[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[September 27, 1993]
[Pages 1619-1623]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



The President's News Conference With Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa of 
Japan in New York City
September 27, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon. This has been an exceptional day, and 
both the Prime Minister and I had the honor to speak before the 48th 
General Assembly of the United Nations at the dawn of a new era. I'm 
especially pleased to have had the opportunity today to have a good 
conversation with Prime Minister Hosokawa. We've just renewed our 
acquaintance and discussed many of the issues of great importance to 
both our nations. I look forward to working with him in the months ahead 
to make sure that the issues that we're working on together bear fruit.
    I want to begin by saying that I feel a great deal of respect and 
affinity for the Prime Minister. We are both former Governors. We were 
both elected by our countries with a mandate for change. Our two peoples 
recognized instinctively that we've entered a watershed period in our 
history, when both Japan and the United States must make changes that 
are long overdue.
    My meeting with the Prime Minister persuaded me that he is indeed, 
as he said in his campaign, committed to change for the benefit of his 
people. And I hope that the changes he brings to Japan can help to 
redefine the relationships between our two countries in ways that 
improve the economic difficulties which we have had but strengthen the 
longstanding security and political relationships which have brought 
peace and security to the entire Pacific region.
    The meeting that we had offered me the opportunity to reiterate my 
commitment for that relationship and to explore a lot of the issues that 
we are both concerned about. We pledged to cooperate on a whole range of 
global issues, especially including the Middle East peace agreement, and 
I thanked the Prime Minister for the announcement he made in his speech 
today of aid from Japan to implement that agreement.
    We also shared a common sense of urgency to successfully complete 
the Uruguay round of GATT by December 15th. And I look forward to 
welcoming the Prime Minister to Seattle later this fall when we will 
gather to promote Asian economic integration through the APEC meeting 
that the United States will host.
    We discussed in particular the area of U.S.-


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Japan relations in need of most progress, our economic relationship. We 
have the largest bilateral economic relationship in the world, with our 
two nations representing about 40 percent of the world's GDP. It is 
critical in this new era that we get that relationship right. We must 
make significant progress regarding our bilateral trade.
    At the Tokyo summit last July, the United States and Japan agreed to 
a framework for negotiation intended to reduce barriers to trade. Those 
negotiations began last week. The Prime Minister and I today reaffirmed 
our commitment to reach agreements as provided under the framework, 
which will open new trading opportunities for both our nations.
    I also expressed my support for Japan's recently announced economic 
stimulus program. I believe it is a beneficial step. And we also 
discussed other things that we could do to promote greater growth in the 
global economy.
    I was heartened by our meeting. I look forward to working with the 
Prime Minister in the weeks and months ahead. I'm very grateful by the 
enormous outpouring of popular support for the reform efforts he was 
undertaken in Japan. And I hope that both he and the people of Japan 
will be successful in their efforts at reform, change, and progress.
    Mr. Prime Minister.
    Prime Minister Hosokawa. Our time was very limited, but I'm very 
happy we were able to have a very candid meeting. At the very same 
juncture in history, both of us have taken on the front stage, one as 
President and one as Prime Minister. I believe this is not a coincidence 
but a necessity in history.
    The President is faced with difficult tasks and exercising 
leadership. And I said I very much identify with him, in Japan what my 
Cabinet's trying to do. I explained to him what the historic mission for 
my cabinet is. Before anything else, we must carry through the 
structural reform of the systems in Japan. One is political reform, 
second is economic reform, and third is administrative reform. And I 
explained the contents of each of these, the contents of political, 
economic, and administrative reforms. We believe that reform in these 
areas will benefit not only just the Japanese but will also generate 
opportunities for the world as a whole. That should be beneficial for 
the entire world community.
    On basic relations between Japan and the United States, we shall 
steadfastly maintain the Japan-U.S. security relationship and nurture 
our political as well as economic relationship as well as a global 
relationship affirmly. We reaffirmed that intent on both sides.
    We had discussions on the economic aspects of our relationship. In 
July we struck that framework agreement, and in accordance with that 
agreement, I stated that Japan will play its part in doing its best. 
Also, we expressed our mutual hope, and the Japanese Government will do 
its best so that favorable results will emerge before the end of the 
year, as much as possible, for the Uruguay round.
    We also discussed Russia, China, the Middle East. We also discussed 
North Korea. Our discussions were broad-ranging, indeed, and on each of 
these subjects we were able to delve into pretty much detail.
    At risk of repeating myself, for the time being, our economic 
relationship is most important, and to improve our relations in the 
benefit of the world economic development is our common task, I believe. 
What we are trying to do should be indispensable for the development and 
prosperity of the United States, as well as the world. Both countries 
should cooperate with each other in order to open up bright prospects 
for both of us. And if that is done, that is beyond what I would hope 
for.
    Thank you very much.

