U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing, 01-05-02

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From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>

Phillip T. Reeker, Acting Spokesman

Washington, DC

May 2, 2001

INDEX:

ANNOUNCEMENTS/STATEMENTS
1         Welcome to Journalists Visiting from Macedonia
1         World Press Freedom Day, May 3
SAUDI ARABIA
2         Explosion Injures American Doctor
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
2         Donors' Conference
2-3       US Aid Support for Montenegro
ISRAEL / PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY
3         Secretary Powell's Meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Peres
3         Egyptian / Jordanian Proposals
3-4       Views on Current Situation
10        Mitchell Committee Report
CHINA
4         US Delegation in Hainan to Assess EP-3 Aircraft
8-9       Assistant Secretary Kelly's Meeting with Ambassador Yang
9         US Concern for Detained American Citizens
ARMS CONTROL
4-6,8,11  Missile Defense Issues: Delegations Consulting Other Countries
6-7       Reaction to Missile Defense Policy
7-8       Looking Beyond the ABM Treaty
PERU
9         Shooting Down of Missionary Aircraft
INDIA
10        Efforts to Fight Terrorism
PAKISTAN
10        Terrorism Report
12        Detention of Political Activists
TURKEY
11        Assistant Secretary Larson's Meeting with Economic Minister
NORTH KOREA
12        North Korea Statement on US Behavior
12        Meeting with EU President

MR. REEKER: Good afternoon. Welcome back to the State Department. Let me begin by taking the opportunity to welcome journalists from Macedonia who are visiting us here today, accompanying President Trajkovski on his visit to the United States. As you know, President Trajkovski, who met with Secretary Powell yesterday, will be meeting with President Bush later this afternoon.

I would like to begin today with a statement regarding World Press Freedom Day, and we will make this statement available in hard copy from the Press Office after the briefing. Tomorrow, May 3, is World Press Freedom Day, and it is altogether fitting that we set aside this day to consider the many benefits that a free press brings to our people, our society and institutions.

At the same time, we must recognize that in many countries freedom of the press is but a distant dream. In far too many lands, journalism remains a very dangerous occupation. Those who dare to confront tyranny, investigate corruption and report on the abuse of power are often met with violence, intimidation, and even death.

Our nation has always believed in the fundamental importance of freedom of speech and the press. This is reflected in our Bill of Rights, our long tradition of an open press, and the accessibility of government officials and information to the press.

The Department of State, and our embassies abroad and the US Agency for International Development, are committed to strengthening the ability of the press to carry out its vital mission through the many programs we fund which support democracy and freedom of the press abroad. These programs run from training journalists, to grants for struggling independent media organizations, to diplomatic support where freedom of the press is in danger.

So it is particularly important in this era of the Internet and global communications that we remain strongly committed to freedom of the press and to the protection of those who have dedicated their lives and fortunes to it.

As I said, that statement can be obtained from the Press Office in hard copy form, or on the web at our website, following the briefing. With that, I would be happy to begin with the questions of Mr. Schweid.

QUESTION: Do you have any more information about the American in Saudi Arabia who was injured with an explosive device?

MR. REEKER: I am afraid I don't have a lot of information on that, but let me tell you what we do know. An American citizen was seriously wounded today, May 2, by what appears to have been a letter bomb delivered to the Saad Medical Center in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. US consular officials from our Consulate in Dhahran are assisting the American citizen and his family. Officials from the US Consulate in Dhahran are also in touch with Saudi authorities about the incident.

Obviously we don't have a Privacy Act waiver at this point, so I am unable to provide additional information about the American citizen. But through our Consulate we are keeping very close track of this and working with Saudi police who are investigating, but I just don’t have any further details on the incident at this time.

QUESTION: Do they think that this is linked to another -- you know, there have been a series of attacks against --

MR. REEKER: As I said, I don't have any further information at this time. We are working with the Saudi police, they are investigating, and there are just no other details at this point.

QUESTION: Can I move on to a new subject? A date has now been set for the donors' conference for Yugoslavia, June the 1st. Has Belgrade done enough, or does it need to do more to win American support for the conference?

MR. REEKER: I am not in a position at this point to make a sweeping judgment. I think you all heard Secretary Powell read his statements at the time of the certification that we made to continue our aid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I am not aware of the specifics of the donors conference or that the date has, in fact, been precisely set. We will have to check on that. So I don't have anything further to announce.

