U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2008)

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
January 2, 2008

12:45 p.m. EST

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QUESTION: Can you sketch out for us what Chris Hill has -- maybe has already done or will be doing this week?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, he's going to be headed out to the region to do his Northeast Asia tour, leaving at the end of this week. I can't tell you whether that's Thursday or Friday. We'll try to get you some details on that. I don't know his stops, but I would anticipate that he's going to do the usual tour. I will see if he has any planned interactions with North Korean officials at this point. I don't have the details of the Chris Hill January 2008 Northeast Asia tour yet, but we'll get them to you.

QUESTION: On the same note, do you have any more details about the itinerary and agenda for Deputy Secretary Negroponte's trip to China in the middle of the month?

MR. MCCORMACK: Not yet. We'll -- more to follow on that.

Yeah, Gollust.

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QUESTION: Is the Deputy Secretary heading to the region as well?

MR. MCCORMACK: Excuse me?

QUESTION: Deputy Secretary Negroponte --

MR. MCCORMACK: He's going to -- that's what Kirit was talking about. He's going to be headed out there. I don't have a date for you, but he will be headed out to China, I believe. I think there was some discussion of that.

QUESTION: Before the bell rings --

MR. MCCORMACK: No, no, we got plenty of time.

QUESTION: Are you guys still encouraged, though? Are you still encouraged by the North Koreans? I mean, is -- though they haven't finished the declaration, are you still seeing a positive trend towards one?

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, yeah, you still have the continuation of the disablement process. The teams on the ground there who are engaged in the disablement process helping with technical assistance. The disablement process -- that's continuing. That continues to move forward and that's -- and that's good. That's a good sign.

We're trending in the right direction. I mean, remember where we were, what, not quite a year ago with the Banco Delta Asia. Well, that took a lot longer than everybody would have hoped, but it did get resolved. And again, we're trying to do new things here, new things in a positive sense and a responsible way. It's not as though we're -- we are adhering to the pathway that was laid out back in September '05. And you know, would we have hoped that we could have been further along in this process? Yeah. We do. We do.

QUESTION: Without a declaration itself?

MR. MCCORMACK: A declaration itself? Well, again, we'll see. You know, we'll see what the final declaration says. That's what really matters. And we'll make a judgment once the North Koreans say this is our final declaration. We'll see what gets handed over to, I would expect, the Chinese as the chair of the six-party talks and we'll make an assessment at that point -- a final public assessment, at least.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:20 p.m.)