THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Okinawa, Japan)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release July 22, 2000
READOUT TO THE TRAVEL POOL
BY JIM STEINBERG
Bankoku Shinryokan
Okinawa, Japan
9:15 A.M. (L)
MR. STEINBERG: The discussions were largely about the security
issues, both bilateral and regional. Prime Minister Mori began by
thanking the President for coming, expressing appreciation for the fact
that he was able to come, notwithstanding the talks in Camp David. He
indicated that he had seen the President's speech on television
yesterday. He was very grateful for that, thought it set a very good
tone for the bilateral relationship and for the continued U.S. presence
in Japan.
They both talked a bit about how to move forward on our commitment
to reduce the footprint of U.S. forces in Okinawa. But at the same
time, Prime Minister Mori stressed, and the President reiterated the
positive role that the United States plays and the importance of the
U.S. troop presence in the region.
They talked and then -- talked a little bit about maintaining the
SACO process and moving forward with the Futenma relocation. They spent
a fair amount of time talking about regional security and particularly
about the Korean Peninsula. Prime Minister Mori indicated that he was
grateful that the President, last night, had been able to explain to the
other members of the G-8 the process by which, under the leadership of
Kim Dae Jung and the trilateral cooperation between South Korea, Japan
and the United States, we had been able to move forward. And the Prime
Minister indicated that he was grateful for the President's leadership
on this, and importance of having the other countries be involved and
understand why this was an important part of our overall security.
He also said that it was a real opportunity for the G-8 to have, in
effect, two firsthand opportunities, first, for the President to talk
about the Middle East peace process to the other leaders and give his
firsthand impressions, and then also President Putin coming here right
after his meetings with Kim Chong-Il to give his take on what was
developing there.
They touched only briefly on economic issues. They both expressed
satisfaction with the conclusion of the NTT interconnection agreement
and the Prime Minister indicated to the President that we would go
forward with the fourth year of the deregulation talks, and they made
clear that this was sort of an important part of our overall effort to
address the question of information technology. The Prime Minister
thanked President Clinton's leadership on the IT issues, asked him to
lead the discussion today during the G-8 meeting on IT, because of the
role that the United States had historically played on that issue.
I think that's about it.
Q On the fourth year, no commitments beyond one more year?
MR. STEINBERG: No, but, I mean, that was the understanding. The
typical way in which we have done this is sort of year-by-year. But I
think that there was a good sense that in the context of resolving the
NTT interconnect, that this was a sign that this was a process, not just
a one-time event. So that was very welcome by the President.
Q There's been a lot of unhappiness by the Japanese over this
whole process. They've had to be dragged, kicking and screaming,
really, with these reports. Did Mori reflect any of that in his
discussions on agreeing to a fourth year? Will there be any changes in
how the process works?
MR. STEINBERG: No, on the contrary. I think that, as I said, that
Prime Minister Mori talked about it in the context of the whole
discussion of information technology, and saw this as a part of the
broader effort to help Japan adjust to the changes in the world economy.
And the President stressed that he saw it in the same terms, that this
was something that was not something we were doing trying to impose on
Japan, but rather saw as quite important to Japan's own economic growth.
Q Was the President asked for, or did he give any commitments to
Prime Minister Mori regarding better discipline or control over the
activities of troops on the island?
MR. STEINBERG: I think it was more that President Mori thanked
President Clinton for his statement about the importance of
good-neighborliness, and the President indicated this was something that
we were deeply committed to and that we would continue to take every
measure that we could.
Q Jim, can you give us a brief summary of what are the issues
that are going to come up in the fourth year of the deregulation talks?
MR. STEINBERG: I actually am not -- I'm not sure we've agreed on a
schedule, have we? I don't think there is a specific agenda yet. I
think that what we were looking for was the commitment to go forward,
and the next stage of the process will be to try to refine that.
Q And, forgive me if I missed this, but how much of the
discussion concerned North Korea?
MR. STEINBERG: Quite a bit of the discussion was on Korea. As I
said, I think that the Prime Minister expressed a lot of satisfaction
about the discussion last night at the dinner -- it was a major topic at
the dinner last night -- and that he was particularly pleased that the
others in the G-8 had a chance to get sort of a richer understanding
about the process that had led -- he specifically referred to the Perry
process -- at how that had created a context for the developments that
were taking place, and that it was both the leadership of Kim Dae Jung
and the solidarity of the trilateral cooperation that provided a basis.
