*EPF502 07/16/2004
Transcript: State Department Noon Briefing: July 16
(Department issues, Japan, Armenia, Turkey, Serbia, Israel/Palestinians, Cyprus,Venezuela) (4650)

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher briefed the media July 16.

Following is the transcript of the briefing:

(begin transcript)

Daily Press Briefing Index
Friday, July 16, 2004
1:15 p.m. EST

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

DEPARTMENT
-- Statement on UN Fund for Population
-- Statement by President about Anti-Trafficking Initiative
-- Great Lakes Ambassadors' Meeting /Rwanda-Congo-Uganda
-- Pinochet Matter / Riggs Bank / Banking facilities for Embassies

JAPAN
-- Sgt. Jenkins Update / Custody / Handover / Facing of Charges
-- Status of Forces Agreement
-- Extradition of Bobby Fischer

ARMENIA
-- Genocide
-- Schiff Amendment

TURKEY
-- Withdrawal of Candidacy of Chair of OSCE

SERBIA
-- Visit of New President

ISRAELI/PALESTINIANS
-- Readout of Under Secretary Grossman's Visits
-- Building of the Wall / Roadmap / UN Vote
-- Kidnapping of Chief of Police / Security of Gaza

CYPRUS
-- Military Pull Back / Military Confidence Building
-- Secretary General Annan's Peace Plan
-- Turkish Troop Presence

VENEZUELA
-- Referendum
-- Free and Fair Elections
-- Chavez Remarks

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DAILY PRESS BRIEFING
FRIDAY, JULY 16, 2004
(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

1:15 p.m. EDT

MR. BOUCHER: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's a pleasure to see all of you here today. I want to start off with a couple of things. There are a couple of statements coming out.

One, I think you have all seen the statement that we issued this morning about the money for the UN Fund for Population Activities is going to be reallocated to other needs because we're unable under the Kemp-Kasten Amendment to fund the agency due to its programs in China.

Second of all, you have probably seen a statement by the President that indicates that the State Department has come up with the additional 25 millions to meet his goal of a $50 million contribution this year to efforts against trafficking in persons and to take care of the victims. We'll have further amplification of the money involved and how that $50 million will be spent.

Third, I'd like to, if I could, talk a little bit about some discussions we've been having in the State Department this week on the Great Lakes region of Africa. Many of you will remember that in mid-May, the Secretary of State had a meeting here with the leaders, foreign ministers of Rwanda, Congo and Uganda here, and then subsequently, last month in June, we sent out our Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs Don Yamamoto; he had some meetings out there.

And then over the last couple of days, we've had some meetings in Washington, July 14 and 15, between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. We're trying to help these countries by facilitating efforts to enhance regional stability. At this round of discussions here this week in Washington, Under Secretary Grossman and Assistant Secretary Newman, our new Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, both participated in these discussions and Deputy Assistant Secretary Yamamoto stayed -- participated as well.

We want to commend and express our great appreciation to Rwandan Foreign Minister, the Congolese Foreign Minister and the Ugandan Defense Minister, who were here for these talks. We think they made good ongoing efforts -- are making good and ongoing efforts to increasing peace and stability in the Great Lakes region. They agreed to form a trilateral commission to strengthen the implementation of existing agreements and a series of other steps including settling issues, ending violence along the border and working together to try to bring peace and stability to this crucial region. We commend them for that and they have issued a joint communiqué which we can also make available to you.

So I think with that beginning, I will stop and take questions about this or other topics.

Sir.

QUESTION: Mr. --

MR. BOUCHER: Do you want to do this?

QUESTION: I have a question on the population issue and so forth.

QUESTION: By all means.

QUESTION: Go ahead.

QUESTION: No, go, please, please.

MR. BOUCHER: Sir.

QUESTION: The UN Population Fund insists that the idea that it supports coerced abortions in China is baseless and that they're essentially being made a scapegoat to election year politics.

MR. BOUCHER: As you know, we felt that U.S. law required us to make this decision, not only this year but last year, and we did this after careful study of the circumstances, both of the Population Fund's programs and also the circumstances with Chinese law and practice in the places where the fund operates.

We recognize that the aim of the UN Population Fund is to promote a transition to purely voluntary family planning in China, but the circumstances of their operations are such that they are assisting the Chinese in managing their programs. These Chinese programs have penalties that amount to coercion, and therefore we feel by funding these programs we would be indirectly helping the Chinese to improve their management of programs that result in coercive of abortion, and that's prohibited by our law.

