Answers questions on Syria, Powell in Central America, Turkey/Iraq, Russia, Middle East, Venezuela, Mexico, Taiwan, North Korea

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher held a briefing for foreign journalists October 31 at the State Department's Foreign Press Center. Following is a transcript:

(begin transcript)

Richard Boucher, Department of State Spokesman and Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs

Foreign Press Center Briefing
Washington, DC
October 31, 2003
3:00 P.M. EST

MR. DENIG: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Washington Foreign Press Center. It's a real pleasure this afternoon to be able to welcome to our podium, the Spokesman for the Department of State, Ambassador Richard Boucher. He has no opening statement, so we'll be able to move right to Q's and A's.

I would remind you to please, first of all, turn off your cell phones, use the microphone and identify yourself and your news organization.

Ambassador Boucher.

MR. BOUCHER: Thank you, Paul and -- okay, go ahead. Why don't you pick them?

MR. DENIG: Let's start right up here with Hoda.

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

MR. DENIG: Just a minute, use the microphone --

MR. BOUCHER: I think I do have an opening statement.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: It's nice to be here and see so many old friends.

Go ahead.

QUESTION: Okay. Hoda Tawfik, Al Ahram newspaper. Secretary Burns yesterday said the relations between the United States and Syria is very poor. What do you expect the relations will be after the passage of the bill concerning --

MR. BOUCHER: The Syria Accountability Act.

QUESTION: -- Accountability bill?

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I think first of all, we'll have to see. We've had a number of issues with Syria, and those issues have gotten, perhaps, more acute since the war: the people that have come across from Syria into Iraq; the issues of Iraqi assets and finding them; the issues of the peace process and the continued Syrian support for the violent groups that are harming the Palestinian cause and trying to prevent them from having a state.

So these issues are important to us. They always have been, but they've been pressed, I think, in very significant ways since earlier this year Secretary Powell visited, and then subsequently, during the visits of Assistant Secretary Burns and the daily work that our Embassy has done. And that has led us to the point where, as you know, we haven't opposed the passage of the Syrian Accountability Act. We didn't feel like we could in that climate.

So ultimately, we're back to the point of, it depends on what Syria does. If Syria helps stabilize the situation in Iraq by controlling its borders and preventing people from going across; if they help find the money that belongs to the Iraqi people that Saddam Hussein and his cronies might have stashed there; if they help end the activities of terrorist groups who are trying to block the peace process; then obviously, our relations with Syria can get better. If they don't, I don't think they can get better.

MR. DENIG: So let's go to the lady up --

QUESTION: Yes, thank you. Maria Pena with EFE News. I was wondering if you could go into a little more detail about Powell's -- Secretary Powell's upcoming visit to Central America?

MR. BOUCHER: The Secretary's visit to Central America will be based on, I think, the same principles that have applied since the beginning of this Administration to our relations with Latin America, and that's the democracy and free trade. It's always a pleasure to look around the hemisphere and see the democratic nations, some of them where 10, 15 years ago there was not democracy.

And so, as we go down, first of all, to celebrate 100 years of Panama's independence, and then to go on to visit Nicaragua and Honduras, it's a chance to talk about democracy, the things that we're involved in together to protect democracy, like the fight against terrorism or supporting development efforts.

And then second of all, the issues of free trade that have brought the hemisphere closer and closer together, and in particular, the progress that's being made in free trade with Central America, because we do have this goal of reaching agreements by the end of the year with the Central American countries. The Secretary and the foreign ministers of Central America talked about it when they met at the United Nations in September. There have been follow-up discussions in Houston, I think about ten days ago, and things are actually going pretty well.

So the Secretary will look for an opportunity to talk about that, make sure it's moving along, and that we're all doing everything we can to move it along.

MR. DENIG: We'll take the lady in --

QUESTION: Deniz Eginsoy. I'm with Turkey's Anatolia News Agency. Hi. Can you update us on the issue of Turkish troops to Iraq? Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said today that there is no negotiation or discussion between the Turkish and U.S. officials right now. Do you expect progress in terms of an agreement?

