TRANSCRIPT: 12/9 DOD BACKGROUND BRIEFING ON CHI HAOTIAN VISIT
(U.S. and China determined to improve relationship)

Washington -- Ongoing meetings between China Defense Minister Chi Haotian and U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry have shown that the United States and China have "a determination and desire to improve the relationship," according to a senior U.S. defense official.

Minister Chi and Secretary Perry "agreed that both countries face an opportunity now to improve the relationship after a period of difficulty and tension. And they agreed that military-to-military relationships are key to better understanding and trust," the official told reporters in a background briefing December 9.

So far, several confidence-building measures have been agreed to in principle. These include continued U.S. ship visits to Hong Kong; discussion of a military maritime agreement; periodic high level defense consultations at the Vice Minister level; and a series of ship visits, according to the official.

The Chinese Defense Minister also met with President Clinton Dec. 9, the official said. During that meeting, President Clinton told Chi that the United States and China "have the opportunity to build a strategic relationship for the 21st Century," and stressed that "we need more dialogue so that we can move forward in areas where we agree -- the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and improvements in the environment -- and a better dialogue to reduce tensions in areas where we disagree -- human rights and the World Trade Organization," according to the senior U.S. official.

Following is the official transcript of the briefing from DefenseLink:

(begin transcript)

BACKGROUND BRIEFING
ATTRIBUTABLE TO: SENIOR DEFENSE OFFICIAL
SUBJECT: READOUT (TO DATE) ON VISIT BY CHINA'S DEFENSE MINISTER

BRIEFER: I'd like to start at the beginning, which is last night, and walk you through what happened last night and what happened at the various meetings this morning.

But before I do, the important thing to stress is that the tone in all these meetings, starting with the dinner last night, has been warm, friendly. Both sides have conveyed a determination and desire to improve the relationship. Both realize that this is one of a series of important meetings that have begun to take place. We had Secretary Christopher's meeting recently; the Presidents of China and the U.S. met; there will be more high level meetings. What this particular set of meetings highlights is that the military-to-military relationship is a key element of our efforts to work together better and to find areas where we can agree and to consolidate those agreements and to clearly delineate areas where we don't agree so that we can reduce tensions in those areas, and if possible, find ways to continue discussions so that ultimately the disagreements will diminish.

There were some substantive developments which I'll get to later. We've agreed to several confidence building measures. These are, I guess, it's the political scientist term for better ways to work together, better ways to increase trust, better ways to increase understanding. And at the end of the plenary session there was an exchange, the Chinese gave Secretary Perry several mementos from a B-24 bomber that had crashed in China in 1944, and I'll get to that later.

First let me just sort of walk you through the schedule so far.

As you know, Secretary Perry and Minister Chi were scheduled to have what's called a staff ride at Gettysburg yesterday. This was at Minister Chi's request. That was called off because of predicted bad weather. So that staff ride did not occur, and they ended up meeting last night for dinner at the National Defense University. A very large and pleasant dinner. Secretary Perry had invited several people who had been in the Nixon Administration when we recognized China, and sort of ended our isolation from China. Former Secretary of State Haig was there, and also General Scowcroft was there.

The way the dinner was organized, the Secretary decided to call a number of people to speak during the dinner to give Minister Chi and his staff a sense of how we see the China relationship at various levels of our government and even outside the government. So the Secretary spoke first, and then Deputy Secretary John White spoke, and then Joe Nye spoke. Joe Nye, you know, is the one who coined the phrase that our security presence in Asia, in the Asian Pacific region, is the oxygen that has fueled the stability and the economic growth in the area. He has, as the head of the Kennedy School at Harvard, set up a program to bring military officers to Harvard to study for a couple of weeks. The hope is that they'll be (inaudible) changes going on with China. But the idea is to bring military officers over to the U.S. so they can get a better sense of how our country operates, how a democracy operates. The first group will come in the spring. I don't know how large it is. They will actually come down here afterwards to meet with people in the Pentagon -- some of their counterparts. We're talking about colonels, approximately. I guess we're talking about that level, colonels.