We've been through this with both the Chinese authorities involved and the people at the UN Population Fund to talk about ways that this connection might be severed, that the connection between the Fund's activities and coercive of abortions might be severed.

Obviously, we've talked to the Chinese many times about ending the kind of penalties, the kind of programs, the kind of laws and practice that we feel result in coerced abortions. And so they're -- we tried to work this through, but essentially, the situation is the same as it was in years past, and therefore we felt that we had to make this step and not fund the U.S. fund -- the UN Population Fund.

Yeah.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) by the Fund that multiple investigations, including by a team sent by President Bush himself, had found that they were not in violation of the anti-coercion law.

MR. BOUCHER: As I said, we made this determination very carefully, after sending delegations, after talking to all the parties involved, after careful study of our law. And we do feel that we have to do this because of the interrelationship between these two programs.

QUESTION: You say in the statement that no key changes were made. Have they taken any steps that are considered --

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know to what extent -- smaller changes might have been made, but no changes -- not enough --

QUESTION: Significant.

MR. BOUCHER: -- not enough changes, or the changes were not significant enough to sever the connection between funding for the population program and the Chinese law and practice.

QUESTION: When was the last delegation that the State Department sent to China and is it -- is that -- is their report public?

MR. BOUCHER: The answer is I don't know and I don't think so, but let me check on it, see when we've last --

QUESTION: Because --

MR. BOUCHER: -- talked to them. Our Embassy, obviously, talks to the Chinese about population issues on a regular basis. It's one of the things that's important to us, particularly having -- encouraging the Chinese to move to voluntary family planning and to reduce coercive aspects of its programs. So it's a regular issue.

When is the last time we actually sent a delegation? I'd have to check.

Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: Because the advocates for the Fund say that the State Department actually concluded the opposite. They say that their source in the State Department --

MR. BOUCHER: It's the same question I've gotten three times and I would just have to tell you we studied this very carefully and we did not -- we concluded we were not able to give this money under U.S. law.

QUESTION: But the report which was issued, you're not sure if it's public?

MR. BOUCHER: We've studied this very carefully in a variety of means, people that have gone out there reporting from our Embassy, other reporting. We have looked at Chinese law and practice many times over the years. We think we understand it very well. We think we understand the funding mechanisms very well. We think we understand the UN Population Fund's programs very well.

As we have looked carefully at these interrelationships, we had -- we felt we had no course but to conclude that these things were interacting in such a way that money for the UN Population Fund improved the management of Chinese programs that led to coercive abortion practices.

QUESTION: Your statement says that you lead the way in contributing to programs for women's health and you mention that this includes reproductive health, including family planning.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah.

QUESTION: I'm wondering if this administration is willing to support family planning only in instances where the woman's, the mother's or the potential mother's health is at risk. Isn't family planning a population control in and of itself a desired goal or is this the wrong administration to put that question to?

MR. BOUCHER: Barry, this is a question that I think you're very familiar with.

QUESTION: I am.

MR. BOUCHER: It has a long history.

QUESTION: I mean, we hear it every -- for years and years, it's been going on.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, let's go back to the beginning of the Administration when this Administration decided to implement the Mexico City Policy to say that we would not fund programs that resulted -- supported abortion.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: But at that time, the Administration made a pledge that we would continue to contribute to family planning programs around the world, at least at the same level as we had done in the past. And that's where every year, the Administration has made the request for the same -- for the $425 million. And this year, I think it's -- after working with Congress, came up to $429 million directly for family planning and reproductive health, okay? That's a commitment the Administration made and kept.

In addition to that, there has been a lot of money, including expanding money, towards the goal of child survival and health, which affects, obviously, women and their health and children and their health.

QUESTION: I don't want to beat it to death, I mean, because I could imagine this Administration wanting to --

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I know you're imagining things, but let's remember what the facts are. The facts are what I have just said. We have contributed to a wide variety of reproductive health programs, at the same level as we did -- as this Administration did when it arrived.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: Can we change subjects to Sergeant Jenkins? The Japanese Government say they expect him to come to Japan on Sunday, but that they're still discussing the question of his custody with the United States. And Prime Minister Koizumi is quoted as saying, "America's position is difficult with regard to this matter, but we must negotiate so that Mrs. Soga's family can live together in Japan." Are you still talking with them, and is it remotely acceptable to you --

MR. BOUCHER: I thought you were going to ask me if we were still being difficult. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: I know the answer to that question. (Laughter.)