MR. BOUCHER: It's hard to predict exactly how quickly this can come together. We do still think that the potential is there for this to come together in a way that serves all our interests of building a stable Iraq and helping the Iraqis with their stability. The issues have been discussed with the Turkish Government, with people in Iraq, as well. We know there are concerns. You've seen them all on the part of Governing Council members and others in Iraq. We're keeping in touch with them. We're working with them to keep talking about the issues.

We are keeping in touch with the Turkish Government as well, but some of those issues to be discussed with Turkey have already been discussed. So at this point, I think, we just have to say we're working it. We've encouraged contacts between the Iraqis and the Turkish Government and I think there's some signs there will be more of that coming up in the future. And we, ourselves, will stay in touch with both sides and try to bring this together in a way where the Iraqis are comfortable and the Turks are able to make a contribution that we very much appreciate their making, and then have it actually be realized on the ground in a way that gives stability to Iraq.

QUESTION: Michael Backfisch, German Business Daily, Handelsblatt. A question in the way of the Yukos crisis in Russia. Critics have said that Russia is far less democratic as it might seem at first sight. It's much more authoritarian, and that the KGB factor is very high. Is there a serious concern within the U.S. Administration that the Yukos crisis is part of a broader picture, and has been neglected in the past by the personal relationship between the U.S. President and his Russian counterpart?

MR. BOUCHER: The crisis, the Yukos matter, court case, whatever you want to call it, is certainly serious and it's raised some very serious questions in our mind about rule of law, about the way business is being treated, and about the relationship between the state and business.

In terms of the rule of law, it raises the question of selective prosecution, or some people being singled out for prosecution for political purposes or not. Those are the questions that have sort of led, also, to a gyration of markets in Russia and to concerns on the part of the business community, both domestic and foreign. And, indeed, there was a group of domestic and foreign investors that went to meet with President Putin yesterday to express those concerns, and I think they had an exchange on that topic. So we're watching this very closely. We have not, as yet, brought forward any sort of broad conclusions, such as you're speculating on.

There are a couple of issues as we look forward: one is, what will this do to the confidence of investors, because that has an important bearing on Russia's economic future.

The second is how will this specific case be handled? Is it going to be handled fairly, according to due process, with transparency? And that's something we'll be watching, watching closely.

And third of all, is it some harbinger of something bigger? That's the question that you posed that I can't answer at this point. Is it a single case based on a legal matter? Or is it somehow changing the nature of the relationship between the state and business?

The only other thing that I would add is that democracy and openness -- an open economy in Russia -- are both very, very important to us. We have been working on them. We'll continue to work on them. We have freedom support programs. We've put a lot of money into this, a lot of energy into this, and we'll continue to do what we can to build democracy, civil society, in Russia: encourage entrepreneurship; support the kind of economic reform that, indeed, the regime has -- that government has undertaken in the last year or so; and do everything we can to help the Russians build a more democratic and open society.

MR. DENIG: Okay, the gentleman in the first row here.

QUESTION: I'm Semih Idiz from the Turkish Daily Aksam. Back to the Turkish troops issue. Our Foreign Minister Mr. Abdullah Gul has said that it was actually America who asked Turkey for the troops in the first place, so that America is Turkey's interlocutor here and that he has expressed very little interest in establishing a dialogue with the provisional government in Iraq on this issue. What do you say to this?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any big thing to say about it. The Turkish Government has met with the Iraqi foreign minister and others. There was a delegation from the Governing Council a little while back that went up there. I have seen reported in the press the prospect of some other meetings coming up soon. So we'll see what happens in that dialogue.

It was, indeed, the United States that went out to a number of countries and said, "Can you contribute to stability in Iraq? We think it's in your interest. We think it's in our interest." We very much appreciated when the Turkish Government stepped forward and even went to parliament and got approval for that.

So we appreciate the offer and the contribution, and we want to make it real. We want to make it happen, because we do think it's a good thing, and it's in our interests and Turkish interests and in Iraqi interests, as well, to have that contribution from Turkey.

QUESTION: Yes, my name is Khaled Dawoud from Egypt's Al Ahram newspaper. Just to follow up on my colleague's question concerning Syria, I mean, and with the expectation of the Accountability Act being passed through the Senate.

