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
April 22, 2008

12:41 p.m. EDT

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QUESTION: And then one final question. What would you say to criticism from some that given your close relationship with Israel, that there is a different standard that they are held to when it comes to espionage cases? That perhaps, you know, this has been 20 years since this happened, that they were held to a different standard than if this were a case from China or, say Pakistan?

MR. CASEY: Well, what I would say is that the first instance involving this case that occurred was a prosecution more than 20-plus years ago. You can talk with the Justice Department about why it has taken as long as it has from the original incident to be able to develop and establish enough information to actually be able to move forward with an arrest and prosecution.

But our standards are the same for any country. We, you know, treat seriously our obligations, all of us, as government officials, to safeguard classified information, to safeguard national security information. And there is pretty much a zero tolerance policy for anyone that would engage in sharing that information in an unauthorized way with anyone, including countries that are good friends and allies like Israel.

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QUESTION: The authorities in South Africa and Mozambique and Angola and Tanzania refused to allow that ship that was carrying these weapons to Zimbabwe to dock. And now, the generals in Zimbabwe and the Chinese, they say they will be bringing it by air. The ship is now on its way back to China and those weapons will be brought back by air.

Are you in contact with the Chinese to tell them about the seriousness of the situation in Zimbabwe and the implications of their action? And are you worried since the church group and other bodies in Zimbabwe are saying that the situation in the countryside can easily slide into a genocide because of the increased violence there?

MR. CASEY: Well --

QUESTION: Are you worried about that?

MR. CASEY: Yeah. Well, first of all, we talked a little bit about this this morning. We have been in contact with various governments in the region, as well as with the Chinese Government, on the subject of this vessel that had been attempting to deliver weapons to Zimbabwe. And we're pleased to see that many countries in the region refused to either accept this vessel in their ports, or to offload those weapons. Glad to have seen statements from the Chinese Government saying that that vessel may, in fact, now be recalled back to China. We don't think it's appropriate at this point, given the political upheaval that's occurring in Zimbabwe, for anyone to be adding extra tinder to that situation by providing additional weapons to Zimbabwe's security forces.

In terms of the possibilities that it would be transported through other means, that is not something that I have heard. Certainly, though, the same thing applies: It's not the method of transportation; it's the fact that at this point in time, we don't think it's a good idea for anyone to be introducing additional weaponry into Zimbabwe, and certainly would hope that everyone that had contact with the Zimbabwean Government would encourage them to do the right thing in terms of releasing electoral results, honoring the will of the people, and being able to move forward with a transition to the results of that election.

Yeah.

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QUESTION: Tom, thanks. Two quick questions. One, Amnesty International is condemning the Nepal, which is under pressure from China using force on the Tibetan protestors who are peacefully protesting and for the human rights and attacks on them. So have the State Department received anything or are they in touch with the Nepalese how to deal with these peaceful protestors or as far as human rights concerned?

MR. CASEY: Goyal, I'm not sure what kinds of communications we might have had through our Embassy with the Nepali Government, but whether it's in Nepal or any other country, we believe people ought to have the right to freely express their opinion, whether that's about the situation in Tibet or anything else. It's a fundamental human right for people to be able to freely express their views on any political situations there. And certainly, we would urge any government, including the Nepalese, to honor people's right to be able to peacefully express their views.

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QUESTION: Tom, any readout on the meeting the U.S. had with North Korea in Pyongyang?

MR. CASEY: Well, not much beyond what I told you this morning. Sung Kim and his team have arrived in North Korea. They did, as I understand it, have a chance to meet with Kim Kye-gwan at -- today and they'll be continuing their discussions over the next day or so. Their focus, as I said, is to work on the declaration. Sung Kim himself mentioned when he arrived in South Korea the day before, they also expect to talk about some of the issues related to verification. I know some of -- folks had asked earlier this morning whether there were plans for him to travel anyplace else in North Korea. As far as I know, he intends to stay in Pyongyang for these discussions and then return after that.

QUESTION: So you're not sure what the North Koreans told him or he didn't give you a -- some kind of --

MR. CASEY: Well, again, you know, this is -- the principals here are to talk about the main issues related to the declaration and in keeping with longstanding practice, I don't think we're going to delineate any of the details of that. Safe to say, though, there is no declaration. And until there is, until we see it handed in to the Chinese, any kind of speculation about whether we are one degree closer or farther away from it, really doesn't matter. This really is an issue where it's not done until everything's done. And so we would certainly hope that this meeting and this visit will make progress towards getting that declaration. But I'm really not in a position to try and handicap for you exactly how close or how far away we are at this point.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. CASEY: Thanks, guys.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:06 p.m.)