
And we told you since then - he has told you, I've told you - that
we are working on ways of doing that, finding ways to do that, finding
ways to resolve the issue, finding ways to exchange explanations and
to reach a better understanding of this situation. So, beyond that, I
am just not prepared to go today.
Q: You are not ruling out that that could be between experts at a
table from both sides?
MR. BOUCHER: It could be at a table or not with a table. (Laughter.)
Q: Right. Richard, can you say whether the people who met with the
families today were able to meet with them without Chinese officials
present?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes. They met with the air crew. It was, as you know,
General Neal Sealock, our Defense Attaché from Beijing, Ted Gong, our
Consular Section Chief from the Consulate General at Guangzhou, met
with the air crew today. They met with all of them in a group for some
time, I believe, without any Chinese presence, and then they met with
some of the individuals as well.
Q: Would you categorize at this point our access as free or
unfettered, or fettered and restrained?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I can completely characterize it for you
now. Obviously it is not completely open. We can't just drop in
anytime and go see them. We would like as much access as we can; we
would like regular access; we would like unfettered access. Clearly,
in the meeting today there were a few less fetters than there were on
Tuesday, but as far as having the kind of access that we are looking
for, we will continue to press for free and completely unfettered --
Q: (Inaudible) come home?
MR. BOUCHER: I can't make any predictions.
Q: Was there anything that the airmen told our officials today that
you can tell us? Before you had said that they had talked about being
interrogated by the Chinese. Is there anything else like that? Have
the Chinese continued to question them?
MR. BOUCHER: I went through with several of the people who got the
readouts. I didn't go through the whole readout myself.
There was no new mentioning or indication of questioning at this
point. Now, whether that is just because we don't have a complete
readout, or they didn't ask the question. But there certainly - the
Secretary I think said to you earlier - was no indication of any kind
of mistreatment or interrogation, you might say. But exactly whether
the Chinese are still asking them questions about the accident or not,
I don't know.
Q: Would the United States like to see some sort of written agreement
or documentation of this process?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not going to comment one way or the other on the ways
that we might resolve this.
Q: Richard, what role is the UN playing and if the US have asked the
United Nations for any help or play any role? Also if this matter came
up between the Secretary and the Indian Foreign Minister's visit here.
He just left the building.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think there is any particular discussion with the
United Nations at this point. The details are being discussed between
the United States and China in very intensive bilateral discussions
that for the last day or two have been in Beijing and Washington. So
far today, they have all been in Beijing.
The subject did come up in the Secretary's meetings with the Indian
Foreign Minister. They just generally discussed the situation. There
was nothing particular that we're asking the Indians to do in this
situation.
Q: (Inaudible) Chinese Ambassador to come in at all this afternoon?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't know of any meetings with him scheduled at this
point.
Jonathan, you were asking when is the next contact?
Q: Yes.
MR. BOUCHER: Even at this very late hour there is still the
possibility of more contact in Beijing, so we will have to see where
it occurs. There is nothing particular --
Q: There's nothing here?
MR. BOUCHER: Nothing specific scheduled here or in Beijing at this
moment, but I don't want to rule it out happening in either place. We
haven't - in Beijing they haven't shut down for the night.
Q: Will there be any contact with the Jiang Zemin party or anybody in
--
MR. BOUCHER: Not that I'm aware of, no.
Q: Richard, do you know when the next meeting of this maritime
cooperation commission --
MR. BOUCHER: The maritime military - military maritime consultative
arrangement?
Q: Right. You said it was San Francisco.
MR. BOUCHER: Previously we checked. It was scheduled late April to
have a regular meeting, but obviously - well, obviously you can
figure out anything else you want to figure out. I'm not going to go
into comment.
Q: Well, is the venue still the same?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm not aware of any change in that but - I'd just leave
it at that.
Q: Now can we just take a step back? Without any --
MR. BOUCHER: A step back? Good. A step further, no. (Laughter.)
Q: I think it will be a step back maybe and a step further, perhaps.
And you decide whether you want to go there or not.
Is this the kind of forum that the United States and China might look
to, or the United States might look to, to have a discussion about
incidents such as these?
MR. BOUCHER: I think we can consider that there might be various ways
of discussing the explanations, discussing the incident - the
accident. Let's stick to the same terminology. I don't think it is in
our interest at this stage in the discussions to start specifying one
way of having these discussions or another. This commission exists. It
has regular meetings. I suppose it could have other meetings. I
suppose other things could be set up. There are always diplomatic
channels. So I don't want to start at this point fixating or fingering
a particular mechanism. We are discussions with the Chinese about the
precise details, but in order to carry out these discussions
productively, constructively, I think it behooves me to stop, not to
speculate or to lead you in any particular direction.
Q: Okay. Well, did Senator Warner's comments this afternoon hurt the
process?
MR. BOUCHER: I'm afraid I don't have anything to say about Senator
Warner's comments.
Q: Since you say you're talking about the specific details, is that
the specific details of what happened, or could you explain more --
specific details about a release? What kind of details?