Q: How many?

A: I don't know the number.

Q: They'll go to Harvard?

A: They'll go to Harvard for a couple of weeks, and then at the end of their visit they'll come down here. But this is a program put together by the Kennedy School at Harvard to help create a dialogue between the U.S. and the Chinese military.

Q: They have not yet agreed to send anyone to NDU or anything?

A: That wasn't really discussed. All Joe Nye did was report on a program that he's set up at Harvard, at the dinner last night.

Three congressmen also spoke. One was John Glenn. Wasn't it John Glenn that said that the Great Wall of China was the only man-made structure you could see from space? He didn't say it last night, but I think he said it at one time.

The other was Craig Thomas who is the Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Subcommittee in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He's a Republican senator from Wyoming.

The other was Doug Bereuter of Nebraska, who is the Chairman of the counterpart committee, subcommittee in the House. He's sort of Mr. Asia of the House.

The three of them spoke. General Shalikashvili spoke. Then the Secretary gave a toast that basically touched on the same themes he touched on in his remarks today on the steps of the Pentagon. But he talked about building trust and understanding.

He stressed in his remarks last night, as he stressed this morning, that this relationship has really been, that he went to China in October of 1994 and then the relationship hit some difficulties, and this visit by Minister Chi has been rescheduled, this is the third time it's been scheduled. It was postponed twice before it finally took place. So there have been some real difficulties in the U.S.-China relationship -- difficulties that have seeped into all areas of our dialogue. This visit is just an early step of what we and the Chinese both have said will be a process of building a more pragmatic and more workable relationship than we've had in the past. So it has to be seen in that context, as one step in a journey that will take some time, and we can't expect instant changes to take place in the relationship.

After dinner last night, at which Minister Chi also made a toast which touched on the same themes of the necessity of two great nations to work together, both for peace in the region and peace in the world generally -- stability in the region.

This morning after his arrival, he actually, shortly thereafter, went over to the White House and met with Minister Chi, the Secretary met with Sandy Berger, also with the President. And at the meeting with the President, President Clinton stressed that the two countries have the real opportunity which we both must seize to build a strategic relationship for the 21st Century. That we need more dialogue so that we can move forward in areas where we agree, and he listed as three areas in which we agree, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, and improvements in the environment. He also said we need a better dialogue so that we can reduce tensions in areas where we disagree. Of those areas he cited human rights and the World Trade Organization, a constellation of trade issues.

After the White House meetings, the Secretary and Minister Chi returned to the Pentagon. They met for over 45 minutes privately, with translators. Ambassador Sasser was there for the U.S., Ambassador Li was there for China. Under Secretary Slocombe was there, and each side had note-takers as well as translators. They discussed the overall character of our relationship and the goals of this meeting and the goals of the relationship generally. They agreed that both countries face an opportunity now to improve the relationship after a period of difficulty and tension. And they agreed that military-to-military relationships are key to better understanding and trust.

They reviewed several regional issues. Taiwan, obviously, China. Minister Chi reiterated China's concern about our arms sales to Taiwan and also over the tensions that occurred last March, including their objection to our carriers being deployed to the area. The Secretary stressed that we have a one-China policy, and that the key to that policy, the driving thrust of that policy is to achieve a peaceful resolution of all issues involving Taiwan and China under the roof of the one-China policy.

They also discussed Japan and the Chinese Defense Minister repeated some of China's concerns about the recent security declarations between the U.S. and Japan as being an effort to contain China, as being something they didn't consider necessarily a friendly act. The Secretary said this was not against China at all, it was a step toward continued stability in the Asian Pacific region. He said that it was entirely a defensive agreement, and stressed again that the good relationship between the U.S. and Japan and the strong security relationship between the two countries has really been key to providing the stability that's fueled or at least allowed the economic growth in Asia to take place over the last 10 or 15 years.