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah. Well, first, we understand that Sergeant Jenkins will go to Japan over the weekend for medical care. And we understand the family considerations and the humanitarian situation. We also understand that he faces potentially serious charges and that he will be entering a place where the United States can and will seek legal jurisdiction.

Those are the facts. That's as far as I can take you right now. We are continuing to discuss all these matters with the Japanese, and we'll continue those discussions.

QUESTION: Do you have any agreement with the Japanese under which they would not hand him over?

MR. BOUCHER: There's not any kind of an arrangement like that at this point.

QUESTION: And then, if we can go to the SOFA, the Status of Forces Agreement. Having read large chunks of it, it seems to me that the key provision states that the military authority of the United States and the authorities of Japan "shall assist each other in the arrest of members of the United States Armed Forces . . . and in handing them over to the authority which is to exercise jurisdiction in accordance with the above provisions," which describe when the Japanese and when the Americans would help jurisdiction, in particular, primary jurisdiction in particular cases.

Do you feel like that phrasing, "shall assist each other . . . in the arrest and handing over," leaves some kind of ambiguity as to whether the Japanese can hand him over or not?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm not here to interpret the Status of Forces Agreement. If the lawyers need to do that, they'll do that together at the appropriate time. I'm just telling you what the facts are at this moment, but I can't go any farther beyond that and start speculating on how the SOFA would be interpreted, if it needs to be.

QUESTION: But that doesn't seem to leave any wiggle room, in terms of whether they hand him over or not.

MR. BOUCHER: I would advise people -- it's not time to start leaping ahead and making legal interpretations. We will try to keep our discussions going with the Japanese, try to work this out with the Japanese, if we can. We know certain facts that I have established, but I don't think we can speculate beyond that. Certainly I can't.

QUESTION: Is the United States going to ask the Japanese for extradition of Bobby Fischer?

MR. BOUCHER: There's a limit to what I can say about the situation of Mr. Fischer because of the Privacy Act, but let me tell you what I can. United States citizen Robert "Bobby" Fischer has been detained by Japanese authorities on alleged immigration law violations. A U.S. consular officer has visited Mr. Fischer in detention, and then we don't have permission in terms of a Privacy Act Waiver to release any further information on Mr. Fischer.

Questions about extradition or charges would have to be answered by the Department of Justice and the appropriate courts.

QUESTION: Richard, with respect to the same issue, you've just issued yesterday a biometric passport procurement initiative --

MR. BOUCHER: Request, yeah.

QUESTION: -- saying it's moving forward, and also new and improved consular internet services, and it appears that Mr. Fischer violated all of this by using fake documentation. Does he also --

MR. BOUCHER: I wouldn't want to speculate on what Mr. Fischer might have violated other than to say he is subject a warrant for arrest from December 15th, 1992, by the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, and he is charged under Section 1701, 1702 and 1705 of Title 50 of the U.S. Code. And you'd have to look that up because I'm not the lawyer, as I pretended not to be just a moment ago.

QUESTION: Apparently, he -- you asked him not to go to Yugoslavia for a chess tournament and he disregarded this several years ago and has been playing "cat and mouse" with American authorities ever since. Doesn't he face --

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I'm not in a position to go any farther on the legal situation or his personal situation. I have cited certain public facts that are known that I can refer you to, but beyond that I'd have to leave it to others to comment on legal matters.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Two correlated questions, the first one: In the House of Representatives version of the foreign aid bill approved last night, there was a last-minute amendment which prohibits the use of U.S. assistance in lobbying efforts to deny the existence of the Armenian genocide. This is an apparent effort against Turkey. Will the State Department's work against this article at the Senate or the conference committee levels to prevent it from being present in the final text?

MR. BOUCHER: I think the provision that you're referring to -- well, the provision you're referring to I can't find. The simple answer -- this is the Schiff amendment? I think it is.

QUESTION: Yeah, Schiff amendment.

MR. BOUCHER: A simple answer is the House has passed it, the Senate has not, and the Administration was opposed to it. And we'll continue to make known our opposition.

