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
May 22, 2008

1:00 p.m. EDT

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QUESTION: To follow, please. Why - (inaudible) humanitarian need. What's happening to the UN resolutions first to press the military dictatorship in Burma? But China said that they will block any resolution against the military dictatorship even for the human needs or foods flights?

MR. CASEY: Well, again, I just want to point out our goal here is to get support to the people that require it. We're endeavoring to do that to the best of our ability. Again, we wish the regime were more cooperative in this effort, but we are seeing relief get to people that need it, again, even if not as quickly as we would like. We think there's a lot more that we still could do and that others could offer. But we're going to continue to work the diplomacy on this and continue to work with others in the region, the ASEAN countries in particular, on their initiative to be able to continue to move this forward.

I'm not aware of any additional consultations scheduled at this point through the UN, but - and again, I think at this point, what we're - we are seeing is at least some aid getting through. We want to be able to continue to do that and we want to be able to continue to press the regime to allow us to be able to do more.

QUESTION: I'm sorry to say, but how long can the international community watch millions more die there? And you're talking about diplomacy will work, but how long can you wait for diplomacy to work?

MR. CASEY: Well, let's again focus on what has happened in the last few days and weeks since this event has occurred. We went from a position where no relief was being allowed in at all, to a position where relief was being allowed in in very limited quantities and had to be given directly to the government, to now a much greater flow of relief efforts, many of - much of which is being channeled directly through NGOs. We're seeing and hearing reports from our NGO community partners that aid is getting through; again, albeit not as fast or as quickly as we think it should or could, if we were allowed to do more.

But right now, I think the practical issue here is: How do you get support to those people? We have moved into a position where we and others in the international community are able to make some assistance in that effort. And I think that is what I'm referring to by continuing the diplomacy. We've gotten further along the road than we were at the beginning. We've certainly got opportunities to do more, and we're certainly going to continue to use countries like India and China and the ASEAN group to continue to urge them to push and put pressure where they can on the regime to allow us to be able to continue these efforts.

But the fundamental goal here isn't proving a political point. The fundamental goal is seeing that people who are in desperate need are helped. And again, while that is not happening as quickly as we'd like, it is happening and we are able to see positive impact from some of our relief getting through.

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QUESTION: I don't know if you'd be able to comment on this, but the IAEA seemed very concerned that the Olympics in China might be the object of a dirty bomb attack. They're doing some training exercises in preparation. Have you spoken to the Chinese authorities about this? Do you happen to have any knowledge of this threat?

MR. CASEY: I'm not aware of any specific threats related to the Olympics. We've certainly put out some travel advisories associated with that. Look, the Olympics is a very high-level international event. It gets worldwide attention. And certainly, that means, like any other event of its kind, there certainly might be people out there that would want to disrupt it in some way, shape or form. I think we, though, are committed to working with the Chinese and with others to support, however we can, the security of the Olympics and make sure - and make sure that nothing untoward does happen and the kinds of preparatory exercises or other precautions that a whole series of international organizations are taking is just another way of making sure that we are prepared for any possible contingencies and that we all do what we can to make sure that they're safe and secure.

Yeah.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:24 p.m.)