Obviously we want to see continued movement from Belgrade in terms of cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. We noted the release of ethnic Albanian prisoners a short time ago, and we discussed that from this podium. So we will need to continue evaluating that. We need to see continued progress, as the Secretary said when he spoke about it most recently.

QUESTION: Can I follow up? I understand that you want Montenegro to play as full a role as possible in that conference. Does that mean the United States wants Montenegro to get a fair chunk of the money that is coming out of this conference, or do you think Montenegrins have enough support?

MR. REEKER: I think it is particularly premature to discuss that when we haven't even gotten into any details about the conference. Just based on reports of a date doesn't give me the ability to define that. We have supported Montenegro with a lot of aid because of what they faced during the Milosevic era. We continue to support a dialogue between Podgorica and Belgrade on working out the relationship that Serbia and Montenegro will have. We have supported a democratic Montenegro within a reformed and democratic Yugoslavia. So we will obviously continue to work with officials in Montenegro, in Belgrade and Federal Yugoslavia as well.

QUESTION: Change the subject? In the light of Mr. Peres' visit, and what appears to be growing momentum behind the Egyptian-Jordanian proposals, I wondered if you could elaborate a little on how the United States sees these proposals and to what extent you are willing to put your diplomatic weight behind them?

MR. REEKER: Let me start by saying we are pleased to receive Foreign Minister Peres today in the State Department. As you know, the Foreign Minister will be meeting with Secretary Powell beginning in just about 20 minutes from now. So I am not going to speculate about what is going to be discussed between our Secretary of State and the Israeli Foreign Minister. You will have a chance to hear from them afterwards.

We certainly have said that we continue to value the constructive role in the region played by Jordan and Egypt. They have both been tireless advocates for peace in the region, and we welcome their ongoing efforts to help the parties halt the violence, restore peace and confidence, and create an environment for peace.

So at this point, before the Secretary has even had an opportunity to meet with Foreign Minister Peres, I will just repeat what we have said, and that is calling on both sides in terms of the Palestinians and the Israelis to step back from the current cycle of confrontation and take steps to ease tensions and end the violence.

QUESTION: On the Israeli incursion into the Rafah area, in which they demolished many houses and injured quite a large number of people, do you --

MR. REEKER: As we have said before, actions such as Israeli incursions into Palestinian-controlled areas -- and that would include the incursion into Rafah earlier today and the bulldozing of Palestinian buildings -- undermine efforts to defuse the situation and bring an end to the violence and escalation. We have also made very clear to the Palestinians that they must carry out their responsibilities to break the cycle of violence as well, and prevent continued provocative acts of violence emanating from areas under their control. That includes shootings; it includes bombings and mortar attacks. These attacks also undermine efforts to defuse the situation and bring an end to violence.

So we expect both sides to exercise maximum restraint, take steps to defuse the current situation, respect the agreements they have signed. As you know, there can be no military solution to this conflict. I think those are the subjects that the Secretary will discuss with Foreign Minister Peres.

QUESTION: How would this situation differ from the last incident like this, which the Secretary called excessive and disproportionate? Are you making any distinction between those kinds --

MR. REEKER: I am not in a position at this point to look at the details of the incident. We will let the Secretary speak to you after his meeting with the Foreign Minister.

QUESTION: There is a delegation of Palestinians here, lower level. Are they meeting at the State Department?

MR. REEKER: Not that I am aware of. I did hear a report of that. We were going to check into that. I don't have an answer, but we can check with the bureau and try to find out for you.

QUESTION: Change of subject?

MR. REEKER: We're changing subjects. No more Middle East. Last chance? Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION: A multi-part question. Are there US diplomatic representatives with the team of experts on Hainan Island? Are the US experts being allowed free and unfettered access to the EP-3? What happens next? Are there ongoing talks in Beijing, or are we leaving it to the maritime talks, and have they been rescheduled?

MR. REEKER: I will refer you to the Pentagon for all of those questions, except to say, as I did yesterday, that I believe there are two representatives from our Defense Attache's Office from our Embassy in Beijing who are on Hainan Island facilitating the work of the team. Our team has done a preliminary examination, I am told by the Pentagon, of the EP-3 aircraft but needs to do more comprehensive work tomorrow. And DOD has just asked that I refer all questions to them for details.

QUESTION: Can I change the topic?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. REEKER: Thank you, Teri.

QUESTION: Sure.

QUESTION: Can you say a little bit more about the US delegations that are being -- going off to Asia and Europe and other parts of the world to talk about the ABM Treaty and missile defense?

