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

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
April 16, 2008

12:37 p.m. EDT

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QUESTION: Yes, two questions on China. The first one is when President Bush met with Pope today, did they talk about China, particularly the possibilities of (inaudible) relationship between China and Vatican?

The second one is CNN's commentator, Jack Cafferty, called the Chinese a bunch of goons and thugs. So the Chinese Foreign Ministry has demanded an apology from CNN. Did they contact with the State Department to talk about this matter, and what's your comments on these matter?

MR. MCCORMACK: On the latter of those points, I'm not aware of any contact. The State Department -- you might turn to your right and ask the CNN correspondent their -- their response to that request. And I'd refer you to CNN. Elise, if you care to share a response, now is your moment.

On the former, this was a meeting at the White House, and I think my colleagues at the White House can provide you an answer as to what the topics of discussions between the President and the Pope were. The President and the Secretary of State have made it a point to engage Chinese authorities on issues of religious freedom. That is part of the dialogue that we have with China.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Can you confirm that the Secretary called her Chinese counterpart --

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- today?

MR. MCCORMACK: Yeah, she did speak with him about a variety of different topics. Spoke -- they spoke about Iran and the efforts of P-5+1 to work on the two pathways, the incentives and disincentives package, the packages, the -- on the incentive side. Dan Fried, the Acting Under Secretary for Political Affairs met with his counterparts in Shanghai just today to discuss those matters. They made some progress, but there's still more work to be done on the issue of a so-called refreshed package of incentives. They had some good discussions, but more to follow on that. They talked about a variety of different issues, as well. They talked about the issue of Tibet. They talked about Taiwan. I'm trying to think what else came up. Off the top of my head, that's all that I recall about the conversation.

QUESTION: Did they talk about the soon-to-be meeting between the Dalai Lama and a U.S. official?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't believe that came up. I don't have a full readout of the phone call but, you know, from our side, the Secretary reiterated what you have heard us say in public, and that is encouraging the Chinese Government to engage in dialogue with the Dalai Lama and his people.

QUESTION: Did she talk about the possibility of opening a consulate in Lhasa?

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't believe that came up. You know, I --

QUESTION: Did we ever get an answer about, you know, how high on the list of priorities this -- that is? How high, you know, or how advanced the planning or --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think the -- we have not yet initiated the discussions with the Chinese Government on that. It's a reciprocal matter. I think the Chinese want to open another consulate here in the United States and we have an interest, obviously, in expanding our presence in China as well. So, you know, I can't speak to the -- whether or not, as of today, we've actually engaged the Chinese Government on that. I would expect when that happens, it'll happen at a lower level than the Secretary talking to the Foreign Minister about it.

QUESTION: Is it fair to say, though, that in terms of U.S. presence in China, that Tibet would be the next place on your list that you'd like to have a consulate or is there another city that may be --

MR. MCCORMACK: I think there are other options, but the Secretary expressed our interest in having a consulate there.

QUESTION: Or if somebody -- if there was to be, that --

MR. MCCORMACK: And --

QUESTION: -- and you would like that to be the next one, if there was to be a next one?

MR. MCCORMACK: You know, Matt, I can't speak to what our order of priority is on this. I know that the Secretary talked about this in her testimony up on the Hill and she expressed an interest in it. But I can't give you our East Asia and Pacific Bureau's wish list in that regard, but it is -- as the Secretary stated, a priority for us.

QUESTION: Do you -- one more on that. Do you currently have one of those virtual posts in Lhasa or --

MR. MCCORMACK: I don't believe we do. I'll check to see if in China we have any of these virtual presence posts.

Yeah, Libby.

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(The briefing was concluded at 12:57 p.m.)