16 February 2000
Clinton at Press Conference Says Pakistan Not Yet Ruled Out on Upcoming Trip
(The President also discussed Northern Ireland, China and Vieques) (1200) By Wendy S. Ross and Stephanie L. Cupp Washington File White House Correspondents Washington -- President Clinton has not foreclosed visiting Pakistan on his upcoming trip to India and Bangladesh, planned for the week of March 20. "I haven't decided whether I'm going to Pakistan or not," he told reporters February 16 in the East Room of the White House at his first formal press conference of 2000. "I have decided that I am going to India and Bangladesh, and I will make a decision about whether to go (to Pakistan) based on what I think will best serve our long term interest in non-proliferation, in trying to stop particularly the nuclear arms race and in trying to help promote stability, democracy and a resolution of the conflict between India and Pakistan." "I will make a decision about where to go and what to do based on what I think will further our long term goals and I have not reached a final decision." He said if both India and Pakistan were to ask him, he would "absolutely" be willing to help mediate their dispute over Kashmir, but he made clear he would only do so if both countries wanted his help. "Unless we are asked by both parties to help, we can't get involved," he said, noting that the United States is involved in both the Middle East peace process and in Northern Ireland "because both parties have asked us to be involved." "If the tensions between India and Pakistan on the Indian subcontinent could be resolved," he said, "it is my opinion, based on my personal experience with people from India, people from Pakistan and people from Bangladesh, that the Indian subcontinent might very well be the great success story of the next 50 years. "You're talking about people who are basically immensely talented, have a strong work ethic, a deep devotion to their faith and to their families. There is nothing they couldn't do. And it is heartbreaking to me to see how much they hold each other back by being trapped in yesterday's conflicts, number one. Number two, he said, "this country has been deeply enriched by people from the Indian subcontinent, and I think we might be, because of our population, in a position to make a constructive contribution. But if they don't want us, it won't do any good. We'd just be out there talking into the air, and I'm not in for that." He said among the 200 some ethnic groups in the United States, "Indian-Americans and Pakistani-Americans have been among the most successful in terms of education level and income level. They have succeeded stunningly well in the United States and have astonishingly, maybe, had good contacts with one another." Clinton said he hopes that his visit to South Asia will highlight to Americans the importance of that region of the world to the United States. "And the very real danger that a conflict between India and Pakistan not contained is one of the most significant security threats to the interests of the United States in this new century." On Northern Ireland, Clinton called the decision by the Irish Republican Army and its political arm Sinn Fein to withdraw from the peace process "a very unfortunate development." But he said he still thinks the situation is salvageable if all the parties would adhere to the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which the United States and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell helped to negotiate. "Now they are in a rough spot," he said. "I think Senator Mitchell and all the people who were negotiating it got the best deal they could from both sides. And I think what we have to recognize now is while this is a very unfortunate development, a year ago at this time the Irish had had no taste of what self-government was like. They now have had it, and they like it, positive point number one. "Positive point number two, the IRA has given no indication whatever that they will revert to violence. And so that means that they still think even, no matter what the rhetoric says, that all the parties really believe that they ought to find a way to work this out." Clinton assured the news conference that virtually every day since he has been President he and his administration have "worked on this" Northern Ireland issue. "And in the last several days," he said, "we've been involved on a daily basis, and we're working very hard to work this out. I can't tell you what the end will be; I can only tell you that I think we're way ahead of where we would have been. And I still think there's a good chance we'll get there." On China, Clinton said he was "going to push" as hard as he can to get the U.S. Congress to approve permanent normal trading status for China in order to get China into the World Trade Organization (WTO). He said, "I want to get the earliest possible vote I can," on that. "And I cannot tell you how important I think it is." Clinton asserted that the status of China concerning the WTO was a national security issue for the United States for three reasons. "Number one, our biggest trade deficit is with China, because China has access to our markets and our access to theirs is highly restricted," Clinton said. By granting China permanent trading status, there will be "no increased access to the American markets by China, but gives us dramatically increased access to their market." "Number two, having China in a rule-based system increases the likelihood not only that China will follow the rules of the road in terms of the international economy, but that China will cooperate more in other forums, the United Nations and many other areas, to try to help reduce rather than increase the proliferation of dangerous weapons or technology." "Number three, I believe this agreement will change China from within more than all the other economic opening of the last 20 years combined, fairly rapidly, because of the dramatic increase in access to communications and contact with the outside world that this agreement portends. "They are far more likely to be constructive members of the international community if they get into the WTO and they make these changes, than if they don't," Clinton said. Clinton also discussed the situation on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where demonstrators are protesting an agreement reached between the United States and Puerto Rico on the U.S. military training site on Vieques. The U.S. Navy is scheduled to resume limited bombing exercises there in March. "I still believe it's a good agreement," Clinton said. "I will continue to work with the governor, with the mayor in Vieques, with the authorities, with the view toward trying to work this out." (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:usinfo.state.gov)
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