U.S. and Hong Kong (2005)

State Department Daily Briefing, March 10

State Department Deputy Spokesman Adam Ereli briefed the press March 10.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

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Daily Press Briefing
Thursday, March 10, 2005
1:00 p.m. EST

Briefer: Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: May I ask a couple questions on Ambassador Christopher Hill? Ambassador Hill had a meeting with his Japanese counterpart in Tokyo, yesterday, Mr. Sasae. Do you have any details of that meeting?

MR. ERELI: Ambassador Hill had several meetings in Tokyo yesterday. He met with Foreign Minister Machimura, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hosoda and his six-party talks counterpart, Mr. Sasae. Beyond characterizing their discussions as looking at ways to move the six-party process forward, I really don't have a lot of detail to shed on the substance of what they talked about.

I would note that Ambassador Hill is now en route to Washington and where he'll have meetings tomorrow with China's Special Envoy, Ning Fukui, and other U.S. officials. Again, the purpose of that will be to, I think, share information, discuss what we've all been hearing from each other and see if we can't find a way to bring North Korea back to the talks at the earliest possible date. I mean, that's, frankly, what this is all about and that's what we're all working toward. I think it's a goal that we all share, continue to share, continue to believe is important and necessary. Certainly, have a sense of -- a sense that sooner is better and we want to make it happen, so what you're seeing is energy and sustained diplomacy to achieve that objective.

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QUESTION: Mr. Tung in Hong Kong finally resigned.

MR. ERELI: Yes.

QUESTION: Do you have anything to say on that, and perhaps the way that his successor might be chosen?

MR. ERELI: I won't speak to choice of a successor. That's for the people of Hong Kong and China to decide. What I would tell you is that, as far as the United States is concerned, we have had a close relationship with Hong Kong for many years and we worked constructively with Mr. Tung and the Hong Kong Government during his tenure as Chief Executive. We certainly wish him well in his future work, and whoever is chosen to replace him we will continue to strongly support the aspirations of the Hong Kong people for democracy through electoral reform and universal suffrage as provided for by the Basic Law and the framework of one country, two systems.

QUESTION: You said that his successor is a matter to be decided by the people of Hong Kong and China. You know that the people of Hong Kong don't have a voice in that.

MR. ERELI: Well, I would say that they're going to -- he will be a representative of the people of China, of Hong Kong. There will be Hong Kong institutions that play a role in the selection. So I think that what I said is perfectly consistent with that reality.

QUESTION: Well, those institutions have chosen -- the members of those institutions, they're chosen by Beijing.

MR. ERELI: Not entirely.

QUESTION: Well, there's the representation of some --

MR. ERELI: And I think that -- I think there's definitely a level of enfranchisement to support the contention that or the statement that the choice will -- that the people of Hong Kong will have a role in choosing his successor.

Yes.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: Since you've just recently announced the Secretary's trip to Asia, can you characterize how any discussion of the anti-secession legislation will figure into her discussions with leaders?

MR. ERELI: Well, I think Richard spoke to this, or Ambassador Boucher spoke to this, on Tuesday and answered it much the same way I answered the question about will Secretary Rice raise this issue with the Pakistani President. And it is that I couldn't tell you it's going to come up. If it does come up, the Secretary will reiterate our position, which we've spoken to earlier, which is that we view the law as unhelpful and we support and encourage dialogue to resolve cross-straits tensions.

Thank you.

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

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