MR. REEKER: Following on to what the President said in his speech yesterday, as the President announced, he is dispatching high-level officials, and that includes Richard Armitage, the Deputy Secretary of State; Paul Wolfowitz, the Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Steve Hadley, the Deputy National Security Advisor, to allied capitals to consult with our friends in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, on issues related to strategic stability and missile defense.

Details of the individual consultation teams and schedules will be forthcoming, but I do expect them to begin that travel the first of next week in terms of departure from Washington. Deputy Secretary Armitage will be traveling to Asia to discuss these matters, and he will also be able to include key bilateral issues in his talks there. He will be in Japan from the 7th through 8th of May, in South Korea from the 9th through the 10th, and in India May 11th, and then we expect him to return to the United States around May 12th -- keeping in mind that all of these schedules and itineraries could fluctuate slightly.

QUESTION: (Inaudible?)

MR. REEKER: Mr. Kelly -- our Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, James Kelly, will travel separately to Australia for similar discussions the 11th through the 13th of May, and he is also going to stop in Singapore.

And in addition, I will just add, since we are on travel, that then Assistant Secretary Kelly will go on to Vietnam May 16th through 18th as part of a senior officials meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum. He may also stop in China for discussions related to missile defense, and then return to Washington around the 18th of May. But again, all of those things and details need to be worked out.

QUESTION: Is the stop in China conditional on something? You say "may"? Is it because the plan isn't in place yet, or because China has to do something?

MR. REEKER: Again, I think we have to work out travel details for officials, and their itineraries and schedules are still being worked out, Barry.

QUESTION: So it's not contingent on any particular Chinese action?

MR. REEKER: Schedules aren't set yet, Barry, and I don't have information on people's scheduling.

QUESTION: No, no. But I'm wondering why it's not set. I mean, China's not --

MR. REEKER: Because schedules take a while to work out, and we --

QUESTION: I know, but if you want to go to China, you know you're going, and then you say we don't know what day, but we're going to China.

MR. REEKER: We'll get back to you, Barry, with details on that once it is worked out.

On the European side, I would just note that Deputy Secretary of Defense Wolfowitz and Deputy National Security Advisor Hadley will lead the consultation team going to Europe. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman will be along with that team, and they are going to begin their consultations, we expect at NATO headquarters, where they can brief and consult with our 18 NATO Allies on Tuesday, the 8th of May. Then they will visit several European capitals during the rest of the week, and I just don't have a complete fix yet on their schedules either.

QUESTION: What about Moscow? Are they going to stop in Moscow?

MR. REEKER: I believe we had talked about a stop in Moscow as well, but I just don't have a fix on all those details yet.

QUESTION: Why is the State Department taking the lead on countries across the Pacific? And it seems that the Pentagon would be taking the lead on the countries across the Atlantic.

MR. REEKER: I don't think anybody should read anything particular into that. You have a finite number of senior officials at the deputy level dispatched by the President, and so the Deputy Secretary of State is going west across the Pacific, the Deputy Secretary of Defense and the Deputy National Security Advisor are going east across the Atlantic. There are a greater number of countries in that direction to brief. So they have just split it up that way, and will come back and report back to their respective Secretaries.

QUESTION: China still? Do we have any update on resident citizens meetings, calls for release --

MR. REEKER: Are we off the missile defense and with the travel questions?

QUESTION: How would you assess the reaction to President Bush's speech yesterday? Have you had any official complaints, or has the reaction just come to you mostly through the press?

MR. REEKER: I wouldn't want to make an assessment. I have read press reporting, both domestically and internationally, and obviously we look at those things and will be talking to leaders. I think the first step will be these teams that go out and start their meetings next week to consult.

For his part in the meeting with the Secretary this morning, I believe Foreign Minister Fischer said that the German Government looks forward to the consultations that will take place in Europe next week.

QUESTION: Mr. Fischer also said that he felt the ABM was basically a good thing and shouldn't be abandoned unless you had something -- a better alternative to replace it. What's your response to that?

MR. REEKER: I think you have all heard what the President had to say in terms of trying to look beyond something like the ABM, which has looked to the past. I think we will let these teams go out and consult and get back to us. This is an ongoing process. The Secretary talked about that. He clearly said with the end of the Cold War, as the President reiterated yesterday, we need to find new ways to keep the peace. The constraints of the ABM Treaty, which is 30 years old, obviously point to the need for new concepts and different capabilities in the dangerous, complex world we live in, where there are new proliferation threats.