I think that he was pleased that the President was able to talk in some
detail last night about the broader context in which we could understand
the recent developments, and particularly the context in which President
Putin's meeting with Kim Chong-Il had taken place.
Q When you say trilateral, you're talking about U.S. --
MR. STEINBERG: U.S., Japan, South Korea.
MR. CROWLEY: Trilateral consultative group, I think is the formal
term.
Q Jim, can you offer any kind of readout on the reaction of the
other leaders to the proposal that President Putin talked to the
President about?
MR. STEINBERG: I can't, because the meeting last night is the
leaders themselves -- the President sort of gave a general readout to us
last night about the overall topic. But there was -- I think it was --
my sense was there was there was a lot of interest, but an understanding
that -- a desire to be supportive of the countries in the region,
particularly the United States and Japan effort to try to work this
through and to make sure that this is done in close cooperation with the
South Koreans.
Q And Strobe said yesterday that there were going to be some
staff-level discussions that might yield more details about that
proposal. Have those taken place yet?
MR. STEINBERG: I expect that some of the senior State and NSC
folks are going to be talking to senior Russian officials later this
morning, sort of around noontime.
Q Is that Strobe and Ivanov?
MR. STEINBERG: I'm not sure of the exact -- I think it's Strobe
and Sandy with Ivanov, but I'm not certain.
Q The President indicated just now that there is some question
about what exactly the North Koreans were offering and what they wanted
in return. Is that because it's not clear yet? I mean, do we have
questions about what the offer actually is, or whether we just believe
them or not?
MR. STEINBERG: No, it's what it is. I mean, I think that what we
don't know is whether they're proposing, in effect, to use the space
launch services of other countries as most countries do. There are only
a handful of countries that have SLV capabilities, and most countries
basically contract with those countries that have space launch services
to put their satellites up. That's something that we think is well
worth exploring.
Or are they asking that others who have that capability, in effect,
give them space boosters to use themselves, which we would have concerns
about, because it would give them access to the technology. And I think
that what President Clinton indicated and President Putin indicated as
well, both in the bilat and then in the discussions last night is that
he, President Putin, himself, was not entirely clear about precisely
what is intended.
I think we hope that the North Koreans will take advantage of our
bilateral missile talks to explore this. I think what the President was
indicating is that he hopes that what they're doing is what many other
countries have done, is to basically say we don't need to develop an SLV
capability, we're prepared to use others. And if that were true, then I
think that's something that we think is well worth exploring.
Q Jim, the bilateral missile talks, the talks led by Cartman --
when is the next round of that?
MR. STEINBERG: It's not set. We're hoping now to get an agreement
in the next few weeks, but we don't have a specific date.
Q So you're hoping that they'll take advantage of that
opportunity to explain what they actually mean?
MR. STEINBERG: Right. It's a good forum.
Q Just to be clear on Okinawa, we came with no further offers on
what we'll do, other than that we have this 27-point program and we're
halfway through it, as the President said. We're not offering anything
more to the Japanese?
MR. STEINBERG: There are two parts. I mean, we have the 27-point
program, but we also have a process in which we and the Japanese are
trying to agree on the relocation of the Futenma facility, and what we
would like to see now is more concrete movement forward on exactly what
form that would take. I think we both agree that that's something that
would be good to have happen quickly.
Q Last question on the dinner last night. Was the discussion
sort of more along the lines of what's been going on in Korea; how was
your trip, President Putin; or how much did it get into the disagreement
over NMD and how the North Korean offer might affect our
decision-making?
MR. STEINBERG: The short answer is, I don't know. As I say, since
there was nobody in the room, I haven't heard anything specifically from
the President that would make it possible for me to characterize it one
way or the other.
Q Have other leaders been informed yet that the President will
leave right after the G-8 tomorrow? have the Japanese --
MR. STEINBERG: I don't know why he would need to. I think the way
I would put it --
Q The Prime Minister, since he's the host, perhaps would have
been told?
MR. STEINBERG: My point was, I think everybody's leaving right
after the G-8, so he's not doing anything different than anybody else.
The point is, what he reaffirmed to the Prime Minister is that he is not
going to leave early, he'll leave at the same time all of the other
leaders are leaving.
Okay, thank you.
END 9:26 A.M. (L)
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