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

The White House

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 6, 2008

Press Briefing by Dana Perino

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

12:41 P.M. EDT

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Q: The best way -- like Mr. Wendell said, that you cannot trust the Burmese government -- like you said in the past also, history. The best way is that China is very close, or the military junta in Burma is close to China because they are the ones supplying all the weapons and all that against innocent people. So have you sent the clear message to China today that this is a time -- that time has come for a democracy in order to help the victims, and --

MS. PERINO: We talked to China about that. We have talked about that with them before. You will have to call USAID and find out what sort of coordination they are doing -- or State Department. I will say that -- I know that the Indian government has been wanting to send ships there. But again, people who are willing to help and provide humanitarian assistance are not being received yet in Burma, and we really hope that they would change their mind, because we do want to help out of a deep desire to help the people who are suffering.

Want to stay on Burma, anybody? No? Okay, go ahead.

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END

1:03 P.M. EDT