So we are going to send out these teams; they are going to consult, just as the President described; and then they are going to come back and we will continue from there.

QUESTION: I don’t really expect an answer to this, but I will put it anyway. How much weight did you give to the opinions of these other people? It's rather very hard to gauge from what the President said whether this consultation process is just for show or whether you are really interested in hearing what they have to say and will take into account when you --

MR. REEKER: I will let you do the gauging of that, but I would suggest that the President was quite firm in saying, and I quote, "These will be real consultations. We are not presenting our friends and allies with unilateral decisions already made. We look forward to hearing their views, the views of our friends, and to take them into account."

So with that, he dispatched high-level envoys who will go to Europe, to Asia. They are leaving next week, as we discussed, and it is an ongoing process of consultations. So I think the President was really quit direct about that.

QUESTION: Well, would you say that these are consultations in the way of trying to convince our allies that it is necessary to abrogate the ABM, or are you generally taking into account their concerns that we should stick to the ABM?

MR. REEKER: Your colleague, I think, answered perhaps prematurely.

Look, these are consultations about all of those things to amplify on the themes that the President discussed, and I would just point you to his speech. We would be happy to get you the videotape should you need it, and copies of that.

I think he was very clear on where we are coming from and what we are looking at in terms of the need for new approaches, the need for rethinking certain aspects of strategy; the fact that the ABM Treaty perpetuates relationships that were based on distrust and the need for a new framework to make a break with the past; the fact that the dangers that we face, not just the United States, but our allies, our friends, are less certain, less predictable than they were at the time of the ABM Treaty's creation; and that the threats we face continue to be from nuclear as well as chemical and biological weapons and missile technology.

So all of those things will be discussed so they have a clear view of where we are coming from with this, and so that we can hear their views and their concerns, and then continue a consultative process on that.

QUESTION: Different topic. Do you happen to know historically the precedent for the US abrogating treaties, either unilaterally or in concert with its allies?

MR. REEKER: I don't, no.

QUESTION: On the China plane incident, Secretary Powell wanted to limit contacts, either socially or perhaps even officially, with the Chinese. The fact that you haven't scheduled or mentioned a stop in China yet -- is that related to that, or have the Chinese said we're not going to receive anybody?

MR. REEKER: I think you are just way ahead of the game, Nick, and you and Barry can get together and ponder the significance of this all you want. As I said, we are looking into consulting, including with the Chinese -- the President said it in his speech yesterday. The Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, Mr. Kelly, met with the Chinese Ambassador yesterday here in the Department specifically to discuss missile defense and give him a rundown of the President's speech, as well as our expectation of having further consultations.

So because I don't have anything specific to announce in terms of travel arrangements for something that is several days away at the earliest, I wouldn't read anything into that. We will discuss it with the Chinese, as the President said.

In terms of that, it illustrates what the Secretary has said many times, and that is that our relationship with a country like China is multifaceted; there are many aspects to it. Our concerns over our aircraft and the 24 US service men and women who were held on Hainan Island for the lengthy period was a set of concerns. Our concerns about human rights issues are another set of concerns. Our desire to consult with them and brief Chinese leaders on our views in terms of missile defense and our strategic thinking is another aspect of that.

So we can do all these things at the same time. We can have complex relationships. We have in the past, and we will continue to do that.

QUESTION: Was it the Ambassador that Kelly met with?

MR. REEKER: Yes, Ambassador Yang, I believe.

QUESTION: Do you know whether this was before or after the President had delivered his speech?

MR. REEKER: I believe their schedules worked out that he came in in the afternoon, and it was probably -- I would have to check the exact time -- but I believe it was after the President's speech. But it was yesterday afternoon.

QUESTION: Can you go back to my question now?

MR. REEKER: Teri's question, yes.

QUESTION: Now that we know that the Ambassador was here, were the cases of the American citizens and residents brought up, and did the plane come up?

MR. REEKER: I don't know that the plane came up because that is being discussed obviously with the team that is there right now. I know that the issue of Gao Zhan did come up in their meeting. The Assistant Secretary raised our concern about Ms. Gao's case during his meeting with Ambassador Yang yesterday. We continue to seek her release on humanitarian grounds, as we have said many times. We are troubled further by reports that the Chinese have denied access by Gao Zhan's lawyer to her, and we urge the Chinese Government to abide by international human rights standards and permit those under arrest access to legal representation.

QUESTION: I've asked this before, but are we pressing for any kind of proof that she is alive and healthy? Nobody has seen her or talked to her.

