*EPF507 09/13/2002
Transcript: Bush Meets With Leaders of Japan and Pakistan
(Background briefing on issues raised in Sept. 12 consultations) (2330)

A senior U.S. government official met with reporters September 12 to answer questions about the substance of President Bush・s meetings with Pakistan・s President Pervez Musharraf and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi earlier that day.

In his meeting with Musharraf, Bush emphasized that adherence to full democracy in Pakistan is key to the interests of both nations. He also reiterated U.S. desire to see an end to infiltration across the Line of Control in Kashmir. The president expressed concern that the interests "would be harmed very greatly by war in the region," the official said.

Bush thanked Pakistan and Japan for their cooperation in combating terrorism, the official said.

Regarding Iraq, the official said both leaders welcomed the president・s speech; and the president assured them he intends to work in consultation with the international community.

Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi and President Bush discussed the progress of Japan・s economic reform program. Bush took the opportunity of their September 12 meeting to express his support the Koizumi・s upcoming visit to North Korea.

President Bush, the official said, stressed the importance of such contacts. "He said that it's important that you talk to them ・that North Korea has to address the whole broad range of issues it has with the outside world, including conventional weapons, including weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles, including its treatment of its own citizens," the official told reporters.

Following is the full transcript of the background briefing:

(begin transcript)

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(New York, New York)
September 12, 2002

BACKGROUND BRIEFING BY A SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL
ON THE PRESIDENT'S BILATERAL MEETINGS WITH
PRIME MINISTER KOIZUMI OF JAPAN
AND PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF OF PAKISTAN

The Waldorf Astoria

7:07 P.M. EDT

MR. MCCORMACK: Good evening. This is round three of our scheduled three rounds of background briefings. Our Senior Administration Official will speak on background, reading out the President's meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi, and Pakistan President Musharraf.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'll start off first with the meeting with President Musharraf, which was about a half-hour meeting, just a little while ago. The topics that were discussed I think you can all guess at. The President welcomed the continuing cooperation of Pakistan in the war against terrorism. The President also, right at the very top of the meeting, stressed how important is that the Pakistanis follow through on their commitments to return to full democracy.

And I want to put this in the context of his vision that a democratic, moderate, and Islamic Pakistan could at some day serve as a beacon for other Islamic states. As I'm sure you all asked, the President also discussed India and Pakistan with President Musharraf. He stressed that we want to see an end to infiltration across the Line of Control. And again, he put this in the context of saying that U.S. interests would be harmed very greatly by a war in the region. We have a big stake in South Asia. We hope that an end to infiltration will create the atmosphere that could lead to a resumption of dialogue between the two states.

The President also followed up on his earlier conversations with President Musharraf about the importance of education reform and President Musharraf's plans to push education reform inside Pakistan.

Finally, the two leaders talked about Afghanistan, both of them expressing a mutual desire to see the administration or President Karzai fully succeed, and both expressing a desire to see the international community follow up on the commitment to get aid flowing into President Karzai's administration.

Should I stop there and do Pakistan questions, or go right to Prime Minister Koizumi?

MR. MCCORMACK: Let's just -- let's just go ahead and do Koizumi.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I'm going to do Koizumi on the advice of my handler here -- the advice of counsel.

MR. MCCORMACK: Advice of counsel.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I didn't know you got paid that much. No lawyer jokes tonight, folks. Anyway, with Prime Minister Koizumi, he discussed the question of economic reform inside Japan. The Prime Minister briefed on his plans to accelerate economic reform. The President welcomed these statements.

On Iraq, the President, as he said during his speech, of course, stressed his desire to work through the United Nations. The Prime Minister welcomed this and also praised the President's speech. The President, of course, as he did in his speech also, expressed his determination to act, preferably through the U.N., but not to let the issue and the threat continue unaddressed.

Finally, on the question of North Korea, the President expressed his support for Prime Minister Koizumi's upcoming trip to Pyongyang. He stressed the need for good allies to continue to consult on this most sensitive of issues. And he also stressed, and Prime Minister Koizumi acknowledged, the need for the North Koreans to address a broad range of concerns that the outside world shares.

Anyhow, I will leave it at that and take questions.

Q: On Musharraf, just to start, can you be more specific about exactly what the President said about the constitutional amendments that President Musharraf announced? And can you tell us exactly what kind of penalties the President said there would be if this reversal of democratization occurs? Traditionally, of course, there's discussion of an end to aid and things like that.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I will give you a more general quote than that, which is that basically the President said that the adherence to democracy is key. If Pakistan is going to be a successful state, then democracy has to take roots. There wasn't any discussion of specific penalties, we're not going to bomb Pakistan if we're unsatisfied with their National Assembly --

Q: How about economic aid, though?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, we -- no specific comments about rewards or punishments. But the clear, clear indication that we firmly believe that Pakistan must go down the road of democracy. And by the way, I will stress that President Musharraf agreed with us entirely, and said that he is trying to establish the roots of a successful democracy.

Q: But, in other words, we would be free and correct in writing tomorrow that the President made it -- nothing the President said would lead President Musharraf to believe that there was any penalty to be paid in the near-term for the actions he took in recent weeks?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, you could say that. I'd be very upset with you, though, because I think with the President, right at the top of the meeting, stressing that you've got to get your act together on democracy -- I don't know how many summits you've participated in --

Q: A lot --

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: U.S. Presidents seldom say, except with their worst enemies, that unless you do this, we will do that. Presidents are not in the business of being the hatchet man.