They also talked some about non-proliferation. The Secretary said that even legal arms sales to Iran threatened U.S. interests in the Gulf area, but also could be a threat to China's interest. China's increasingly dependent on foreign oil, particularly oil that comes from the Gulf. And anything that increases instability in the Gulf area or makes Iran more confident of its military ability could eventually backfire on China so that it's an issue that China should pay more attention to.

Q: How old is the Minister? Does anybody know?

A: A lot of people know. Sixty-seven. Why did you ask that question in the middle of this narrative?

From there they moved on to a plenary session. It was about an hour and 15 minutes long. This is the session where they discussed the confidence-building measures. Just let me run through what transpired there.

First, China agreed in principle to continued U.S. ship visits to Hong Kong after July 1, 1997 when Hong Kong is turned over to China from the UK. The details still have to be worked out, but the Chinese said in principle they agree to these continued ship visits. We have sought these visits as a continuing sign of stability in the region, and also we use Hong Kong as an R&R port for our sailors, so we'll continue to do that, but the frequency of the visits still have to be worked out, and some other details.

Q: Did you say they agreed, or...

A: In principle. The details have to be worked out.

Minister Chi said that what China wants in Hong Kong is stability and prosperity. That they will follow the terms of the China/UK Declaration of Hong Kong which is basically that China is one country with two systems. That is the capitalist system in Hong Kong and the socialist system in China. He used that phrase, one country with two systems.

A second element in the confidence-building measures was a discussion of a military maritime agreement. The Secretary discussed that briefly a couple of minutes ago with the pool that was up there to cover his meeting with Senator Cohen. What we want, and we actually presented a draft of a military maritime agreement to Minister Chi, and he agreed to work on this through some working groups and other groups that are going to be set up to work out the details of the military maritime agreement. But basically, they're rules of the road for our naval operations and the Chinese naval operations. In simplest terms, if there's an incident, there's some sort of... If ships get too close, or there's a problem at sea, it sets up a communication chain so this is dealt with at the appropriate level and very quickly. So we get out of the situation where captains or skippers on the spot might be responding to the tension of the moment, make snap decisions; but instead, whatever happens is quickly sent up the chain of command so it can be dealt with at the appropriate level as effectively as possible.

Q: At present there is no such working...

A: There is not. You may remember that in 1994 a Chinese submarine collided with a U.S. ship, I think it was a carrier, during some naval exercises near China. There was quite a bit of confusion over the proper way to handle this at the time, at the time it happened and on the spot. So this would basically be rules of the road for dealing with situations like that.

One of the reasons this is desirable from our standpoint and also from the Chinese standpoint is the Chinese Navy and the Chinese Air Force are operating farther and farther away from their shore. We, of course, have had a blue water Navy for years and years and have operated throughout Asia for a long period of time. They are trying to develop a blue water capability, and therefore, operating farther and farther from their shores which increases the chance that there could be problems from time to time.

We also talked about regular military exchanges of high level officers. Minister Chi, on the spot, invited Chairman Shalikashvili to come to China sometime next year. The date hasn't been set, but Shali thanked him for the invitation, and there's no doubt that he'll go. He'll have to work out the details. There will be a series of other high level visits by the Chief of Naval Operations and others, and then there will be counterparts coming to the United States. For example, the Commander of the Chinese Land Forces, basically the equivalent to General Reimer, is supposed to come here in February. I think some Chinese naval officials are going to accept or have accepted invitations from Admiral Prueher to visit Pacific Command in Honolulu.

We also agreed to a periodic high level defense consultations at the Vice Minister level that essentially would be, on our level, Walt Slocombe, the Under Secretary for Policy. The first would begin in the summer or fall of 1997. The purpose of these visits is pretty clear. It's to improve transparency to help our militaries work together and to sort out some of the issues such as the military maritime agreement that are still pending.

