U.S. and Hong Kong (1999)

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Tuesday, November 30, l999
12:35 P.M.

Briefer: James P. Rubin

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Q: Can I ask about the Panama --

RUBIN: Panama, yes.

Q: Sorry. Did you look at all of the President's remarks? He said something about he was confident the Chinese would be able to run the canal well.

RUBIN: Right. The issue --

Q: So it seems to be kind of a tacit admission of these stories that have been denied for months that the Chinese --

RUBIN: The issue is two Hong Kong-based companies that have contracts in the ports, not running the locks and running the canal itself, and that is what the President was referring to were the two Hong Kong-based companies.

Q: Okay. So he doesn't think that the Chinese are actually going to be running it?

RUBIN: What I can tell you is what the facts are, and the facts are that there are two Hong Kong-based companies, long-standing Hong Kong Chinese companies, that have the contracts to run the ports, not the canal, and we have no reason to believe there is any risk of any problem as a result of those two companies running the ports.

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