TRANSCRIPT: STATE DEPT. NOON BRIEFING, MONDAY, JULY 20, 1998
DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING INDEX Monday, July 20, l998 Briefer: James P. Rubin INDIA/PAKISTAN 12-13, 14 Sanctions Legislation 13-14 International Support for Sanctions/Deputy Secretary Talbott's Meetings/Resolving the Rift over Kashmir/Effect of Sanctions U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING MONDAY, JULY 20, 1998 (ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED) ............... RUBIN: Let's just move on. Q: New subject -- talking about the US delegation to India and Pakistan -- first, it was quick sanctions against India and Pakistan then. Now -- a waiver -- in the US Congress and now that the US delegation to the Indian Subcontinent. Do you think the US has achieved what it wanted, or there is not enough global support against India and Pakistan to punish them? RUBIN: The two subjects -- global support and sanctions -- let me address one by one. With respect to sanctions, we, as a result of our sanctions legislation and a result of implementing that legislation, have sent a powerful message to the world that to test nuclear weapons is to cause the isolation of your country. There's no question in our minds that both India and Pakistan have felt the sting of sanctions. Last week we did not seek to end sanctions, and some may have breathed a premature sigh or relief. All we sought was authority from Congress to have the flexibility to act if India and Pakistan were to change their positions and to join in one way or another the CTBT and other international regimes. We have not taken the view that sanctions should be suspended in whole or in part. On the contrary, these sanctions remain in place; they are tough sanctions. They have obviously stung in India and Pakistan, and that is as it should be because the decisions were taken that we opposed. With respect to international support, I would say this -- the international community has rallied in an unprecedented way around a very concrete set of requirements first laid out in the Permanent Five meeting that was held in Geneva; reiterated in the meeting in London; and reiterated in a number of Security Council resolutions and acts of condemnation by the organization of American States, by European organizations like the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. So there's been a sweeping condemnation by the whole world of India and Pakistan; and clearly they are uncomfortable, as they should be. The question now is what can we do to work with them to try to get them out of the holes that they've blown up for themselves, and to try to improve the climate by getting them to move in the direction that we're seeking. That is what Deputy Secretary Talbott is doing. He had meetings in New Delhi today; he will be in Islamabad tomorrow, as I understand it. The goals are very clear - how can we and the international community work with India and Pakistan to bring them back into the international non-proliferation consensus, to reduce tensions between them and address their security concerns at the same time. That is what Deputy Secretary Talbott is doing. That is our view on international opposition to the tests and the subject of American sanctions. Q: Jamie, also, I'm sorry, to follow -- the two prime minister meetings in Sri Lanka next week. India has always said that the Silma agreement signed between India and Pakistan -- then Mr. Bhutto and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1972 -- that India will stand by Silma agreement. But do you think the US supports the Silma agreement -- that the two nations should resolve the problems of Kashmir and whatever rift is between India and Pakistan? RUBIN: We certainly would like the two countries to resolve their problems peacefully. I think that's a view it would be hard to imagine anyone could disagree with. With regard to the specific agreement and our formal view on it, I'd rather get that for the record. Q: Could I ask you, the US view is that sanctions -- they're punitive, clearly. But does the US consider them corrective? I ask because Senator Biden, for instance, who's the senior serious member of the Senate and you used to work for him, believe. RUBIN: Very good taste in personnel -- Q: Well, while you were briefing one day, he made a big speech last week; some of us tore ourselves away from the briefing to hear Senator Biden. He said it's time to reconsider sanctions so far as changing the behavior of nations. He said he's sorry to come to this point because he hasn't got a sure formula to improve things, but he thinks you've got to look at it a different way. Do you think sanctions will get India and Pakistan to forego their nuclear programs? RUBIN: I don't think there's any way of answering that question today. I think we in the Administration certainly share the view that you've attributed to Senator Biden that the sanctions pendulum has swung too far. There's a tendency for people to think if they just impose a sanction, they can solve a problem; it's not that simple, as we've learned in many cases. That doesn't mean, on the other hand, that sanctions are ineffective all the time. It means that greater care needs to be applied in using the tool; that we have to bear in mind the one overarching principle that for sanctions to be effective, they are more effective the more they are supported around the world. Unilateral sanctions, while sometimes making people feel good, don't actually do good. With respect to the US view and the US sanctions on India and Pakistan, we are not alone. The best example, I would say, would be the London meeting in which the G-8 made very clear that they were not going to be supportive or were going to suspend consideration of loans in the international financial institutions. There's been a wave of change around the world in terms of assistance and dialogue and support for the government of India and Pakistan because of what they've done. So these have been widely -- there's wide support for some sanction against India and Pakistan for what they've done. We obviously have gone farther than other countries, but many countries have taken very strong measures. Will this work? We certainly hope so; we certainly hope that Deputy Secretary Talbott in his meetings in Islamabad and in New Delhi can help the governments there realize that the course of wisdom for them, for their people and for the world will be to come back into the fold, come back into acceptance of basic norms of the international community. ................ (end transcript)
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