May 15, 1998
[EXCERPTS] REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER HASHIMOTO IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
10:34 A.M. (L)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Birmingham, England)
________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release May 15, 1998
REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
AND PRIME MINISTER HASHIMOTO
IN PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
The Swallow Hotel
Birmingham, England
10:34 A.M. (L)
.....................
Q Mr. President, do you believe it's inevitable
that the Pakistanis will detonate a nuclear device? Is it
inevitable, sir?
THE PRESIDENT: No. But they're under a lot of
pressure to do so. I hope we can find a formula -- perhaps those
of us here at the G-8 can make a contribution to that -- I hope
we can have a formula within which they will find it possible
--politically possible not to go forward. It would be a -- show
a great act of statesmanship and restraint on their part. You
can imagine, when you put yourself in Pakistan's position, you
can imagine the overwhelming political pressure that must be
building up on them at home.
But I really believe that if we work hard we might
be able to find a way that the Pakistani people would also
support to avoid this.
An arms race on the Indian subcontinent in nuclear
weapons is not in the interest of sustaining the future of
Pakistan.
Q Are you going to offer them their money back
from the F-16s, sir?
Q What would you offer them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've been working on a
resolution of the F-16 matter literally for five years. I don't
think many Americans who understand this issue feel very good
about the position that was taken several years ago, before I
became President, that they had paid for these planes, and then
because of the later findings, we couldn't deliver the planes but
they couldn't get their money back. So it's been a very
frustrating thing for me. I think the Pakistanis have a genuine
grievance, a legitimate grievance against the United States on
this count. And I believe we found a way to work through that
before this incident developed.
But obviously that might be one part of the
resolution to this, but this is something that I think requires a
lot more discussion. Perhaps we'll have more to say before the
G-8 is over, but I hope that all of us together can find a way in
which the Pakistani government and the Prime Minister can avoid
the tests and the people can accept and embrace that approach.
Q Sir, you and Prime Minister Hashimoto obviously
agree on sanctions, but what about this summit? What kind of a
statement do you hope the entire summit will come up with since
the other leaders apparently are not too agreeable to sanctions?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, from my point of view, I hope
it will be as strong and unambiguous as possible. I will say
again, I have followed very closely the events in India since the
tests. I have watched on the news and listened very carefully to
the statements by the representatives of the Indian government,
including the Prime Minister.
I believe that -- you know, soon India will be the
largest country in the world in population. They have the
biggest middle class in the world. They're going to have a very
large say in the 21st century. And no less than other countries
that are emerging -- China, a new democratic Russia, which Prime
Minister Hashimoto has done a lot of work on in the last several
months -- these countries will have to decide how they will
define their greatness, and will they define it in 21st century
terms, in terms of the achievements of their people and their
ability to lead through example and cooperation; or will they
define it in the starkest terms of the 20th century, including
how many nuclear weapons they have.
I'm doing my best to reduce the nuclear threat. If
the Russian Duma ratifies START II, which I hope they will in the
near future, I'm anxious to get to work on START III to reduce
our own nuclear levels lower. So I personally don't believe
that's the best way to guarantee India's security or its
greatness, to basically call up the darker elements of the 20th
century.
We just have to keep working on this, and we have to
be both firm and unambiguous on the one hand, and then on the
other hand try to find a constructive out of this for India, for
Pakistan, and for all the countries involved. And I'll do my
best.
...............
PRIME MINISTER HASHIMOTO: I'd like to say a few
words myself. I'm very honored to have this official invitation
to visit Washington, D.C., in July, and I'm very pleased that I
will be able to accept it .
And I totally share the President's -- Bill's
intention that the international community must issue a strong
and unequivocal statement on the nuclear experiment by India. We
have to stop the contagious effect of this experiment in the
region. And also the developing situations in Indonesia, in both
our minds this is an issue of common concern, so I look forward
to discussions on these issues.
...........
END 10:51 A.M. (L)
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