U.S. and Taiwan (2006)

State Department Briefing, March 3

State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli briefed the press March3.

Following is the transcript of the State Department briefing:

(begin transcript)

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing
Friday, March 3, 2006
1:10 p.m. EST

Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

QUESTION: New topic. This is on piracy in China. With the Oscars this weekend, just a question about Chinese protection of U.S. films and what you think -- how far China has come in protecting U.S. films against piracy, what more does it need to do on the piracy issue, and the steps it's taken?

MR. ERELI: Well, obviously, protection of intellectual property is a top priority for the United States Government. Losses to intellectual property rights holders have been significant in China, so this is a key topic of discussion between U.S. officials and Chinese officials. It's an issue which we've been working on very hard to protect the rights and -- rights of our companies and the laws of our country.

I think there has been some progress in our dealings with China on it. Certainly, more remains to be done because, as I said, the losses continue to be high, particularly in the area of enforcement of intellectual property rights. We will continue to be pursuing vigorous efforts on this. We think that as China's economy develops further, China will come increasingly to understand that it is in its own interests to protect intellectual property rights, as well as the right thing to do to respond to the United States.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

(The briefing was concluded at 1:40 p.m.)

Off camera, on-the record remarks by the Deputy Spokesman, for inclusion in the transcript:

MR. ERELI: The claims that Mr. Armitage makes are not borne out by the facts, and the facts I think speak eloquently to the importance that the United States attaches to Asia. Number one, the minute the Secretary took office, she spearheaded an unprecedented effort to help the victims -- to help millions of people in the region who were victims of the tsunami in Thailand, in Sri Lanka and in Indonesia.

Second, in a little over a year that she's been in the office, the Secretary has already traveled to the region three times. She will be making a fourth trip next week. The Deputy Secretary has also traveled four times to the region. So that in a little over a year, between the two of them, they have traveled eight times to the region. That's like almost once a month. Almost once a month. Certainly more than once every two months. So that's a lot of miles and it's a lot of attention, and that doesn't count all the meetings they've had back here.

Then, if you look at in addition to helping millions of people, in addition to being there a lot, look at some of the important initiatives they have taken to raise the profile and importance of the region. You have the first ever Trilateral Strategic Dialogue with Australia and Japan that the Secretary is going to be having this next trip. You've had the first ever strategic engagement, Strategic Dialogue, with South Korea that the Secretary had with Foreign Minister Ban when he was here a few weeks ago. You have the Senior Level Dialogue with the Chinese, which is a real intensification of the engagement with China. And then you've got a number of initiatives which represent a level of cooperation and integration with the region that had not previously -- we've not seen previously, first with the avian influenza, second with the Asia-Pacific Partnership for environment and development of clean technologies, and obviously what we've been doing with the six-party talks.

So if you look at the actions we've taken to help the people of Asia, the amount of time we've spent in the region at a senior level and the level of engagement in terms of talks and institutions and initiatives, all of that, I think, is pretty eloquent testimony to the importance the region has for the United States and the centrality of that region in our overall strategic approach to the world.

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