Finally, we discussed and agreed to a series of ship visits, American ships visiting Chinese ports, Chinese ships visiting American ports. The Chinese Defense Minister Chi pointed out that U.S. ships had visited China and had visited Ching Jao in March of '95, and Shanghai in January of '96, and a Chinese ship is supposed to make a port call to Hawaii in March of '97. Then after that, some undetermined time a Navy ship will make a port call to China, some time after March of '97. That still has to be worked out.

At the very end, Minister Chi presented Secretary Perry some mementos of a B-24 bomber that crashed in China. He gave him an album of the crash site and some mementos taken from the crash site, and he gave him a videotape, and we hope to make available a version of that videotape to you at 4 [p.m.] today. These, I believe, had already been presented, were basically copies of what had been presented to the President earlier.

In addition, he presented two boxes. The first box contained a canteen taken from the crash site that had 1944 on the bottom of it, it was in sort of a plastic bag; and two dog tags taken from the crash site.

He also presented a box with a brass plaque in it that said that a B-24 bomber had been discovered at Xing'an County in Guangxi Province, China. I think the site is north of Guilin China. Actually some of you might have been there. It's a beautiful site where the Li River runs through some limestone spires. National Geographic writes stories about it about every five or ten years. It's about two hours north of there. I don't know whether it's two hours north by car or plane, but it is two hours north of there.

Q: Is that two dog tags from the same person or two sets?

A: One was impossible to read, so it's hard to know. I think they're from different people, but since one was impossible to read, it was at least for me to read, it was hard to know so I can't say for sure. These have been turned over to the POW/MIA people.

There are some remains in this crash site, and they plan to go to Beijing later this month to pick up the remains. Then they will go, after the winter weather, to the crash site sometime in the spring, probably in March, to investigate the crash site and see what else they can find there.

Q: Do you know when this plane crashed?

A: It crashed in 1944, but I don't know the exact date that it crashed.

Q: Do you know what it might have been doing?

A: We had planes flying into China all the time. There was this air bridge, remember, when the road to Mandelay closed down we had to supply Chiang Kai-shek who we were supporting at the time, and Chung King, I believe, by air. There were all these fights between Stilwell and General Chennault, you've read all these books about Vinegar Joe Stilwell. So we had these bombers and transport planes going in there both to bring in goods and also to carry out some military operations at the time.

But what this specific plane was doing, I don't know. Why it crashed where it did, I have no idea. Maybe we'll be able to find out. But that's one of the reason's the team's going over there.

Just let me tell you that in presenting this, after this was presented the Secretary said they would share the information with the families as soon as we figured out what the information was and verified it. Minister Chi said the Chinese people will never forget the great contribution made by American pilots to China at the end of World War II. He said it was a selfless contribution to the effort to defeat the fascists.

The Secretary said that receiving the mementos of the crash was very meaningful for two reasons. One, it would be very important to the families to receive either mementos or more information about what happened to their family members on the plane; and secondly, it recalls that World War II was a time when China and the U.S. operated as partners, and it reminded us all of the possibility that we can operate as partners again. That's basically the summary.

I guess if I had to sum up with one thing, throughout the remarks both by Minister Chi and by Secretary Perry and also by President Clinton and Sandy Berger was sort of the underlying theme that we do have differences. We have differences over approaches to Taiwan, over human rights, for instance, over non- proliferation efforts, but we also have important opportunities now to build a relationship that will be most mutually beneficial to both sides, a better relationship than we've had over the last two years. This won't happen instantly, but we're off to a good start on the military-to-military end of it.

Q: Did Cohen in the to'ing and fro'ing meet at all with Chi?

A: Senator Cohen has been invited to a dinner the Chinese are giving at their embassy tomorrow night, and he will sit at the same table with the Secretary and Minister Chi.

Q: When is Chi speaking?

A: He's speaking tomorrow, I think late morning. It might be actually during lunch tomorrow.

Q: That will be piped in?

