Excerpts: National Security Advisor Rice on China, Indonesia
(Rice holds July 23 news briefing in Rome, Italy)Religious freedom in China is of concern to both President Bush and Secretary of State Powell, says National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice.
"We really do believe that China will be best served by an atmosphere in which there is religious freedom, press freedom, human rights, that it will go hand in hand with the dramatic changes in the Chinese economy, which we believe are inextricably linked, really, to political freedom," Rice said in a July 23 news briefing in Rome, Italy.
Rice also reiterated U.S. policy toward Jakarta, saying the United States is urging the new government there "to find peaceful ways to resolve separatist tensions within Indonesia."
Rice said the United States is urging the new Indonesian government, "as we urged the prior government, to find peaceful ways to resolve the separatist tensions within Indonesia; to be respectful of human rights in doing so; and to really undertake economic reform in a very aggressive way so that Indonesia can return to economic growth and prosperity for its people."
Following are excerpts of the briefing related to the Asia-Pacific region:
(begin excerpts)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Rome, Italy)July 23, 2001
PRESS BRIEFING BY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE
The St. Regis Grande Hotel
Rome, Italy4:45 P.M. (Local)
DR. RICE: Good afternoon. I have no statement to make. I'm here to take questions, and I'm happy to do so....
Q: Two questions, one on this and one on Indonesia. On this, did President Putin yesterday follow up on the interesting comments he had made after the last meeting, where he said that he did not feel that this system would threaten Russia for 25 years or so?
And, secondly, on Indonesia, the President said, of course, that he would look forward to looking to working with President Megawati. I know there's been a lot of work done within the NSC on what form that support would take. Could you begin to describe to us what you can now do, do differently, that you have Wahid off the stage?
DR. RICE: Well, first, David, as to the comment by President Putin, we obviously would be in complete agreement with him. In fact, since we don't think that missile defense is to advantage the United States over Russia, we would probably extend that period of time. But to the degree that the Russian leadership understands that this is not aimed somehow at undermining the Russian strategic deterrent, we think that's a very good thing, and so we welcomed President Putin's comments and his reiteration of those comments yesterday.
Q: Did you discuss that yesterday either in the Russia context or the China context?
DR. RICE: We have had discussions about this. In fact, the President again reiterated to President Putin his view that this is a limited defense against certain kinds of threats. And I think that President Putin is beginning to understand that. He, himself, has even said that there are new threats out there that need to be examined in light of the new conditions. So I think we are moving ahead -- and to go back to something Ron said -- I think we are moving ahead quite effectively with the Russians.
Let me just use your question on Indonesia, David, to say that as the President said earlier, this is a process that the Indonesian people are going through for a peaceful resolution of their leadership crisis. It is ours to try now to support the decision of the Indonesian people through their properly elected representatives. I think that it has long been U.S. view that we need a positive relationship with Indonesia.
We are urging the Indonesian government, the new Indonesian government, as we urged the prior government, to find peaceful ways to resolve the separatist tensions within Indonesia; to be respectful of human rights in doing so; and to really undertake economic reform in a very aggressive way so that Indonesia can return to economic growth and prosperity for its people. And I think that agenda has not changed. We will look forward to working with the new leadership of Indonesia, just as we had with the past.
Q: Can you be specific?
DR. RICE: No, I think I can't go more specific than that. This is very new, this has just happened. We're just grateful that so far it's been peaceful, and we would urge everyone to continue to do this by peaceful means.
Q: Two unrelated questions. The Vatican Secretary of State asked the President to help facilitate relations with China, between China and the Holy See. Did he make a commitment to do that? And what does he plan to tell the KFOR [the NATO-led peace implementation force in Kosovo] operations tomorrow? Is it anything more than, we came in together, we go out together, or does he bring to the table some plan to get them out?
DR. RICE: On KFOR, I think that, first and foremost, the President wants to thank our troops for their service there, thank the command for the excellent way in which it has comported itself. The President will restate that we came in together and will go out together. He will also say, as he said several times, that it is important that we look to a future in which we can move to civilian institutions to do the work of police forces, the work of building civilian institutions, and that it's important for the leaders of all of the countries involved in KFOR to do what they can to move that work along. But this is really an opportunity to thank the troops.
On China and the Vatican, the President has long said that religious freedom in China is an issue. He and Secretary of State Powell have raised the issue of the Catholic bishops who have been detained. He is going to continue to raise it with the Chinese. We really do believe that China will be best served by an atmosphere in which there is religious freedom, press freedom, human rights, that it will go hand in hand with the dramatic changes in the Chinese economy, which we believe are inextricably linked, really, to political freedom. So the President is very happy to take on bringing up religious freedom, because he's constantly done it.
Q: Did he specifically ask to help establish contacts between the Chinese government and the Holy See?
DR. RICE: The President is going to raise the issue with the Chinese. He is more than happy to raise the issues of religious freedom, as well as issues of how relations between the Vatican and China might be made better....
(end excerpts)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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