U.S. and Hong Kong (2005)

State Department Briefing, November 28

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack briefed the press November 28.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Monday, November 28, 2005
1:10 p.m. EST

Briefer: Sean McCormack, Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: I just wanted to see if you had a response about the sale of 12 military planes and boats from Spain to Venezuela.

And also, separately, is Secretary Rice meeting tomorrow with the delegation of Hong Kong lawmakers? And if so, is she going to endorse their campaign for full, direct elections?

MR. MCCORMACK: In terms of Secretary Rice's schedule, let me check into exactly who she's going to be meeting with. We'll try to update you.

In terms of the sale of some military systems by Spain to Venezuela, we have expressed our concerns to the Government of Spain concerning those sales and we are currently looking at technology licensing issues related to that sale. There may be some issues related to the fact that there would be U.S. technology included in some of the equipment, which Spain has said that it intends to sell to Venezuela. So as part of the normal licensing process, we are going to take a look at that and we're currently working through those issues. There hasn't been any final conclusion on that question yet.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 2:00 p.m.)

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