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

The White House

For Immediate Release
April 19, 2008

President Bush Participates in Joint Press Availability with President Lee Myung-Bak of the Republic of Korea

Camp David

11:17 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT BUSH: Welcome. We're glad you're here, Mr. President, and we're glad you brought Mrs. Kim. We had a wonderful dinner last night, and looking forward to having lunch, too, today.

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The United States and Korea are working to improve security and advance freedom in the Asia Pacific region. Together with China, Russia and Japan, our nations are pressing North Korea to fulfill its obligations to abandon its nuclear weapons program. Thanks to the six party framework, North Korea has begun disabling the plutonium production facilities at Yongbyon. And now North Korea must fulfill its other obligations: provide a full declaration of its nuclear programs and proliferation activities in a verifiable way.

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And then finally we talked about our mutual desire to have a rational, practical approach to international climate, the international climate issue, global warming. How can you possibly have an international agreement that's effective unless countries like China and India are not [sic] full participants. And that's why I assured him this major economies meeting that is taking place in Paris, I assured him I meant what I said in my speech in the Rose Garden, and that hopefully by the time we get to G8 there's a serious effort by all major economies to become active participants in a effective strategy to deal with this issue.

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Q: First to President Bush, isn't scaling back demands about what North Korea has to declare giving in to a country that has repeatedly demonstrated that it can't be trusted? Former U.N. Ambassador Bolton has called it a complete collapse in the deal. And your critics are saying that you're selling out to get an agreement. Why is it not?

PRESIDENT BUSH: Look, we're going to make a judgment as to whether North Korea has met its obligations to account for its nuclear program and activities, as well as meet its obligations to disable its reactor. In other words, we'll see. The burden of proof is there. We've laid out -- they've made some promises, and we'll make a judgment as to whether they met those promises. And then we and our partners will take a look at North Korea's full declaration to determine whether or not the activities they promised they could do could be verified. And then we'll make a judgment of our own as to whether or not -- you know, about our own obligations.

You know, there's all kinds of rumors about what is happening and what's not happening. Obviously I'm not going to accept a deal that doesn't advance the interests of the region. The whole objective of the six-party talks and framework is to get them to disclose their weapons programs, is to get them to dismantle their plutonium processing, is to get them to talk about activities, nuclear activities. And we'll make a judgment as to whether or not they do that. But somehow people are precluding -- you know, jumping ahead of the game. They have yet to make a full declaration. Why don't we just wait and see what they say before people go out there and start giving their opinions about whether or not this is a good deal or a bad deal.

But one thing is for certain: The most effective way to deal with this issue is to do so with parties like China and Japan and Korea joining the United States and South Korea with a common voice. The whole object of this exercise is to convince the leader of North Korea to give up his nuclear weapons ambitions. That's the whole object.

And so we have yet to come to the stage where he has made a full declaration. And so we'll wait and see what he says, and then we'll make a decision about our obligations, depending upon whether or not we're convinced that there is a solid and full declaration, and whether or not there's a way to verify whether or not he's going to do what he says he's going to do.

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Q: (As translated.) I have a question for President Bush. The United States has a divergent alliance with countries like the United Kingdom, Japan. In your opinion, President Bush, what kind of alliance do you have with the Republic of Korea? And during your summit meeting today, I believe you agreed to upgrade the Korea-U.S. alliance. In order to upgrade the alliance, what kind of new movement will you take on -- for instance, the transfer of wartime operational control? And what will you do, President Bush -- do you have any intention to meet with both President Lee and Chairman Kim in order to resolve this issue?

PRESIDENT BUSH: No. As to the latter point, no I don't. I think the President described the relationship as a good one -- a 21st century strategic alliance -- that makes sense to me. So what does that mean? Well, it means we work in ways to deal with 21st century problems, such as proliferation of nuclear materials; such as working to make sure our children are educated with the tools necessary to be productive citizens; such as having a recognition that in the 21st century, a free and fair trading system will be necessary for prosperity. And that's why it's going to be very important for our Congress to ratify the free trade agreement with Korea.

It's going to be very important a 21st century alliance recognizes that China is a opportunity for both nations to engage in a constructive way. We have our problems with China, of course, whether it be human rights or how the Chinese leadership deals with the Dalai Lama or with Burma -- a variety of issues. On the other hand, you can either have a constructive relationship -- we can work constructively with China -- or we can have a destructive relationship. I've chosen to have a constructive relationship.

And so the step one is to anticipate the issues confronting our peoples in the 21st century, and step two is to develop a practical way to deal with those issues. And that's exactly what our conversation revolved around. And I'm confident that this meeting has strengthened our relationship, and I'm confident that the American people understand how important this relationship is to our own prosperity and our own security.

And so it's been a really good visit, and we're glad you came here, too. (Laughter.) Thanks for coming.

END

11:46 A.M. EDT