Q: Can you give us a direct quote along those lines, that he said -- that the President said?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Okay. Adherence to democracy is key. Let me see if I've got anything else -- and I shouldn't get into this, Sean's starting to grimace. Okay, no, he's pulling me back. Okay, I'll stop there. My counsel says no, no, no.

Anyhow, again, I want to stress, he hit it hard at the top of the meeting. I think he made it clear that his vision is that Pakistan will not succeed unless it goes down the road of democracy, true democracy, and that if it doesn't succeed, that would be bad for the entire world. He kept on stressing, we want to see you succeed, we have big stakes in this. If you don't adhere to democracy, we'll all have trouble.

Q: So he discussed tensions in Kashmir with both Vajpayee and Musharraf. Does he feel like he's made any progress on that, anything concrete to come out of it? Any future consultations, anything like that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Again, I'm not going to characterize the President's feelings. I would say that every time we bring out the importance of an issue, it lets the two sides remember that we do think it is important that progress is achieved.

We'll -- you know, this is a long, slow progress -- it's a long, slow process, excuse me. The President, as I said, pushed the Pakistanis hard on the question of infiltration across the Line of Control, but he also noted that this is basically the precursor, the ending of infiltration is the precursor of setting the environment where you can make progress on the underlying issue.

Q: You made no reference to Iraq in your description of the talk with Musharraf?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He did raise -- excuse me --

Q: Well, more than raise. I mean, in The New York Times the other day, he said if you attack Iraq, you'll kindle Arab extremism. The President presumably would like Pakistan's support, or at least acquiescence. Wasn't there any sort of an exchange about the President's very strong speech today?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Actually, President Musharraf welcomed the speech. He said that he welcomed the desire on the part of the United States to consult internationally. The Prime Minister did -- excuse me, the President, President Musharraf, did note his own domestic problems, that he does have a sensitive domestic situation. I will leave it at that, and won't characterize it any further.

Q: -- warn that extremism will be rampant in the Arab world if the U.S. attacks Iraq? He just warned The New York Times, he didn't warn the President?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: President Musharraf did cite the possibility of trouble in the Arab street, whatever that is. Anyhow, yes, he did cite that. I'll leave it at that.

Q: You said that -- on the Koizumi meeting, that the President discussed the question of economic reform inside Japan. Did he urge Japan to take some steps to -- and isn't this a recurring theme? Does nothing ever get done in Japan?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: The President asked how the process of economic reform was going. Prime Minister Koizumi explained that he thinks he is making -- again, I shouldn't characterize it in any great depth what he said, but basically, he thinks that he is making progress, that he does have plans that he will be revealing soon to push -- push it more vigorously. The President welcomed his desire to push economic reform more vigorously inside Japan.

Q: On the Koizumi meeting, you said that Koizumi praised the President's speech this morning. Did Koizumi offer any support in terms of policy towards Iraq, and did the President ask Koizumi for anything specific in terms of support for a regime change policy in Iraq?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, the President did not ask for anything specific. Again, in all these conversations, he has been very clear that he hasn't made any final decisions, that he is trying to consult internationally. I would say that the Prime Minister warmly welcomed this desire to consult internationally and hoped that our two countries would be in close contact as we go forward on this.

Q: Any small color details, like exchange of gifts or anything, among any of these people? He and Koizumi have traded gifts at summits before, that's why I'm asking.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I guess we call these bilateral meetings. It doesn't have the full impact of a summit, so -- Koizumi looked very fit and on his game, frankly.

Q: When we went in there he was making a joke about seeing a Patriots game. I didn't quite understand that -- did you?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: He said he saw the Patriots-Steelers game. And, of course, the Prime Minister is a huge fan of baseball. This was the first American football game he has seen, and he noted that given the context of September 11th, it was very appropriate that his first game should be to see the Patriots and to see the Patriots whopping up on the opposition he thought was very appropriate.

Q: A question on Prime Minister Koizumi's meeting. The last time they met, or the time before that, the President was very complimentary of the banking reform measures that Prime Minister Koizumi had taken, including the decision to reduce the insurance on accounts or banks would not be covered by the government for all their losses. The Japanese government has been backtracking on that in recent weeks, and so if the President complimented him before, has he now expressed some concern that he's going backward on that?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, we didn't get into that level of detail. And I will say again that the Prime Minister -- and I'll give you a little bit of specific -- the Prime Minister did express a determination to move on non-performing loans, and actually thought that he was starting to make progress in that area.

Q: On the Koizumi meeting again, going to -- the Prime Minister is going to North Korea next week. Did the President offer Prime Minister Koizumi any advice in this unprecedented meeting?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Well, he expressed support for the visit. He said that it's important that you talk to them, and that you make -- like I said, that you make our concerns known, that North Korea has to address the whole broad range of issues it has with the outside world, including conventional weapons, including weapons of mass destruction and their delivery vehicles, including its treatment of its own citizens. He did mention that.

Q: Last year during the visit, the President's visit to Japan, senior administration officials told us that there had been some kind of arrangement for Japan to play a diplomatic role between the United States and Iran. Did anything happen on that in this brief discussion today?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: No, there was no discussion of Iran today.

MR. MCCORMACK: That's it? Thank you very much.

THE PRESS: Thank you.

END 7:19 P.M. EDT

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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