QUESTION: The second question is: There are report suggesting that Turkey has withdrawn its candidacy for term presidency of the OSCE because Armenia has threatened to veto it. Any comment on that?

MR. BOUCHER: Our understanding, and this is based on talking to Turkish officials that are at the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, that Turkey has withdrawn its candidacy for 2007 Chair due to competing obligations by high-level officials during that time. They felt they would be unable to devote the appropriate attention to the position, so we respect that decision.

QUESTION: Mr. Boucher, anything (inaudible) on the official visit by the new Serbian President to Washington this coming Monday, who's already in the United States?

MR. BOUCHER: Not really. We look forward to seeing him and talking to him next week.

QUESTION: And also, do you have any readout about the recent visits to Palestinian (inaudible) by Under Secretary Marc Grossman?

MR. BOUCHER: We talked about those to some extent at the time. They were a couple of weeks ago, right?

QUESTION: About two weeks.

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah, I think it was about two weeks ago, yeah. We talked about them at the time. I think we can certainly find for you what we said.

QUESTION: And the last -- it's according to (inaudible) interview, a U.S. interrogator in Guantanamo Base in Cuba has obtained from an arrest partial plans for attacks the Olympic Games. Do you have anything on that?

MR. BOUCHER: I certainly would not have anything on that, no.

Sir.

QUESTION: Not the same subject, but I would like to follow Lambros by asking whether you have any opinion on the Cypriot government's proposal for a military pullback by Greek Cypriot and Greek-Turkish forces from the ceasefire line on Cyprus?.

MR. BOUCHER: We would welcome any and all mutually agreed steps that can reduce military tensions in Cyprus. We're always looking for ways to provide both communities on the island with a greater sense of security. In that vein, I would note that we have been urging, as we have before, that all parties refrain from military exercises this fall. They cancelled the exercises. They're usually held twice a year, as they have now done for several years in a row.

At the same time, we point out military confidence-building is no substitute for a comprehensive settlement in the form of the Secretary General's peace plan. Military confidence-building measures don't fully address the general security concerns the Greek Cypriots have expressed, nor do they address the economic aspirations that are so central for the Turkish Cypriots.

We note that in his recent report of the Good Offices Mission, Secretary General Annan outlined a way ahead to a settlement that does address all these issues, from Greek Cypriots to articulate with clarity and finality their concerns regarding security and implementation of the settlement so that the members of the Security Council can address them.

QUESTION: The example that was offered, as well as exercises, the two examples that the U.S. -- the kind of activity that the U.S. supports --

MR. BOUCHER: Yeah?

QUESTION: Are there any others such as Turkish troop presence on the island?

MR. BOUCHER: We -- well, Turkish troop presence on the island is one of the things dealt with in the agreement that we supported and we think all the parties should support. We'd certainly welcome any and all mutually agreed steps to reduce tension.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) measures taken by the Cyprus government to this effect because of what --

MR. BOUCHER: If the parties can agree on them, that's great.

QUESTION: It was reported that sometime next week you are sending an Under Secretary again in Nicosia/Ankara and Athens regarding the Cyprus issue. I was wondering if you have anything on that.

MR. BOUCHER: I'll check. I'm not aware of any travel like that, but I'll check.

QUESTION: And you wouldn't object if the Cypriot -- if the Greek Cypriot Government, the Cypriot Government were to decide to pull back unilaterally that -- even though that's not mutually agreed, but it's not something you're going to oppose, is it?

MR. BOUCHER: I suppose not. I'm not sure if we think it would happen without mutual agreement, but we think it is useful for the sides to agree on steps to reduce tensions.

Yeah. Sir.

QUESTION: Venezuela. In a month the recall referendum is going to be held and all the indications are that it's not going to be a fair and free election, such as you have frequently called for, still there is quite a silence up here as to what's going on. The international monitors are being handcuffed down there. They have been put under rules which the European community says they're not going to send anybody. And there are many other things that are very -- very -- make it impossible to hold a fair and free election, it seems to me. What's your reaction to what's going on down there?

MR. BOUCHER: Our reaction is something that we have expressed, I think, regularly from this podium and that we've expressed regularly in our statements down there. It is very important to us, as well as to other members of the international community, that this vote be conducted in an open, free, fair and transparent manner. We have been working with other governments, Friends of Venezuela and Organization of American States, to support that goal.