Bosnia and the War Powers Act

    Q. [Inaudible]--what form might that agreement take and would it 
just be consultation of the leadership or a vote in the Congress? And 
could you, as a former law professor, say what you think the differences 
are in your view of the War Powers Act as contrasted with your 
predecessor, President Bush, and his predecessor, President Reagan?
    The President. I feel like I've just been given an exam in law 
school. Let me say that I think it is clear to everyone that the United 
States could not fulfill a peacekeeping role in Bosnia unless the 
Congress supported it. And I will be consulting with all the appropriate 
congressional leadership in both parties to see what the best 
manifestation of that is.
    With regard to the War Powers Act, I don't want to get into a long 
constitutional description of it. I had always intended to comply with 
it based on our best understanding of it, and I think we won't have any 
problem doing that. I don't believe Congress will feel that they're

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not being properly consulted.
    In the interest of partnership, I'd like to just alternate across 
the aisle, take one question from a Japanese journalist and then come 
back to the Americans.

Japanese Government

    Q. Mr. President, in the course of a few months you have dealt with 
two Japanese Prime Ministers representing two governments. What 
difference between the two Japanese leaders and the two governments in 
terms of how they respond to your expectations and concern for the 
outstanding economic issues between the two countries?
    The President. How can I answer that question without getting in 
trouble in Japan? [Laughter] Let me just say that I think the real issue 
is that Prime Minister Hosokawa's government represents obviously a 
recent and fresh judgment of the people of Japan about changes in 
Japanese political and economic life.
    I frankly, had a good relationship with the previous government. 
Given the fact that there was no mandate in that government for the 
kinds of changes that the Prime Minister and others agreed to in July, I 
think they thought that Japan had to take a new course.
    Now, we have a government headed by a Prime Minister who himself 
came from a grassroots political job--he was a governor, as I was--with 
a mandate for change and enormous public support for that. So I think 
that we will be able to work together in a very constructive way over 
the long haul because of that mandate.
    That's no criticism of the previous government. I enjoyed working 
with Prime Minister Miyazawa very much, and I admire him greatly. But I 
think having the people of Japan make a decision in an election that 
elevates someone who has committed himself to change and then gotten 
elected on that platform makes a big difference. It gives him more elbow 
room and a greater sense of commitment, I think.

