| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
For Immediate Release September 25, 1996
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: Good afternoon. I'm very pleased to welcome Vice Premier Qian Qichen back to New York. This is our third meeting in five months, and the 15th that we've had together during my tenure in office.
I think these many meetings, the frequency of our consultation, reflects the very great importance that our two countries attach to our relations.
I must say, Mr. Minister, our meetings seem to me to have paid off in marked improvement in our ties in recent months.
As permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, the United States and China both have very important responsibilities for maintaining peace and security around the world. There was a very good example of that just yesterday, when our cooperation played an important part in securing the approval of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. It was really a very exciting moment when I watched, first, President Clinton sign the treaty and then just almost in order after him, Vice Premier Qian signing the treaty for China.
On another subject, working together, we achieved a common goal of freezing the nuclear developments, and we're working hard to try to achieve a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula.
We've also reached agreement between the two of our countries on several proliferation issues. Those issues remain a high priority for us. We'll be discussing those here today.
We're also working together bilaterally and through the U.N. on a number of the emerging global threats such as terrorism, environmental degradation, international crime, and drug trafficking.
I was interested to note in your speech to the U.N., Mr. Minister, you identified all of those as being important issues for the future. Of course, we'll want to renew our determination to end the practice of alien smuggling.
Today, we'll also discuss issues where we have differences, such as human rights, as always making sure that our concerns are heard and understood. At the same time, we'll be looking for ways to find common ground.
The United States has an important interest, along with China, in maintaining a stable environment in the Pacific; in that connection, seeking a peaceful resolution of issues between the PRC and Taiwan. For the United States, this means we will continue to be guided by our firm commitment to a one-China policy and the three joint communiques.
We share a strong interest in ensuring that Hong Kong's transition to China's sovereignty in 1997 is a smooth one.
Of course, we have a very important trade relationship. The United States will continue to support China's efforts to open its economy and to enter the World Trade Organization on commercially acceptable terms.
In recent months, we've reached important agreements in the trade area. One, to protect intellectual property rights and widen market access. It's critically important that China fully implement these new agreements.
I have often stressed the importance of frequent consultations in building our relationship. When the Vice Premier and I met last month in Jakarta, we agreed to advance our common interests through a series of high-level meetings this fall, and they're about to start.
This week, the Joint Committee on Commerce and Trade meets in Washington led by Secretary Mickey Kantor of our Commerce Department and Mrs. Wu Yi. I'm very pleased that our distinguished Ambassador, former Senator Jim Sasser, has returned to the United States to be involved in these talks.
John Holum, the Director of our Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, will be going to Beijing next month for talks. Under Secretary of State Lynn Davis will be meeting with her counterpart later this fall.
For myself, I'm very much looking forward to visiting China for talks in November. Of course, we expect that our Presidents will hold discussions during the APEC Leaders Meeting in Manila.
The intensity of this dialogue -- all of these meetings this fall -- shows how seriously both sides take the managing of our relationship and moving it forward. It's in that serious and constructive mode that I welcome the Vice Premier here today for another round of our talks.
Nice to see you, Mr. Premier.
MINISTER QIAN: (Through Interpreter) I am very happy to meet Secretary of State Warren Christopher again during the session of the United Nations General Assembly.
I believe that our coming meeting will produce results, as we have done in our previous meetings on more than 10 occasions.
Recently, thanks to the joint efforts of the Chinese and U.S. sides, some positive progress has been made in our bilateral relations -- the so-called ring magnet issue, the issue of the protection of intellectual property rights and the MFN issue once troubling Sino-U.S. relations have been resolved, one after another, properly.
The exchanges and cooperation between the two countries in the economic, trade and other fields continue to develop and expand. The plan of having exchange of high-level visits, as agreed between the two sides, is being gradually implemented. Tomorrow, the Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade will have its meeting in Washington. Later, there will be a meeting of the Economic Committee and there will also be the Commission on Economic and Finance Cooperation in which it will have its discussion, and the Joint Commission on Science and Technology will also have its session.
Of course, there are still some problems and differences in our relations such as the question of Taiwan. However, the atmosphere for Sino-U.S. relations, as a whole, has improved significantly. There are also favorable conditions for further improvement.
The Chinese side is ready to work with the U.S. side to increase dialogue, expand common ground, develop cooperation, and remove various interferences and properly settle the existing problems and differences with a view to pushing our bilateral relations toward a healthy and steady development.
Thank you.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I'm sure with all these senior arms control and human rights people, I'm missing a major question. But there's a lot of turmoil in the Middle East. If I may, I'd like to ask you if you think anyone, or any side, is particularly at fault for the rioting and feuding in Jerusalem and the rioting on the West Bank. Can you please kindly address that subject?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: We've been following the situation last night and today with deep concern. We have urged the parties to defuse the situation, to restore calm in the area. That's what needs to be done now. They should return to the negotiating table and make progress on the significant issues that are before them under the Oslo agreements.
We've been in touch with the parties on a regular basis in the last 24 hours. About two hours ago I talked with Prime Minister Netanyahu who is in Paris tonight and urged him, as we've been urging Chairman Arafat, to take steps to calm the situation, to defuse it and to get back to productive negotiations.
QUESTION: Should those negotiations be at a high level? There's some urgency now. And, really, the initial question was, do you see any fault on either side?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: I think that the negotiations should continue at the level that they are involved, but the fact that my contacts have been, today, with both the Prime Minister and Chairman Arafat reflect the fact that our concern about this situation is deep enough so that we think it's important that the leaders address the situation themselves; not necessarily in the negotiations but because it's important to diffuse the tensions.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, do you and your colleagues in the Cabinet plan to make any recommendations to the President to erase or lessen the restrictions on the technology transfer to China in order to balance the bilateral trade?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: We're going to continue following the same policies that we have in that field. We don't have any new recommendations to make at the present time, but we continue to study that situation. It's an evolving matter in which we want to cooperate but nevertheless we have standards that such transfers must meet.
QUESTION: Mr. Secretary of State, China and Japan have a territorial dispute over the Diaoyu island in the East China Sea. What is the United States position?
SECRETARY CHRISTOPHER: The United States urges the parties to resolve those issues through dialogue. It's a subject on which we have no specific position except that it seems to us to be a classic issue in which the parties should resolve the issues that might lie between them through consultation and dialogue.
QUESTION: Mr. Vice Premier, China has indicated that it supports U.N. Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali for a new term. Is China's support so firm that it would consider using its veto to block any other candidate for Secretary General?
MINISTER QIAN: (Through Interpreter) China is satisfied with the work Mr. Ghali has done during his term of office. At the same time, we also understand that Mr. Ghali is the first African Secretary General for the United Nations and therefore has the right to seek re-election. Of course, at the same time, we also respect the decision made by the OAU supporting Mr. Ghali or some other African candidate. However, up to now there has not emerged any new candidate in this regard.
QUESTION: (Through Interpreter) Mr. Vice Premier, how do you view the current status of Sino-U.S. relations? And what is your view about the future prospect of their development?
MINISTER QIAN: (Through Interpreter) As I said in my opening remarks, I believe that major improvement has been made, vis-a-vis the current status of Sino-U.S. relations. I am optimistic about each future development. I believe that so long as the two sides act in strict observance of the principles enshrined in the three Sino-U.S. joint communiques, there will be even greater development in Sino-U.S. relations.
[end of document]
Return to the Home Page
This is an official U.S. Government source
for information on the WWW. Inclusion of non-U.S. Government links
does not imply endorsement of contents.
