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

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
March 17, 2008

12:47 p.m. EDT

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QUESTION: What would you say to some of the analysts who say the U.S. is pulling its punches with China because of its -- over the Tibet issue because of China's considerable economic and commercial clout?

MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, I think people ought to take a look at what the Secretary said over the weekend about this issue. We are very concerned about the situation in Tibet. We continue to urge restraint on the part of the Chinese Government in terms of how it responds to these protestors. And we have consistently called for engagement and dialogue and encouraged the Chinese Government to engage in a substantive conversation with the Dalai Lama directly or through representatives so that the issues involving Tibet can be resolved.

That's been a consistent U.S. policy not only of this Administration, but of several others. So I think our views on this have been quite clear and we are going to do what we can to encourage that process to move forward and again, encourage restraint on the part of the Chinese. But I do think that this is an issue that is of longstanding in China and it's one that's going to have to be resolved internally between the parties.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Did anybody engage with the Chinese during the weekend or during the last hours?

MR. CASEY: I know -- I do not have anything new to report to you in terms of the Secretary's calls. I'll keep you posted as things come up. Certainly, I know that our Ambassador and our Embassy have spoken about this to a variety of Chinese officials and continue to be in discussions with them about this. This certainly is a subject that comes up regularly in our broad conversations with the Chinese. Again, this is an issue that's been out there for a while and that we have discussed with the Chinese over many years. So I know that the Embassy has been very actively engaged in discussing this.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Could an overly harsh reaction to this jeopardize President Bush's trip to China or U.S. participation?

MR. CASEY: You'd have to talk to the White House in terms of the President's travel schedule. Again, we are responding to this set of incidents in a way that we think is appropriate and consistent with longstanding U.S. policy.

Yeah.

QUESTION: What about those who say that the State Department Human Rights Report last week, which did not cite China as one of the worst violators, in a way, gives a green light to China to continue repressing dissent?

MR. CASEY: Well, first of all, I would say that those people saying that unfortunately have a very poor understanding of what the report does, what its requirements are and how it moves forward. Let me make it as clear as possible. In the report that was released in 2007, we said that China had a poor record of human rights. In the report that was released in 2008, we said China has a poor record on human rights, so we aren't pulling any punches. We've been very clear what our concerns are. There is no statutory list of worst offenders. There are illustratory examples given in a summary. China was mentioned there.

But again, I would encourage anyone that thinks that we were changing our views on China's basic human rights policy, to actually go and read the report, because it makes it very clear that we are consistent in our concerns and consistent in stating them, and the language between the report that was released last year and the one that came out just recently are remarkably consistent.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Do you have any details on U.S. citizens in Tibet now? Are you recommending anything to people who are there?

MR. CASEY: Well, I'm not aware that there -- fortunately, I'm not aware that there have been any instances where American citizens have been injured or otherwise hurt in the incidents that are occurring there. I do note that we have put out a new travel advisory related to Tibet. It does encourage people to seek shelter if they're in the area and to refrain from travel to the area, should they not be there at the present time.

Yeah, Kirit.

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(The briefing was concluded at 12:59 p.m.)