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U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

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QUESTION: Under Secretary Pickering will be heading to Pakistan tomorrow, I believe.

MR. REEKER: Right.

QUESTION: Amid reports by US officials that they fear Pakistan is preparing another nuclear test. What do you have on those concerns, and what you expect Pickering to be taking with him?

MR. REEKER: I don't believe that there were reports by US officials to that effect. Last week, Pakistan's press reported that the government was preparing another nuclear test. While we don't consider these reports highly credible, we did take the occasion to remind the Government of Pakistan of the serious consequences of another test for our bilateral relations.

The Governments of Pakistan and India have both said repeatedly and recently to us that they intend to continue their moratoria and have no plans to test. So we remain very concerned about proliferation issues in South Asia and elsewhere. Any other nuclear tests in South Asia could lead to further serious escalation of tensions in the region and would threaten to undermine global nonproliferation norms.

QUESTION: There are reports from US officials as of yesterday.

MR. REEKER: Right. I think what I said just stands for that. I think we took the opportunity of the press reports to remind the Pakistani Government of our concern about these things.

And as far as Under Secretary Pickering, since you asked yesterday, I did check into his travel schedule and I wanted to reiterate what I did find. This was long-planned travel. It's been scheduled for many weeks. He is in New Delhi today. In fact, he just spoke by phone with one of the worldwide news networks and talked about his trip there. He's visit is primarily focused on Asian security issues; obviously, Indo-Pakistani relations; regional issues, including developments in Sri Lanka where he'll be on Monday; and nonproliferation.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) -- in Colombo, does he intend to meet with the Norwegians?

MR. REEKER: I'm not sure whether he expects to meet with Norwegians or not. He addressed that a little bit in his TV interview that I saw just before I came out here.

QUESTION: I missed that. Did he say anything about -- I mean, are his plans still on considering the bomb that exploded in the Norwegian Embassy?

MR. REEKER: He is still planning to go to Colombo. He did note the excellent contacts that the Norwegians have there and their work in trying to find a way to bring the two sides together.

QUESTION: Post-bomb or pre-bomb?

MR. REEKER: I would have to go back to timelines. I'm sorry, I don't have --

QUESTION: So as far as you know, the bombing of the embassy is not cause for any -- at the moment, there is no change in his plans?

MR. REEKER: No change in his plans, as of just a little bit ago. Obviously, we watch the situation in Sri Lanka closely. And with Under Secretary Pickering going there, he'll have a chance to meet with their officials. The Sri Lankan Government, of course, has not asked the US for US involvement in any mediation, and his visit has been planned for quite a while so it's not a mediating visit, just to make that clear.

QUESTION: A new subject, okay?

MR. REEKER: Anything more on Pickering schedule?

QUESTION: How about afterwards?

MR. REEKER: From Colombo, my understanding is that he will go to Tokyo to discuss preparations for the G-8 Summit in Okinawa in July.

QUESTION: And that's the only other stop?

MR. REEKER: And I'll get the further details if there's anything further he's doing in East Asia, or South Asia to East Asia.

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(The briefing was concluded at 2:20 P.M.)

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