U.S. Relations With the People's Republic of China (2009)

U.S. Department of State

Philip J. Crowley
Assistant Secretary

Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC
October 13, 2009

1:08 p.m. EDT

MR. CROWLEY: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Department of State. Just a couple of quick items before taking your questions. Deputy Secretary Jim Steinberg this afternoon will host Politburo Member Minister Li Yuanchao for an important meeting representing the mutual commitment to building a positive, cooperative and comprehensive U.S.-China relationship.

Senator George Mitchell has returned from the region. And Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Abbas are sending their negotiating teams to the U.S. to continue their discussions with him. The Israelis will be here later this week on the 15th, and the Palestinian team will come on October 20th. Following that, the Secretary will share her report with the President after the conclusion of those meetings on the current status in our discussions and our efforts to lead towards a resumption of negotiations. 

And finally, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke had a meeting this morning with Foreign Minister Qureshi to discuss the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, also known as the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill.

With that, we'll take your questions.

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QUESTION: On the North Korea, North Korea launched another five short-range missiles yesterday. What is your comment on that, their missile launch?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think the Secretary made some comments over the weekend about this. It doesn't change our goals. We are interested in seeing a resumption of the Six-Party process. We're interested in seeing North Korea recommit to its obligations that it's made in the past few years. We have consultations ongoing in the region. For example, Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell is in Beijing today. He just made a stop over the weekend in Tokyo as well. And his conversations with the Japanese and the Chinese will involve this issue and others. Secretary Clinton -- North Korea was a topic of discussion in her meeting today with Foreign Minister Lavrov and President Medvedev. So we continue our close consultations with the other partners in the Six-Party process, but our position remains the same: North Korea has to eventually come back to the Six-Party process and recommit towards denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

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QUESTION: Especially in light of the revelations about Qom, is the U.S. disappointed that Russia is not at least willing to put out the possibility of more sanctions against Iran if it doesn't comply with what it says it's going to do -- allow these inspectors to have --

MR. CROWLEY: I would challenge the presumption behind your question. Certainly, it's safe to say that the United States, Russia, China may look at the prospect of sanctions from a slightly different vantage point. That said, you had a very strong statement by President Medvedev when he recently met with President Obama in New York. You had a very strong statement by the foreign ministers of the P-5+1. I think there's unanimity coming out of Geneva about what Iran has to do. We'll wait and see what happens through this process. I think the Secretary over the weekend called it positive or constructive. But really, it will be up to Iran to put its cards on the table, and we hope to see that happen very soon.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:32 p.m.)