MR. BOUCHER: The way the Secretary described it, rather precise ideas
as to how to bring this to a conclusion, how to establish the process
of release of the crew, return of the aircraft, exchanging
explanations, expressions of regret, those sorts of things - precise
ideas about how those elements - about how the elements that we are
interested in and the Chinese are interested in can be brought
together so that this can be concluded.
Q: So by using "precise," we are quite far along, then. You're not
just talking in generalities anymore. Yes, no?
MR. BOUCHER: Yes.
Q: And he also said, though, that --
MR. BOUCHER: Yes, we are not talking in generalities, anymore. As far
as characterizing how far along we are, I think I'd just say we are
moving forward. We are encouraged by the fact that we are moving --
Q: But he also said they are exchanging precise ideas and papers. Is
that an implication of some sort of joint statement or agreement, or
this letter that Senator Warner didn't talk about?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't remember the Secretary using the word "papers".
Q: Yes, he did.
Q: He used papers.
MR. BOUCHER: All right. Okay, papers. No, that's okay. No, I'm not
going to define the papers any - oh, yes he did. "And exchanging
ideas and papers, and there has been movement." I'm afraid that is as
far as I can go.
Q: Richard, as part of this letter-drafting person - (laughter) --
are you now thinking of sending anyone senior to Beijing?
MR. BOUCHER: As far as this exchange of ideas and papers, I don't have
anything new on any speculation about what might be inside the
exchange of ideas and papers.
Q: But are you thinking of sending over anybody senior to Beijing?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't have anything to say on that.
Q: To use a term from the peace process, can you talk about the
"parameters" of the ideas? (Laughter.) I mean, I'm asking because, is
this simply just about the terms for getting back the crew and the
plane, or is this in some way laying out the "road rules," if you
will, for how to deal in espionage issues in the future with China, or
are you talking about greater bilateral concerns?
MR. BOUCHER: I thought I took an oath on January 20th never to use the
word parameters again. (Laughter.) We are talking about the
modalities. (Laughter.) We are talking about the modalities. We are
talking about the ways in which to bring this to a conclusion. The
ideas, the elements, to bring this to a conclusion. And then that is
as far as I can go at this point.
Q: Richard, you said that in the second meeting with the crew there
was no talk about further interrogation - an attempt by the Chinese
to interrogate them. But are the Chinese still telling you that they
would like to interrogate the crew?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think the Chinese ever used that word, frankly,
not with us.
Q: Well, did they say that they would like to question the crew?
MR. BOUCHER: I mean, what is important to us with the crew, we know
from before that the crew said they have been asked questions about
the accident. There was no - in as much of the readout as I have of
the latest meeting - there was no specific mention of that, so I
can't tell you one way or the other whether they are still asking
questions. But there was no mention of mistreatment or specific
interrogations.
Q: Richard, you talked about exchanges of ideas and pieces of paper
with the Government of China. Can you say whether we are exchanging
ideas and pieces of paper with Qian Qichen and Jiang Zemin while they
are on their trip in South America?
MR. BOUCHER: I think it is for the Chinese Government to keep in touch
with their leadership as they travel. As you know, the Secretary wrote
a letter to Vice Premier Qian Qichen Wednesday evening that we passed
to Ambassador Yang so he could forward it through their system to Vice
Premier Qian and any other members of the Chinese leadership that
needed to see it.
At this stage, the discussions are being held between - for most of
the last 12, 16, perhaps more, hours - the discussions have been
between our Ambassador in Beijing and the Assistant Vice Foreign
Minister Zhou Wenzhong. Each of them we know - we assume - are
communicating with other people in their governments. Our Ambassador
certainly talks to Washington, talks to Deputy Secretary Armitage,
Secretary Powell throughout the night and into the morning and during
the day.
Q: Did he ever get a written response to his letter - Secretary
Powell?
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think there would be something that - no, not a
letter, "Dear Colin from Qian Qichen." I mean, not that precise a
response. But the whole discussion is a response. It's the ideas that
we put forward, that the Secretary has put forward in writing or
orally, the ideas the Chinese have put forward, and then working with
these ideas to try to bring this to a conclusion.
So in a way, yes, the Chinese responded to the elements of the
Secretary's letter and we have responded to some elements that they
have raised, and now we're trying to work to bring this to a
conclusion without any prediction at this point of when we might be
able to do that, or even without any certainty that we will be able to
do that in this fashion.
Q: Richard, you just went a step beyond what you said before about
this letter. The Secretary actually set out a list of - here's
something that we could do, what would you think if we did this? A
list of, you know, a variety of possibilities that --
MR. BOUCHER: The letter was a piece of paper with ideas, and that's
about as far as --
Q: Yeah, but you just said some of the ideas that the Secretary put
forward. Before, the description of the letter had been an expression
of - a restatement of the regret for the loss of the --
MR. BOUCHER: That's in there, too.
Q: Right. But there had never been anything said - and the US desire
to see this over with and you guys want your plane back and the crew.
MR. BOUCHER: That was in there, too.
