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 23, 2008

12:53 p.m. EDT

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QUESTION: For you -- for the Administration. I mean, you're in the middle of six-party talks.

MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, a couple of things. Again, irrespective of these reports that are ongoing now, we have certain responsibilities to brief the Congress on matters of foreign policy and national security, in this case, intelligence matters. So, again, there is a certain responsibility that goes along with the good governance and the functioning of our government. Certainly, we are committed to that and we have committed to working closely with the Congress on matters related to national security, intelligence and foreign policy.

Now, with respect to the six-party talks, those will advance or not based on the merits of the actions of the parties involved -- the United States, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, Russia, and China. At the moment, we are at a point where five members of the six-party talks are waiting for the North Koreans to provide a declaration as well as to complete their obligations to disable the Yongbyon facility. Thus far, they have not completed all of those obligations. And we shall see, I would expect, in the coming period of time whether or not they are prepared to fulfill those obligations. If they do hand over a declaration to the Chinese, who are the hosts of the six-party framework and the six-party process, all the five parties will have an opportunity to assess and judge that declaration. They will assess and judge that declaration, whether or not it is consistent with North Korea's stated obligations under the second phase of the process that is underway now, and whether or not it is acceptable. And we have a variety of different means by which to judge that.

It is only at that point and once they have fulfilled their obligations that we will take a look at whether or not the United States fulfills its obligations and the other parties fulfill their obligations under the six-party talks. And it bears repeating that any declaration is going to be subject to verification. It is going to be subject to verification from beginning and off into the future, should the process move forward. And if at any point there is any hint or it is detected that there is an attempt to mislead or, in fact, they did mislead, there will be consequences. And it also bears repeating something that the Secretary said last week, something that I have said as well. There is nothing inevitable about this process, which gets me back to my first point, and that is the six-party talks and that framework will move forward based on the merits of the actions of the parties involved in that process, whether that is to move forward and eliciting cooperation or in dealing with noncooperation. We've seen both sides of that equation.

At this point, we will see whether or not North Korea is up to fulfilling its obligations, and that really will determine whether or not that process moves forward irrespective of any briefings on the Hill or elsewhere.

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QUESTION: Can we stay on Zimbabwe? Or, Matt, were you going to -- just on Zimbabwe. Have you seen the comments by Prime Minister Gordon Brown about calling for an arms embargo?

MR. MCCORMACK: We have. And at this point, we want to understand better what are the specifics, what are the details of what it is that the British Government is proposing. Certainly, as a matter of principle, we believe that it is prudent for any state that is contemplating export of arms to the Zimbabwean Government to reconsider those exports. And we have seen a recent case involving a Chinese ship in which neighboring states have allowed -- have refused to allow their territories for transshipment of such weapons. Again, these we believe are prudent steps given the current political situation in Zimbabwe.

Matt.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:18 p.m.)