U.S. and Hong Kong (2004)

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing

Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
August 18, 2004

12:55 p.m. EDT

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: North Korea. Now the Australian Foreign Minister has been to Pyongyang, I don't know whether you've heard from the Australians about his visit, but what is your understanding? Are the Chinese still trying to put together the next meeting of the six-party talks? Are they supposed to be in Beijing? Any chance of doing something like that in New York during the General Assembly? What's going on?

MR. ERELI: The Chinese are still working to convene a -- both a working group and a plenary of the six-party talks. As you know, it was agreed at the last round to convene the next round before the end of September, and a working group meeting before that. That is still the timeline we're working towards. There have been a number of consultations between the Chinese, and -- as well as other -- and other members of the six-party process.

Those consultations continue. We're still looking at Beijing and other -- there have been some reports about other places, but Beijing is still -- we're still looking at Beijing as both the host and the chairman of the next working group and plenary.

QUESTION: Australian visit?

MR. ERELI: Australian visit is -- I don't really have too much of a readout on it to share with you.

Yes?

QUESTION: Do you have anything on the Australian Foreign Minister's comment on the Australian-U.S. -- it's call ANZUS?

MR. ERELI: ANZUS?

QUESTION: Yeah. They think that Australia -- will not require Australia to support United States in defense of Taiwan, in event China were to launch an attack?

MR. ERELI: I've seen those comments -- or I'm sorry -- I've heard -- I've seen reports of the comments. I haven't seen the comments themselves, so I don't want to speak directly to them. What I would tell you simply is that, you know, first of all, our position on cross-strait tensions is clear. We want to see a peaceful resolution of this issue. We are opposed to the use of force.

I'm not going to speculate on different scenarios that some people throw out there. And as far as treaty commitments, I'd refer you to the treaties that are pretty clear about what's spelled out.

QUESTION: Sorry. So it's not your interpretation of the role of Australia in the situation that China were to launch an attack to Taiwan?

MR. ERELI: Again, we're opposed to the use of military force and I'm not going to speculate on hypotheticals.

QUESTION: And then on Hong Kong, do you have anything that the democratic candidate was jailed in mainland China?

MR. ERELI: I don't have a lot of information, frankly. We've seen reports that Alex Ho, a candidate for the Hong Kong Legislative Council, was arrested and sentenced. We do not have direct knowledge regarding the allegations that are involved. And so, I'm not in a position to comment, based on that limited knowledge. I'd refer you to the Hong Kong legal authorities for information on its case and how it's handled. That's what I can say at the moment.

Adi.

QUESTION: Do you have anything on this Buddhist leader apparently being held in China? I believe his name is Yu Tianjian, and apparently, he might have an American green card?

MR. ERELI: I hadn't seen that. Let me see if we've got anything on it.

Yes, sir.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 1:35 p.m.)

DPB # 137

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Released on August 18, 2004