U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2006)

U.S. Department of State

Assistant Secretary Frazer at the FPC: Upcoming Elections In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo

Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs

The Washington Foreign Press Center, Washington, DC
October 27, 2006

3:00 P.M. EDT

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QUESTION: Madame Secretary, I have an Africa general question. I think based on -- I think I was reading this morning a number of African countries are going to be going to China. I think there's a conference happening there.

AMBASSADOR FRAZER: Yes.

QUESTION: I understand about 30 or so African countries.

AMBASSADOR FRAZER: Right.

QUESTION: Is the U.S. concerned? And if I may follow up on Uganda, there's a peace conference that's been going on but it seems to be the sticking point is whether the International Criminal Court's decision to indict the leaders of the LRA can be removed. Does the United States believe, if this is a stumbling block, that this should be taken out of the process so that we can move forward?

AMBASSADOR FRAZER: Right. We are not concerned about the conference that's going to be held in China with African countries. This is what other nations do. Japan has their, you know, conference. You know, France has their Francophone African conference. Japan has a conference. We have the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act, which is an opportunity at the ministerial level to have a conference with certain types of African countries -- well-governed, you know, open economies. And so no, we're not concerned about China having -- convening a conference with African countries and developing its Africa policy and agenda.

We would hope in that conference that the African countries emphasize their own commitments to the principles of the New Partnership for Africa's Development, principles that focus on holding the countries accountable for human rights, holding them accountable for good governance and holding them accountable for transparency -- you know, anti-corruption. These are certain principles that the continent itself has adopted and, you know, sometimes China takes a stance that, well, they don't care really about those principles, right, that that's not the basis of their decisions on engagement. That seems to undermine the way in which the continent is developing in its own decision making.

So that's the only issue that I would raise insofar as that conference is concerned, but I'm not at all concerned about China's engagement in Africa. But I think they have to be held accountable to what the continent is now asking in terms of the principles of engagement.

And then on the --

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Released on October 30, 2006