We have made clear we think the presence of impartial observers is a key element in achieving that goal and we have pushed hard for that. So I think we've been quite outspoken on this, what needs to be done, just to ensure the Venezuelan people a right to decide and we'll continue to be outspoken. We'll continue to find different ways to press.

QUESTION: And what do you think of President Chavez's continuous attacks on the U.S.? He went over to Quito and urged the Andino nations to stay out of the (inaudible), said he wanted nothing to do with that now. He says it's a a Trojan horse. He is calling for, again, for the creation of the United States of South America, which Eduardo Duhalde, the head of MERCOSUR, has --

MR. BOUCHER: I realize that there are a lot of things like that floating around. Most of them don't seem to have any traction at all, frankly. But in any case, the issue is not the United States. The issue is Venezuelan politics, the Venezuelan system, whether it's going to be fair, whether it's going to be open, whether the people are going to have a right to decide or whether their democracy is going to be tainted by the actions of people who want to use violence, the actions of people who want to close down the media, and the actions of people who want to restrict political activity.

QUESTION: Is the State Department involved, in any way, or in any investigations onto these allegations by a Senate report that Riggs Bank had hid, for Pinochet, millions of dollars?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know to what extent we might be involved in the Pinochet matter. I think it is a banking matter and one's that's being looked at by the appropriate authorities. Some of the repercussions of the investigations of Riggs Bank of other things, we've been dealing with, and I think we put out statements, actually, about the fact that banking facilities were becoming unavailable for many embassies and yes, we have been involved in trying to make legitimate banking facilities available to foreign embassies who need to operate in Washington and the United States.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to say about the resolution that appears likely to head to a vote next week in the UN General Assembly on the fence/wall?

MR. BOUCHER: I think our position on the wall itself, the routing of the wall, has been made very clear. Our position on the International Court of Justice decision has been made very clear. We have also made clear our view that these decisions should not -- does not need to result in any General Assembly action, that the efforts to advance the peace process that we're engaged in is where the focus should be and everybody should be looking at how their energy, their efforts, and their voices can be added to the process of moving forward on the roadmap.

We'll have more to say in our statements at the United Nations, but I think that's our capsule view.

QUESTION: Is it fair to say you will vote against it?

MR. BOUCHER: We don't think it should be there, if it comes to a vote, and I think we would express that in our vote. Sir?

QUESTION: Richard, this morning, whether it be Hamas or other militant groups who have kidnapped the Palestinian police chief in Gaza and then later released him and they exchanged gunfire and wounded two of his bodyguards. Now, why would a police chief need bodyguards, number one, and two --

MR. BOUCHER: Because there are people trying to kidnap him, that's why.

QUESTION: Exactly.

(Laughter.)

QUESTION: But it just shows that trying to put security into Gaza isn't working.

MR. BOUCHER: No, it does show something. It shows what we've said all along, that there needs to be a single security service, there needs to be a single authority, and there needs to be a single armed group, that you can have a legitimate authority, a government that has to compete with armed groups for control of an area.

And that's why the security services need to be consolidated. That's why the terrorist groups need to be put out of business, because no government that aspires to be a real government and a real government of a Palestinian state should have to compete with other armed groups for authority.

This has been a consistent position expressed by the United States. It's been something we've been clear on from the beginning of the roadmap, from the Abu Mazen government to the Abu Alaa government, and it's, again, something I have to say today. All these events just demonstrate one more time why the Palestinian authority needs to consolidate security authority and needs to be the only security authority in that territory.

Sir.

QUESTION: I want to come back to the Jenkins issue. You said that you keep in touch with Japanese Government, but you have said over and over that on this issue, the U.S. position has not changed. If so, what kind of conversation do you have? I think --

MR. BOUCHER: Good, productive, useful, friendly conversations.

QUESTION: I'm wondering whether the Japanese government has made any official request to the United States. For example, did they ask for a pardon or did they tell you that, you know, don't ask for extradition?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't know that the Japanese Government is going to be any more willing than we are in going into these conversations in any detail. But I would leave it to them to do so. If they want to talk about things they're asking for, that's up to them.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) do you feel that Sgt. Jenkins should be brought to justice?

MR. BOUCHER: We feel that he is -- has been accused, charged with desertion, that those are serious charges that do need to be faced, yeah.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:45 p.m.)

(end transcript)

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