MR. REEKER: You know, I think we are operating on the assumption yes. Her lawyer has not apparently, according to reports, been able to see her. We will continue to press on that case, which is of interest to us on a human rights and humanitarian basis.

QUESTION: Can we go back to ABM? In the context of Russia, as far as I know, you haven't actually outlined any framework of how you intend to proceed with the discussions with Russia on the subject of ABM. And is it the Administration's intention to start negotiations with Russia or --

MR. REEKER: I think it is far too premature until our team has gone out there.

QUESTION: There is some impatience on Capitol Hill with what some regard as slow progress toward getting to the bottom of the shoot down involving the American missionary plane, almost two weeks ago I guess. Do you have a progress report?

MR. REEKER: I don't. And I said at the outset when the team left to continue that investigation, now in the phase where they are working jointly with the Peruvians there in Peru, that team, as you know, led by our Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Rand Beers, I am not going to have daily progress reports on that. They are there in Peru. They will continue working there as long as they need to to cover the aspects of the investigation that they feel they need to. They are working closely with Peruvians. They have had excellent cooperation from the Peruvian authorities. These things take a little bit of time. A lot needs to be reviewed. They want to be thorough in the investigation to determine what happened and how such tragedies can be prevented in the future.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on Senator Mitchell's Committee's final report?

MR. REEKER: Yes. I think the Mitchell Committee delivered a draft of its report to the government Tuesday. That would be yesterday. And as was agreed under the Sharm el Sheikh agreement, the report will be shared with the parties and with the UN Secretary General prior to its official publication.

As you will recall, the objective of the Mitchell Committee is not to engage in any particular recrimination or accusation, but to work constructively with the Israelis and the Palestinians to provide an independent and objective review of the current crisis with the goal of preventing a recurrence.

So we are going to transmit copies of the document to the UN Secretary General and to the parties, and then we will ask the parties to respond directly back to the Mitchell Committee with their comments. So this process is not yet complete. We are just at that stage of a draft and we are following the sequencing that was envisioned at Sharm el Sheikh.

QUESTION: The comments the other day when the Secretary made the terrorism report available, and he said that the US will work with India to fight terrorism. Now, what he meant really by saying that?

MR. REEKER: Exactly what he said.

QUESTION: How the US will fight terrorism?

MR. REEKER: We will work with India. Our Embassy is actively engaged with India on the issues of fighting terrorism globally. I think if you read the report, it describes some of those efforts in terms of fighting terrorism in South Asia, India in particular. And we will continue to do that.

QUESTION: And also just to follow, that report speaks by itself that Pakistan is a haven for terrorism or terrorist groups. And how -- I mean, do you think the State Department is considering, like one report said, that in the future Pakistan may be on the list of --

MR. REEKER: We covered those questions in tremendous detail at the extensive and lengthy briefing that we held here after the Secretary's announcement when we rolled that report out on Monday. So I would be happy to get you a copy of the transcript of that, and even provide you a videotape if you would like to watch it.

QUESTION: Did you receive any comments on the report from -- either from Pakistan or from any other countries?

MR. REEKER: I am not aware of particular comments. I have seen press reports from a variety of countries, and they are all free to make whatever comments they wish.

QUESTION: Last Sunday, Assistant Secretary Larson met with the Turkish Economic Minister. Do you have any readout? What was the subject? What were they decided?

MR. REEKER: I don't have anything specific. I think earlier in the week we talked a little bit about the IMF and World Bank meetings and the fact that we are pleased to see progress and moving ahead in a plan for Turkey to help get the economic crisis there under control, but I don't have any other details. Those are the kinds of meetings that Under Secretary Larson has on a fairly regular basis.

QUESTION: Going back to Deputy Secretary's visit to Asia, you decided to send Mr. Armitage to India, but you decided not to send Mr. Armitage to China. Does it in any way reflect the thinking of the Bush Administration that India has now become one of the friends, but China is neither an enemy nor a friend?

MR. REEKER: Boy, that would just take this tremendous amount of analysis. I don't know that we have time to do that kind of thing. You are happy to join Barry and Nick and review that.

The Deputy Secretary of State has a finite amount of time. He needs to carry out the President's mandate to have consultations in a variety of capitals. He has been able to work out his schedule so that he will travel to Tokyo, to Seoul, and on to Delhi. Our relationships with all three of those countries are very important relationships. We have discussed them at length. Our relationship with China is an important relationship of great complexity, as we discussed a few moments ago.

