U.S. and Hong Kong (2003)

State Department Noon Briefing, September 5, 2003

Following is the State Department transcript:

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U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing Index
Friday, September 5, 2003
1:25 p.m. EDT

BRIEFER: Richard Boucher, Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: Richard, without getting into any of the names of countries, have any governments actually told you, "Yes, this is what we have been waiting for, and now we will -- we are now ready to go ahead with making contributions of troops and cash?"

MR. BOUCHER: That's not the stage we're at, at this point. There are many who have made contributions of troops and cash, including those on the Security Council and many not on the Security Council, already. So that's already occurred in many of these cases. But the others, who said they were waiting for a UN resolution, are going to be waiting -- are waiting for a UN resolution.

Barry.

QUESTION: I was going to ask you of this willingness to listen to others, which isn't surprising, I think that's what you do all the time. But will this delay the timetable for getting a resolution ready? Then, he used the word "aggressively," I think it was the Secretary spoke of --

MR. BOUCHER: He also used the word "next week."

QUESTION: And he also -- that was my next point -- and he also said, "next week." It sounded like things were full steam ahead. Is this going to slow it down a little bit, so you can --

MR. BOUCHER: No, this is exactly the process the Secretary described the other day. He said, "We'll consult with people.

QUESTION: All right. Fine.

MR. BOUCHER: We'll start to hear their views. I'll make the phone calls. Negroponte will have his discussions, and we should have this bring -- be able to bring these views together by sometime next week, at which point we can put the resolution together and push aggressively on it."

Teri.

QUESTION: And you said -- no, one last thing. "Generally positive" was your description of reaction to that. Does that include the Chinese?

MR. BOUCHER: The Chinese have certainly welcomed the fact that we put forward a draft and are willing to work with us. As I said, many other members of the council have said that. And we'll just -- we'll see where that leads, and we'll see who has specific suggestions that might help strengthen the ability of the international community to work with the Iraqis as they move towards taking their sovereignty, exercising their own sovereignty.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Teri.

QUESTION: After his speech, I asked Secretary -- Secretary Powell said that he had seen several Russian reactions. Did any of those come in, come officially? Or is he just talking about press reports?

MR. BOUCHER: He was talking about various public statements that were made.

QUESTION: What's your -- I mean, we have Ivanov, I mean, Ivanov is quoted as saying, "The situation is getting worse day by day in Iraq," and saying that, "This may be a start, but it needs a lot more work." So what is your understanding of their official --

MR. BOUCHER: Again, I guess I erred in kind of even giving the basics of what the Chinese have told us, but I'm not about to go through every member of the council and say, "This is what he said, she said."

QUESTION: But has there been official --

QUESTION: Has there been an official response at all from Russia?

MR. BOUCHER: We have been -- in addition to the public statements you've seen from the Russians, and there have been various statements by President Putin, and Minister Ivanov, and Minister Ivanov, perhaps some others as well; we have been in direct contact with the Russians.

The Secretary spoke to Foreign Minister Ivanov yesterday. Our Embassy in Moscow has been talking to the Russians. Ambassador Negroponte, I think, Ambassador Lavrov was one of the first people he met with up in New York to discuss the new resolution. And we expect to work with them, as we expect to work with others on putting together a good resolution.

QUESTION: But you wouldn't characterize the reaction given to Secretary Powell?

MR. BOUCHER: No. I'm not -- as I said, I don't think, if I do first the Chinese, and then the Russians, then I'll have the characterize the Ghanaian view by the end of the briefing, and I'm not going to get started on that road.

Yes.

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QUESTION: On Hong Kong. Yesterday, the Executive Chief in Hong Kong announced that they would withdraw the proposed Article 23 deal? And there's no timetable set for that. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. BOUCHER: Yes, first general and then specific. The United States has always strongly supported dialogue between the Hong Kong Government and the Hong Kong public on issues of importance, including democracy and national security legislation. We welcome the government's decision to conduct open and public consultations on Article 23 legislation. We also welcome the government's attention to secure the approval of the community before enacting any new security laws.

QUESTION: Still on Hong Kong, another question. A couple of days ago they decided to adopt a Smart ID system, which means that the ID could be scanned from a distance without the person knowing it, and all that personal information would be there.

Some human rights advocates think that it's an erosion into the Hong Kong people's civil rights. And actually, this system is part of the bigger project called "Golden Shield Project" in China. Are you aware of this?

MR. BOUCHER: I'm aware of the reports. I don't know if we've taken a position on it, I'll have to check and see.

Charlie.

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QUESTION: I have just one question on North Korea. Do you have any comments on the U.S. side about North Korea telling South Korea and China about North Korea's participation in the next round of meetings?

MR. BOUCHER: I know we've seen a number of different reports since the talks in Beijing, where the North Koreans have said different, and sometimes contradictory, things. It will be up to the Chinese to put together the next rounds of talks. And, certainly, we look to them to do that.

We would -- we have already said we believe there was a consensus. The Chinese have said and we have said, and we believe there was a consensus to hold more talks, and would reiterate how important it is that all the parties attending adopt the stance that we and others have adopted; that this is a problem that needs to be solved peacefully, diplomatically, the Beijing talks are the opportunity to do that, and it needs to result in a nuclear-free peninsula.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 2:10 p.m.)

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