*EPF301 04/12/00
White House Report, Tuesday, April 11, 2000
(Middle East, Peru, China) (810)

White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart answered reporters' questions at early morning and early afternoon briefings.

ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER BARAK MEETS WITH CLINTON, ALBRIGHT, BERGER AND ROSS

President Clinton was to meet for an hour or longer the evening of April 11 with Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak in the Oval Office.

Earlier in the day Barak met at Blair House, across the street from the White House, with special Middle East coordinator Dennis Ross, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and Clinton's National Security Advisor Sandy Berger.

Barak arrived in Washington early April 11 for the meetings on the Mideast peace process with top U.S. officials, and was expected to return home soon after his talks with Clinton.

Lockhart said "these are difficult negotiations and discussions, and it's important that from time to time they meet face to face to take stock and look at ways that we can ensure that the process stays on track."

In addition to discussing the negotiations at the expert level on the Palestinian-Israeli track, Lockhart indicated that Syrian-Israeli issues also would be discussed. He pointed out that Clinton and Barak have not had a chance to meet face-to-face since Clinton met in Geneva March 26 with President Hafez Assad of Syria.

"My guess is they'll have some discussion of that," Lockhart said. "I also guess that with the deadline set for the (Israel's) withdrawal from Lebanon, there will be some discussion of that. I think the President finds it quite useful from time to time to bring the parties here or to meet them either in the region or some other location and meet face to face."

Asked if Clinton will bring up Israel's sale to China of the Falcon airborne radar system, Lockhart said "Yes, I think we've made our position on that quite clear to the Israelis. I expect the President to raise it this evening."

Earlier, Lockhart told reporters that the Clinton administration has "raised concerns with the Israeli government on a number of levels" about that sale, including during Defense Secretary Bill Cohen's recent visit to Israel.

U.S. EXPECTS RUNOFF ELECTION IN PERU

Asked to comment on the results of Peru's April 9 presidential elections, in which opposition parties charge election fraud by the party of incumbent President Alberto Fujimori, who is seeking a third term in office, Lockhart said "There were some reports of irregularities.

"There were certainly some steps taken in advance of the election, as I said yesterday, that were done to the detriment of the opposition parties running. The government took some steps near the election date to try to rectify that situation. We certainly expect that there will be a runoff. We have confidence in the quick count that was done that showed the need for a runoff, and it's very, very important as far as the legitimacies of these elections that the international community and the people of Peru have faith in the process.

According to some reports, Fujimori fell just short of an outright win against economist Alejandro Toledo, the son of an Indian peasant. A leading candidate needs 50 percent of the vote to avoid a June runoff.

PRESIDENT MEETS WITH NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM TO DISCUSS CHINA ISSUES

President Clinton met early the morning of April 11 with his national security team to discuss the national security implications of granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China. In addition, the President and his top advisors discussed the strategies they will use to make the case for PNTR to members of Congress, who are set to vote on the issue in May.

In a statement released by the President, he emphasized the importance of granting PNTR to China. Admittance of China into the WTO will "entwine" China in the global economy and will "accelerate the dismantling of China's state-owned enterprises," the statement said.

A vote against PNTR, the President said, "would have extremely harmful consequences" for U.S. national security. Such a vote, he said, "would undercut the reform-minded leaders (in China)...and strengthen the hand of hard liners who believe cooperating with the United States is a mistake."

Lockhart said most of the discussion on PNTR for China has until now focused on the economic benefits to the United States, and less on the national security implications.

"These arguments are complementary. They're both very important and we wanted to make sure that we were making [them] as effectively as we could as we come up to a vote."

The U.S. Congress is expected to vote on PNTR for China the week of May 20.

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