So I wouldn't try to read anything particularly into it. We will try to keep you posted, as we have, on how these teams and their schedules, their itineraries and details of those trips evolve. It is just impossible to do immediately, and I wouldn't suggest that you read anything more into any particular scheduling that seems appropriate on the surface of it.

QUESTION: Will the talks in Delhi be confined to missile defense, but also the broader issue of India-America relations?

MR. REEKER: I think I mentioned, when I talked about Deputy Secretary Armitage's travel plans, that at each stop his talks will also cover key bilateral issues. So I think that would go for Japan, South Korea, and also for India.

QUESTION: Did the US consider sending one of these missions to North Korea and asking them whether they were perhaps interested in abandoning their missile program?

MR. REEKER: I don't believe this consultative process included North Korea.

QUESTION: More prime ministers in exile. There are two former prime ministers of Pakistan are in exile. Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif both are calling on the Administration to take actions because, according to it and other reports, over 5,000 Pakistanis have been arrested just for asking for democracy in Pakistan, and the Musharaff government said he will not hesitate to arrest even 100,000 or more as long as he is in power.

MR. REEKER: Do you have a question?

QUESTION: No, I mean, what action the State is taking, or if you have spoken with anybody in the Pakistan Government or in the embassy?

MR. REEKER: I know we touched on this a little bit ago. As you said in your statement, the Pakistan Government arrested and detained a number of members of the Pakistan People's Party, the Pakistan Muslim League and other groups in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh to prevent a planned rally on May 1st in Karachi by the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy. Pakistan Government reports indicate that at least 800 people have been arrested since April 25th. I'm not sure how some of those numbers square with some of your numbers.

QUESTION: It is a US news agency.

MR. REEKER: Well, it's not a US Government news agency. With all due respect to Mr. Gedda and his colleague, Mr. Schweid, and my other friends at the Associated Press, let me just point that out for those of you that may have questions in terms of that.

We are disappointed that the Government of Pakistan continues to suppress political activity. The Government's arrest of potential demonstrators without appropriate justification, similar to actions in Lahore last month, call into question the Pakistan Government's commitment to protect civil liberties such as the freedom of assembly, a key component of good democratic governance.

QUESTION: North Korea? They issued a very belligerent statement yesterday, and they were talking about launching one of their missiles at us if we don't behave properly. And also, on a related issue, I believe the Europeans are meeting today with the North Koreans.

Any comment on either one of those?

MR. REEKER: We touched on the EU troika's visit to North Korea, I think a couple days ago. But as we have said many times before, the European Union has played a very constructive role on the Korean Peninsula and we are going to continue to work together to promote common goals there.

We have held useful discussions with the Swedish EU presidency and other EU member-states in the period leading up their visit, and our consultations on the state of affairs in the Korean Peninsula will obviously continue. I believe a delegation of senior EU officials will be in Washington next week specifically to brief US officials on the results of their Pyongyang visit.

QUESTION: Do you have a day?

MR. REEKER: I don't have a day yet, no.

In terms of your other question, and I think that was looking at sort of North Korea and our relations with them more broadly, our policy of review is continuing. We remain in touch with North Korea at the working level through our New York channel, which you are all familiar with. We haven't ruled out other contacts with North Korea at the appropriate time, but the nature of those contacts has yet to be determined. So we will continue to watch this and look forward to those meetings next week.

QUESTION: One more?

MR. REEKER: Sure.

QUESTION: As for the President's missile defense system initiative is concerned, if Secretary had spoken with anybody, any world leaders, or he got any comments, especially from China or Russia?

MR. REEKER: The Secretary spoke with the Foreign Minister of Germany this morning and, as I pointed out, discussed that. I am not aware of any other calls on this particular subject that the Secretary has made, but obviously the consultations teams will go out and do exactly what the President instructed them to do.

QUESTION: But the US shifted from Russia to China, but do you know that later on this -- in the next few months Russia and China are going to sign - - I think it's kind of friendship treaty? So how US will deal with this kind of --

MR. REEKER: I think the President talked at great length about ideas for our relationship with Russia in terms of leaving behind the Cold War structures and mindsets that existed for so many years. We have talked also about our relationship with China and where we would like to try to pursue positive relations, but where we will also raise issues of concern to us. So I think countries of the world all have their own relations, and we have relations with each of them, and we will continue to pursue diplomacy for what is in the best interest of the United States, for our citizens, and for peace and prosperity and promoting our values abroad.

Thank you. [End]

Released on May 2, 2001

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