The White House Briefing Room
September 30, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY MIKE MCCURRY
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 30, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
..............
Q Going back to travel -- first of all, I wish you
all the best, you have done a great job as Press Secretary here.
MR. MCCURRY: Thank you. You want to know, though, if
we're going to Indian and Pakistan. (Laughter.)
Q Yes, if you have a comment, or can you make an
official -- the trip has been cancelled to Indian, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh?
MR. MCCURRY: The President has decided to postpone his
visit to India and Pakistan, which had been under review, which also
means he will not be making a separate trip to Bangladesh. I think
the President very much wants this trip to take place. It's been
something that he's often said that -- a trip that he has often said
he would like to make as President. We are trying to get an
environment created in which that trip will be most useful in
advancing the interests of the international community and the people
of the United States as well as the people of India and Pakistan.
We've had good talks with both India and Pakistan,
recognizing the significant role they play in the region and their
significance to the world community. We've made some progress on the
issues that obviously prompted this decision, nuclear testing and
export controls in particular. We're pleased that Prime Minister
Vajpayee and Prime Minister Sharif, in their meeting last week in New
York, announced resumption of foreign secretary-level talks between
the two countries. That's important, and we hope that those are
fruitful exchanges.
At the same time, the issues that we have been
discussing with both governments are complex and we believe will
require more time to be addressed to our mutual satisfaction. Until
more progress is achieved, we are not going to be able to lift the
sanctions that are in place and we aren't in a position to strengthen
the kind of bilateral ties with both governments that we would
naturally want to make a featured element of any trip by the
President to the region.
Now, that said, the President is still eager to make the
visit when we have had further significant progress with our
respective security concerns, and when more latitude exists for using
his visit to strengthen the kind of relations that we desire with
both nations.
Obviously, the President, in the correspondence he's
shared with the leaders and also with Prime Minister Hasima in
Bangladesh, has indicated his desire to make the trip at an
appropriate future date.
Q Mike, on that point, there is some move on the Hill
to work out a mechanism whereby the President could lift those
sanctions rather quickly, bipartisan support --
MR. MCCURRY: Yes.
Q Can you give us a little bit --
MR. MCCURRY: We strongly support, I think it's Senator
Brownback's measure, which would allow for temporary lifting of
agricultural sanctions -- not the military export control sanctions
that would remain in place, but this would allow the President more
flexibility when it comes particularly to agricultural sanctions that
in the past have been automatic. The President believes that having
that kind of flexibility allows us to shape the kind of foreign
policy response to things like nuclear testing that is more
appropriate and more consistent with the needs and interests of the
American people.
.................
Q Mike, when you said the U.S. is looking for a
positive environment for the President's visit to India and Pakistan,
what kind of environment are you looking for? And also, if the trip
is cancelled because of the nuclear tests of both countries -- in New
York they told me, both Prime Ministers there, that they are ready to
sign the treaty, and also the Indian Prime Minister told me that
India is ready to welcome President Clinton at any time without any
conditions.
MR. MCCURRY: Well, we are well aware that both
governments and the people of both nations would warmly receive the
President. That's not the question. The question is, can, in light
of the testing that's been done by both governments, the concerns
that we've expressed and the dialogue we've had with them about how
to turn the corner and to move back in the direction of a testing
regime that addresses the international community's profound concern
about proliferation related matters -- can we create an environment
around those issues that makes the President's visit both timely and
increases the likelihood of a productive series of discussions, and
we're not at that point yet.
But we certainly desire that type of relationship and
will continue the kind of work that Deputy Secretary Talbott has done
recently, that others have done to achieve the environment that would
make a future trip possible. But in the context of the already
scheduled trip to Malaysia coming this fall, it's just not possible
to have that environment at this time.
Q So you're saying the trip is not canceled, but
postponed?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm saying that the President remains
strongly of the opinion that a trip to that region is both desirable
and in the best interests of the people of the United States and the
people of South Asia. And he wants to make the trip, but he also
wants to make the trip in an environment in which it can produce the
most productive outcome.
Q Mike, this is the second time, I think, that trip
has been put back. Is the President a little frustrated over the
level of instability?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, it's not instability. It was
postponed in the first instance because of a pending election in
India and it made sense to wait until the new government was
established so that there could be a productive visit. But then, of
course, the testing by both governments further complicated the
question of timing and calendar.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
