U.S. Dept. of State - IIP: The United States and China

Transcript: Briefing on Powell's Upcoming Asia Trip
(Excerpts concerning U.S.-China relations)

Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed a wide range of issues, including U.S.-China relations, in a briefing at the State Department July 20 focusing on his upcoming trip to the Asia-Pacific region.

Powell is scheduled to depart July 22 from Washington, D.C., on his first trip to the region as Secretary of State. The July 22-31 trip will take him to Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, China, and Australia.

Powell said the foundation for the U.S.-China relationship is "the tremendous transformation that has been brought about by the opening up of China and economic reform that has taken place."

Powell said he would tell China's communist leaders that the United States "will work with them" as they continue on the path of reform, and "as they join world institutions and adopt world standards in trade and economics."

The Secretary of State added that the United States still has serious issues with the People's Republic of China on such topics as weapons proliferation, human rights, and religious freedom.

Conversations between the two sides "will be candid" as Beijing and Washington continue on a path toward better relations, he said.

Briefing on Upcoming Travel to Japan, Vietnam, The Republic of Korea, The People's Republic of China, and Australia

Secretary Colin L. Powell
Press Briefing
Washington, DC
July 20, 2001

SECRETARY POWELL: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. How are you all today? I'm pleased to have a few minutes to spend with you to talk about the Asia trip that I am about to undertake.

As you know, I leave for Asia on Sunday afternoon on a trip that will take me to Tokyo, to two ASEAN meetings in Hanoi, to Beijing, to Seoul, and finally to Canberra. It is a long trip and an exciting one to a dynamic region. I have been looking forward to this trip, having spent the first six months of my term as Secretary of State in Europe, in Africa, in the Middle East, and here in our hemisphere, working on issues in our hemisphere, a number of successful, frankly, meetings we have had here in our hemisphere -- our meetings with the Canadians and the meeting with President Fox of Mexico and then the Summit of the Americas. Now I have the opportunity to go to Asia and to cover a lot of ground in a short period of time. It's an exciting region in the midst of great transformation.
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I head to China confident that we can build a more stable, a more constructive relationship with the Chinese, and I am also looking forward to the opportunity of speaking to the Chinese leaders about President Bush's forthcoming trip this fall.

The foundation of our relationship with China is the tremendous transformation that has been brought about by the opening up of China and economic reform that has taken place. I will tell the Chinese leaders that we will work with them as they continue on that path of reform, as they join world institutions and adopt world standards in trade and economics. And I also will say that with proliferation and human rights and religious freedom issues, we will be candid in our conversations as befits two nations who are on a path to even better, friendly relations than exist now. We have dealt with the EP-3 incident that was a bit of an irritation a few months ago. And I am looking forward to making it absolutely clear to the Chinese leaders that we are looking for a better relationship. The United States is not seeking enmity with China.
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QUESTION: I notice that you seem to have dropped the campaign term, "strategic competitor," when referring to China. I wonder, as a soldier-diplomat, if you could describe what you see to be the most worrisome thing about the Chinese military now and in the medium- to long-term for the United States?

POWELL: I don't know that I have dropped anything out of my vocabulary or lexicon. I may not just use them all in every statement. Otherwise, our meetings might become too long down here. I see China as an important and powerful country that is going through a transformation, an economic transformation, a political transformation. It is trying to control that transformation and trying to control transforming forces that are within the society. They have liberalized quite a bit in the last 20 or 30 years in ways we couldn't have imagined 20 or 30 years ago with respect to the society and the openness in the society. It is not as open as our society or we would, you know, encourage them to be. They still do not practice human rights to the standards that we think are appropriate and they undertake proliferation activities that are troublesome to us. And we will discuss all these issues. At the same time, it is a nation that need not be seen as an enemy. I would expect the Chinese military to modernize and transform itself and to use some of its newfound wealth to do that. This is not shocking or surprising to me.

We encourage Chinese military leaders to talk to our military leaders so we have a better understanding of the nature of that transformation, and it would be very useful if we had more transparency into what both sides are doing, and in that way have some confidence in the security relationship between the two of us. I do not yet see efforts on the part of the Chinese military to transform themselves in a way that we should see them as a potential enemy. But, at the same time, we should watch what's happening. And, of course, there is always the potential danger of misjudgments with respect to Taiwan and we will always keep that in mind of well.
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