It gives the President a wide variety of options, around six options, you know. Can you tell us what you like the -- what's the direction going to be, which one are you going to start with? That's my first follow up.

And the second --

MR. BOUCHER: The answer is, no, I can't tell you. I have no idea. I don't think we've actually sat down to study that yet. It will depend what form of final legislation passes. The second part?

QUESTION: Yes. The second part is that, well, I wonder whether you have a comment over the statements made yesterday by the Israeli Major General Moshe Ya'alon, in which he said that the Israeli policies were the main reason behind the failure of the former Palestinian Prime Minister Abbas. And I wonder whether you are telling the Israelis anything beyond that you're warning them of the consequences of their future behavior?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have any comment on those particular statements. I'll leave that for the Israelis to discuss, dispute, and debate however they wish.

I would just say that the problems that we've seen in the Israeli-Palestinian issues -- we have made quite clear we believe they are because the Palestinian Authority has not had a government that was able and had the authority, had the resources, the control of security services that were necessary to move against terror and that once again, our efforts to move down the roadmap -- or efforts to move down the road -- have been blocked by the ability of terrorists to carry out some of these horrible attacks.

Certainly there are things that we felt Israel should be doing. There were obligations on both sides, and we were quite clear with Israel that there were many things that they could do that would encourage progress that would not harm Israeli security.

Remember, we worked with them very closely to get them to turn over the road in Gaza and control in Gaza. That was something that was very important to the former prime minister on the Palestinian side. We managed to make that happen. Bethlehem as well. Some of the roadblocks that weren't important to security were pulled back.

So we did feel there were a lot of steps that Israel could take that could make life better for Palestinians, give them back some sense of normalcy, so that they could get back to work, get to hospitals when they needed to, and get to school; and that those steps could be taken without harming Israeli security, so that was our position. That's what we said at the time.

MR. DENIG: Sonia on the second row.

QUESTION: Thank you. Sonia Schott, Globovision, Venezuela. Back to Latin America -- to Venezuela, specifically. There has been some accusation from both sides again. The U.S. Administration accused the Venezuelan Government to bring some shelter to the irregular groups of Colombia in Venezuelan territory. And Venezuelan Government says that the CIA, CIA, is involved in some activities in Venezuela. How to slow down the situation? Do you have any comments on that? Thank you.

MR. BOUCHER: Well, I don't think there's any comparison between both sides. The matter of whether there are groups entering into the territory of Venezuela that are operating in Colombia has been a matter of some attention in the past -- one that, I think, Colombia has discussed with Venezuela, and certainly, it's in all our interests, including Venezuela's, to make sure that those groups can't come over and operate out of Venezuela.

As far as these charges that CIA is somehow involved in destabilizing Venezuela, that's ridiculous. It's total nonsense. There's nothing like that going on. The problems of politics in Venezuela are Venezuela's political problems. Our problem with Venezuela is the way that they have handled those problems. And you don't get anywhere by cracking down on the press, closing newspapers or beating up demonstrators. There is a constitutional process of referendum that the opposition has followed to try to get a referendum and have that take place in a peaceful manner -- that's what we want to see happening.

We and the other friends of Venezuela will stay involved in the process, but we think that peaceful and constitutional means should be followed in Venezuela. And throwing around these wild charges is irresponsible and inflammatory and it just doesn't get anybody anywhere.

QUESTION: Santiago Tavara from Notimex. In an interview yesterday Mr. Powell said that there is -- this year it would be difficult to do something on immigration because it is an election year. And, but the government is looking at some -- some initiative that can be done without the legislative approval. Can you comment on that, those initiatives?

MR. BOUCHER: I can't give you any more detail at this point because we want to discuss all these issues with the Mexican colleagues and the Bi-national Commission coming up next month. The fact is next year is an election year. It may be harder to get sort of broad and sweeping legislation through our Congress. We have been looking at this with the Mexican Government and our colleagues on the other side for a while now and said -- really reached the conclusion together -- "We need to concentrate on what are the things we can do that will help people," and so looking for specific steps we can take as governments to make it safer for people, to make it easier for people, less dangerous, make it work more -- the systems that we do have, work more smoothly. So we'll look at those areas and see what are the steps we can take as governments that help make the whole process of migration between United States and Mexico more smooth and more safe.