A: It will be piped in. That's our current intention in our effort to make sure you guys don't have to leave the press room. (Laughter) 2 o'clock he's speaking.

Q: Is that open to coverage?

A: It's open to coverage, yes. They will take questions, he's going to take questions from the audience but not from the press.

Q: But TV cameras can record this event.

A: CNN can go record it, along with MSNBC and any other camera that wants to go

A2: I think there's limited space and they're asking for people to call ahead. Call the public affairs office at NDU. National Defense University. Fort McNair.

Tomorrow he has the breakfast on Capital Hill, he has the NDU speech, and he meets with the Deputy Secretary of State, Strobe Talbott.

Q: Do you know when that meeting is?

A: No, I don't.

Q: On the rules of the road that the two navies are going to follow, do we in any way limit our...

A: No.

Q: ...ability to move through various straits?

A: No. This does not limit where either Navy goes, but what it does when it gets there. It deals only with... The draft agreement that we've submitted is designed to basically describe a reporting channel for dealing with problems that may arise. We're not anticipating that a lot of problems are going to arise, but sometimes there are unforeseen events.

We had, with the Soviet Union, the so-called Incidents at Sea Agreement that we signed in 1972 that was a similar type of agreement. It's just a way to routinize dealing with issues that may emerge.

Q: Just to be clear, it's not an agreement in principle, this is just a work in progress?

A: Right. We have presented them with drafts which they want to study, and we've agreed to continue discussions of this military maritime agreement in the course of our evolving bilateral relationship. We don't have a deadline for when this is going to be done, but it is something... This is something, actually, that Secretary Perry first mentioned in October of 1994 when he went to Beijing. This isn't a new idea. But because the relationship basically stalled for about two years, nothing got done on it.

Q: Was any agreement signed or finalized?

A: Nothing was, there was no written agreement signed, no.

Q: On the B-24 memento, the B-24 has been raised before, right? I mean this is really an old issue that someone mentioned before that they had remains. Richardson might have been in Asia recently and mentioned that China...

A: President Jiang Zemin mentioned it to President Clinton in Manila, and also the Chinese Foreign Minister mentioned it to Secretary Christopher when he was there. The only thing that's new here is they brought some mementos, the canteen and the dog tags. But the fact that the plane was there was first revealed in late November, I think, by the Chinese.

We're a little firmer on the dates when the POW/MIA people are going to go over, I think they plan to go in about a week or so. They hope to go to Beijing before Christmas to bring back the remains.

Q: On non-proliferation, was there a response from the Chinese on Perry's mentioning (inaudible) arms sales to Iran -- it was not in our interest it's not in your interest -- and was the issue of Pakistan brought up at all? Thirdly, did the Chinese offer anything in the way of this larger issue of arms sales and technology transfers that is a positive on the part of the U.S. view?

A: The Chinese have said before, and they repeated again, that they're developing a national export control system. They insist that they adhere to all international obligations, all agreements that they've signed on non-proliferation. That's been their view for some time. What Secretary Perry was arguing was, even if these sales to Iran are perfectly legal, you should understand that they hurt you, you can be the victim of these sales as well. That's the same consideration, same point that he made to the Russians.

I think that the Chinese said that they would consider this point. They just said -- they'd listen, and they responded by saying that they understood the point, they would report back on it, and they would consider it further.

Q: The tension in North Korea, what was the Chinese...

A: Most of the discussion on North Korea took place at a lunch between Minister Chi and General Shalikashvili, and I didn't go to that lunch so I don't know what the discussion was. In the past the Chinese, and nothing was said to day at the plenary session to change this view, in the past the Chinese have expressed support for the four power talks that President Clinton announced in Korea in April. They want, they support the framework agreement. They want a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. Minister Chi repeated that today, that they wanted a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula, and they want peace and stability on the peninsula. There were not detailed discussions between the Secretary and the Minister on that. The Secretary said that that would be discussed later with General Shali.

PRESS: Thank you.

(end transcript)