U.S. and Hong Kong (2005)

State Department Briefing, December 6

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli briefed the media December 6.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

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U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
12:56 p.m. EST

Briefer: Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman

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QUESTION: According to several international human rights organizations, Chinese organizations, and many reports, including in our own newspaper, there were hundreds of activists who were rounded up, placed under house arrest or otherwise silenced during President Bush's recent visit to China. Unless -- including 30, I think, who were picked up on their way to the church where he was trying to draw attention to human rights and issues and freedom issues. Unless I'm mistaken, I have not seen any public pressure from the Administration or public statements, since the visit, about the plight of these dissidents. Is there a reason for that, that we're not trying to --

MR. ERELI: I have not -- I haven't, frankly -- not seen those reports. Certainly, I think you know very well that the United States is very outspoken about the situation, the human rights situation in China, that when there are incidents that we feel compromise or impinge on the fundamental freedoms that we believe all people should enjoy, including those in China, we speak out about it. It's true when people are detained, when people are detained for exercising their fundamental freedoms. It's certainly true in the case of religious freedom where we speak out regularly on that subject. And I think, obviously -- and it's part of our regular dialogue with the Chinese, so that is a general proposition.

With respect to the specific incidents that you refer to, as I said I just had not seen anything on them. I can check and see what we know and if we have any comment about that.

QUESTION: Just follow on that. The High-Level Strategic Dialogue resumes tomorrow with Deputy Secretary Zoellick and his Chinese counterpart.

MR. ERELI: Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: Will this be an issue, these dissidents who were specifically targeted as a result of President Bush's visit? Will that be an issue that he raises with the Chinese tomorrow?

MR. ERELI: I don't want to make any detailed sort of predictions about specific issues to be discussed tomorrow. I would refer you to two statements. One is the one that we issued, I believe, on Friday announcing the enhanced dialogue and providing you information about what the issues covered are.

Number two, I think it's useful to look at the Deputy Secretary's remarks at the conclusion of the last meeting in Beijing in July, I believe. Where he outlined for you the scope of this dialogue and its aims and those are very broad and strategic and cover, I think, a number of interrelated issues but at the, again, at the strategic level. So I think that will be, frankly, the focus of our discussions. But obviously, as I said earlier, the United States or the issue of human rights is a perennial part of our dialogue with the Chinese at all levels.

Yes.

QUESTION: A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called your remarks on the need for a democracy timetable unwarranted and inappropriate and said the U.S. should keep out of Hong Kong's affairs. I wondered if you had anything to say about that?

MR. ERELI: My statements yesterday were a reiteration of long-standing U.S. policy and I stand by them.

Yeah.

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QUESTION: North Korea's official media was saying today that a U.S. crackdown on North Korean financial assets is preventing the six-party talks from resuming. Is this how the U.S. reads this? Apparently, this is the first time that this issue of clamping down on financial assets is holding up the talks, according to the South Koreans.

MR. ERELI: Yeah. Well, obviously, from our point of view there's no linkage whatsoever between the two issues. First of all, the six-party talks are to deal with North Korea's nuclear program and there was agreement at the end of the last round, in November, to resume talks as soon as possible. There are, unrelated to the six-party talks, there are measures in the United States to take action against counterfeiting and other activities that can be used to threaten the United States pursuant to the Patriot Act.

These measures on counterfeiting and against the Macao Bank were taken as part of that legislative requirement. They're completely unrelated. From the U.S. point of view, we agreed to come back to talks to discuss the nuclear program at the earliest possible date and we continue to look forward to resumption of the talks at the earliest possible date.

QUESTION: But, if I can follow up, but you can see where even though you don't link the two issues, you could see where the North Koreans are using this perhaps as a bargaining chip to get you to stop the (inaudible) --

MR. ERELI: Right. And then I would point out that we obviously acknowledge that this has been raised as an issue, which is why we offered to provide the North Koreans with a briefing on the Patriot Act and on the measures taken. And on an informational basis, also made clear that this isn't a matter for negotiation, this is applying U.S. law, and that it should be distinct from and unrelated to six-party talks.

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(The briefing was concluded at 1:41 p.m.)

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