MR. DENIG: The lady in the front row.

QUESTION: Wei Jing, Phoenix TV of Hong Kong. Two sets of questions, since I only get to ask once. Well, the first one is on the Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian's visit to New York. Is there a plan to give him any phone calls from the State Department tomorrow morning? I understand there are some rumors that he will get phone calls from American officials. And also, will there be arrangements for him to informally meet with Secretary Powell in Panama?

And secondly, the other set. On the arms sale to Taiwan -- it's all related -- the eight diesel submarines -- is it the plan now to sell those submarines instead of ask Taiwan to build it itself? And also, until what degree that the U.S. will consider the military balance is balanced in the Taiwan Strait and stop selling weapons to Taiwan?

MR. BOUCHER: And I get to pick which one of those I want to answer, right? (Laughter.) Let me see how many I can remember. On the issue of the transit of President Chen Shui-bian, he's here today, I think already, or is getting here today. There's no plans for any meetings with him with State Department officials, either in New York or in Panama.

The issue of whether somebody might talk to him on the phone, we'll just have to see. That happens from time to time, but I can't predict anything particular now. It's a transit done on the standard basis for the comfort, safety and convenience of the traveler, as you know, and that's really all it's about. So there may be some contact just because he's not here yet, but I don't want to predict anything particular at this point.

As far as the submarines, what the terms of sale/lease/construction would be, I just don't know. I'm sorry. I think others who are closer to those issues, military channels, would have to answer that. On the general question of the balance, the military balance across the Taiwan Straits, obviously, it's something we take into account. We are obligated by law and policy to meet the legitimate defensive needs of the people on Taiwan. And a factor in that has to be the kind of military equipment that's deployed on the other side of the Straits. So we always take that into account.

So it will depend on what we see in the region and what we think their needs are. There's also factors of outdated equipment that needs to be replaced, so we look at all those things very carefully every year. We're certainly not interested in changing the balance or upping the ante in any way, but we do meet our responsibilities, not only under the Three Communiqués with China, but also under the Taiwan Relations Act.

QUESTION: Dmitry Kirsanov, Russian News Agency, TASS. Sir, I would like to ask you to add a little bit more meat on your remarks from yesterday's regular briefing. What I'm talking about -- I'm sorry. I'm talking about the sequence of steps that the United States and North Korea have to take to resolute the crisis. You said that the simultaneity is not the word the U.S. Administration has used. From your point of view, what -- what the sequence of steps should be and who is the one that has to make the first step?

MR. BOUCHER: I think it's a little hard for me to stand here right now and try to define that. That's a matter, first of all, that we need to take to the next round of six-party talks. Well, first of all, it's a matter that we'd need to discuss with our colleagues and our partners in those talks, particularly the Japanese and South Koreans who we've conferred with on everything.

Second of all, it's a matter that we'll need to take to the talks and then it would be a matter of some negotiation. The point that we have been making from the very beginning of this is that all of us want to see a denuclearized Korean Peninsula. And for that to be achieved, North Korea needs to eliminate this nuclear weapons program in a verifiable manner.

The United States has also made clear that since North Korea has violated agreements that it had before with us and with others, we're not going to pay again for them to get rid of something they never should have started.

So certainly in our view, the first thing that has to happen is we have to be making progress. We have to be moving towards the elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The President has made clear in his statements in Bangkok that we're willing in that context to provide some kind of written security guarantee from the six parties or from the other parties in the talks so that North Korea will not feel that in doing that, in abandoning its nuclear weapons program, it's somehow losing security. But our goal has to be to solve that issue of the nuclear weapons program first. And then what other elements can come down the road in terms of economic opening or other kinds of things that we'll have to see as the discussion and negotiation progress.

QUESTION: Afzal Khan from The Nationin, Pakistan. You know, India made some proposals, about 12-point proposal regarding conflicts between India and Pakistan, but they did not include the core issue of Kashmir. And President Musharraf basically called the proposal weak, but they -- nonetheless, they responded to the proposal. The one question, your comments.