Q: Right. But you had not said before that there were ideas in there
the Secretary had suggested about resolving the situation.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, then I am properly castigated for having said
something new.
Q: No, I want - I want you to expand on it. I think it's great that
you said something new.
MR. BOUCHER: No, I'm afraid I'm not in a position to expand on it. I
was trying to give you as much of a sense of how this process was
working as I could without getting into the details that are in fact
being discussed, without getting into the real - to the ideas.
Q: Are the Chinese still requesting an apology as part of any
settlement?
MR. BOUCHER: I think that's a question you have to ask the Chinese. I
think I've seen statements today from Foreign Ministry and elsewhere
that talked about the apology. Our position certainly has not changed
on that point.
Q: As the President of China travels around to seven different states
in Latin America, there will be a lot of receptions, diplomatic
receptions, no doubt, in which American diplomatic personnel may be in
contact with him. Will they make any overtures? Will any exchange take
place?
MR. BOUCHER: I can't predict everything that might happen. Having been
at those occasions before, that's not necessarily the best place to
try to buttonhole a visiting president and work out the details and
sensitive parameters of negotiation. So I think the emphasis should be
on the channel we are using, and that is to have our Ambassador talk
very frequently and closely with the Assistant Foreign Minister in
Beijing and then leave it to the Chinese Government to communicate
with their leadership.
Q: In the meeting with the Secretary and the Indian Foreign Minister,
if India offered any help in this Chinese standoff or if US asked - I
mean, Secretary asked the Foreign Minister any help in this
connection?
MR. BOUCHER: Nothing like that transpired. They were interested
obviously in where things stood. They talked to some extent about the
broader relationship with China and the region. They discussed a
number of regional issues as well as the bilateral ones.
Q: Richard, by my calculations, it's almost 2:30 in the morning in
Beijing. What is it that's keeping them up this late? Have they been
up this late other nights? Is there something that you can say they're
actually engaged in now?
MR. BOUCHER: At this precise moment, there is not meeting going on.
But I think, as I said, they haven't closed down for the night. I was
not able to determine at this point where there is going to be another
meeting in Beijing, but I they are still open and ready should there
be a chance of one.
So we have been going back and forth with the Chinese at all hours in
various places. Certainly our Ambassador has been working 24 hours a
day and our Embassy has been working 24 hours a day and been in touch
with the Chinese at all kinds of early hours and late hours. So I'm
not too surprised. It is very early in the morning, though. And in the
past few days, we've tended to shift the action at some point from
Beijing and let them get some sleep, or try to get some sleep or
whatever, and then pick it up here. I don't know whether we'll do that
today or if we'll just continue on periodically through the night in
Beijing.
Q: What does it look like for the weekend? Are we on - I mean, I
realize you don't have meetings set up, but do you expect things to
continue at full steam ahead?
MR. BOUCHER: I would basically expect us from the US side, including
the people in Washington and the Secretary, to be working this 24
hours a day, seven days a week, as long as we're still seeing our crew
members detained, as long as we don't have them back with us, and as
long as we have yet to resolve these issues. So as long as there is a
prospect of resolving these issues, we'll keep working it.
Q: I have two questions. Was Secretary Powell up again in the middle
of the night talking to the Ambassador? And also, has there been any
consideration at all of him postponing his trip or sending someone
else to the Contact Group meeting?
MR. BOUCHER: Not at this point. We're working this issue. Should that
question arise, it would arise closer to the time of the trip. I'm not
aware that it has arisen at this point. And you know the Secretary has
the kind of communications he needs wherever he is, so many of the
things he's doing - talking to Admiral Prueher, talking to people at
the White House and the Pentagon, working with our China experts, many
times working with Deputy Secretary Armitage - can be done anywhere
he can get to a telephone or a secure telephone, depending on what he
has to talk about. So he is in good communications wherever he
travels, so I haven't heard that question arise at this stage.
In terms of his activities last night, he got calls late last night --
I don't know, 11 o'clock, midnight, something like that - and then I
think he got calls first thing in the morning. So it wasn't a lot of
time in between, but I think he - I don't think he was up at 2:30
a.m. At least he hadn't said that today.
Q: Richard, has it been any hindrance - the appointments, the lack of
appointments, in the building? I mean, I realize Armitage is a very
experienced diplomat and handling everything fine, but there is not so
much staff underneath that has yet been put into place. Well, the new
staff or the new appointments.
MR. BOUCHER: I don't think I would cite any particular aspect of that
at this point. As you know, Deputy Secretary Armitage has been working
this very intensely. Under Secretary Grossman has been working on
this. He called in the Chinese Ambassador on Sunday and had the
meetings. So we have had people in place. I suppose clearly we would
like to have the Assistant Secretary for East Asian Affairs on board,
but we have plenty of expertise, certainly plenty of China expertise
and people on the desk, and at senior levels in the Bureau that are
working this very intensely as well.
Q: I was just thinking, because nobody is getting any sleep, so
somebody needs to stay up.
MR. BOUCHER: Well, we all do that periodically in our lives, and
certainly the welfare of 24 Americans is worth it.
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