Number two, one of the leaders of opposition, Mr. Hashimi was arrested, and he's now -- he will tried under sedition charges. So any comments on his arrest?

MR. BOUCHER: I don't have a particular comment on the arrest. It's not something I've been able to focus on. On the general issue of the proposals from India last week, we've certainly welcomed those proposals. We think they go in the right direction of strengthening people-to-people ties and expanding transportation, the links, and starting to move towards a more normal relationship with the people of India and the people of Pakistan.

We were also encouraged to see that Pakistan did come back with a very positive response to the proposals. And I think they've agreed now, in another round of civil aviation talks. So we think that those are both positive developments. It's the process itself.

It's them working together on things that can benefit each of them, can benefit the people in each of the countries that we think starts to create a momentum towards peace, and we do believe that needs to result in talks, in a dialogue that includes all the issues including Kashmir. But it's the foundation of working together on peaceful progress that can lead to eventual resolution of these more difficult and bigger issues.

MR. DENIG: There's a question from the middle right here.

QUESTION: Well, it's a question on the Middle East. Carsten Thomassen, Dagbladet, from Norway. The 4th of November, the Palestinian Prime Minister and Prime Minister Abu Alaa will decide if he is going to continue. Is the United States taking concrete initiatives now in order to encourage him and help him end the year ongoing struggle with President Arafat?

MR. BOUCHER: We are certainly making very clear our view that the Palestinian Prime Minister, whoever it is, needs to be empowered. He needs to have the control of the security services that Abu Mazen never got. He needs to be able to take the steps that are necessary to move towards a Palestinian state.

And that includes establishing, as I think it was -- again, it was the former prime minister's phrase, "one authority and one gun," establishing a single entity that was responsible in the territories. You can't build a state with institutions that are contending for power with other armed groups.

So we have tried to make, first of all, that viewpoint clear. We have tried to encourage Palestinians to think about what it takes to establish their state. Our Consul General in Jerusalem is very active in working with Palestinians from throughout society and has met a number of times with Ahmed Qureia, Abu Alaa, who is Prime Minister, temporarily, and is looking to get his government approved.

We'll see if that all happens by the deadline or what they decide to do by the deadline. There were some indications they were going to take the government to parliament soon for the approval of parliament. So as far as November 4th, we'll just have to see how that works out there. But we have certainly been strong supporters of saying, "Yes, you need a government, but you need a government that's empowered, that has control of the security services, that has the ability and the commitment to move down the road towards peace."

MR. DENIG: Thank you very much, Ambassador. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen.

MR. BOUCHER: Okay. Thank you all.

QUESTION: Can we ask a follow up on Syria?

MR. BOUCHER: A follow up on Syria? Is Paul going to allow that? All right, one follow-up on Syria. He's been trying since the beginning.

QUESTION: My name is Said Arikat from Al Quds. The U.S. demands of Syria --

MR. BOUCHER: It always seems to be an elusive --

QUESTION: Is there anything concrete like, you know, saying $3 billion, and we know that they have gone from here to there? Or we know that they're planning for the suicide bombings taking place in Damascus? Or you just want to close all offices down, regardless to what they do? I mean, do you have any specifics that you can come to the Syrians and say, "Look, we want these concrete steps?"

MR. BOUCHER: Yes.

QUESTION: Could you tell us what they are?

MR. BOUCHER: And we have told them to the Syrians, but --

QUESTION: Could you give us like three or two?

MR. BOUCHER: No, I'm not -- I'm not here to lay out a series of demands on Syria. We have told the Syrians quite clearly what we think and what we know has been going on with some of these offices. We have made clear that, based on the evidence that we have, there is no way you can differentiate and say, "Oh, they're just talking to the press. They're just doing information activities."

That's not true. They need to close down these offices, get rid of the people. They can't operate out of Syria anymore. They shouldn't be allowed to operate out of Syria anymore. We have had financial teams talk to the Syrians about what we know about Iraqi assets that were moved out of Iraq and put in various places in Syrian banks.

So we've had very detailed discussions with the Syrians about some of the specific things that we knew were going on that we felt that they should close down, and unfortunately they haven't done that.

Okay. That's it. Thank you.

[End]

(end transcript)

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)