Somalia

    Q. In light of your comments today, your speech, can you give us a 
sense of whether you believe the right questions were asked before the 
United States went into Somalia and what you see as a situation that 
needs to occur before we can get out?
    The President. I still believe--let me reiterate--I still believe 
President Bush made the right decision to have the United States lead a 
U.N. mission in Somalia. Keep in mind, well over a quarter of a million 
people had died there from starvation, from murder, from illness, from 
famine. And there's no telling how many lives have been saved as a 
result of that humanitarian mission.
    Because Somalia was viewed as a place where the political structure 
had basically disintegrated and power was broadly shared or fought over 
among a variety of clans with two dominant figures, I think the focus 
was very much on whether that could be controlled with a large number of 
troops, most of which were American in the beginning. And I think 
perhaps too little thought was given to the long-term need to develop 
some political alternative.
    Although I do want to emphasize, in defense of the United Nations, 
that a lot of village councils have been developed, that a lot of 
Somalia is now being, in effect, governed peacefully by grassroots 
political organizations, that when we see the violence and the anger and 
the anti-U.N., anti-American expressions on television at night, that 
reflects a small percentage of the people in the land of Somalia. The 
mission has largely succeeded in its humanitarian efforts. But I think 
the political component of it, that is, how we end the humanitarian 
mission or at least turn over the political responsibility to the people 
of Somalia, has lagged a bit.
    And so the United States wants there to be a clear commitment to the 
political transformation. And we want to do it in ways that make it 
absolutely clear we have no intention of abandoning all those people to 
the fate that gripped them before we got there.
    I don't think when a tragedy occurs and people see on television in 
the United States a few Somalis jumping up and down when an American has 
been killed, I think it is a misrepresentation to conclude that that 
reflects the opinion of a majority of the people. Most Somalis are 
living in peace, are living in harmony, are working at reestablishing a 
normal life, and are not involved in what you see.
    But nonetheless, it is clear that the U.N. must have a political 
strategy which permits us to withdraw but not to withdraw on terms that 
revert the people to the condition they were living in beforehand.

Japanese Economy

    Q. [Inaudible]--did you discuss with the

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Prime Minister--[inaudible]
    The President. We did. We discussed--well, we discussed the stimulus 
program Japan has undertaken as well as the review the Prime Minister 
has ordered of what other options are available over the long run. 
Perhaps he would like to comment on that.
    Do you have anything to say, Prime Minister Hosokawa? He's a very 
good politician, you see; he's staying out of all these hard questions. 
That's why his popularity is so high in Japan. [Laughter]

U.N. Peacekeeping Missions

    Q. A two-part question, I wonder if you could clarify a couple 
things. One on Bosnia. There have been a lot of leaks lately from your 
administration about the conditions under which you would commit 
American troops to Bosnia, from exit strategies to congressional 
approval. I wonder if you could state from here today exactly what are 
the criteria you envisage for an American commitment there to a 
peacekeeping operation.
    Then a second part, following up on your speech today, you implied 
in that speech that the U.N. is engaged in some peacekeeping operations 
now that maybe are of marginal significance. I wonder if you could 
specify exactly what operations are not that important and what should 
be the criteria for U.N. operations in the future?
    The President. I wouldn't say that. I would say that there are--
plainly we have gone so far so fast in peacekeeping through the U.N. 
that there are limits to how many new operations can be undertaken.
    For example, there is no question that the United Nations could not 
directly manage an operation the size of the Bosnian operation, which is 
why we worked so hard through NATO, and the French have been involved 
there and others, to try to think through how we would do this.
    Most of the criteria which have been discussed in the press are 
accurate. I would want a clear understanding of what the command and 
control was. I would want the NATO commander in charge of the operation. 
I would want a clear timetable for first review and ultimately for the 
right to terminate American involvement so that we--I would want a clear 
political strategy along with a military strategy. After all, there will 
be more than soldiers involved in this. And I would want a clear 
expression of support from the United States Congress. Now, there are 20 
other operational things I would want, but those are the big policy 
issues.
    What was the other question?
    Q. [Inaudible]--what criteria regarding funding of the operation.
    The President. Well, we would have to know exactly what our 
financial responsibilities were. And of course, under our budget law, 
which is very strict now, we have to know how we're going to fund it and 
then we would have to know that others were going to do their part as 
well and that at least for the period of the operation that we were 
responsible for, that we were going to do it properly.
    I wouldn't say that any of the peacekeeping operations here are ill-
founded. As a matter of fact, I mentioned several that have worked very 
well. But there are limits to how many things we can do. There are going 
to be a lot of chaotic situations. We had another development in Georgia 
today, as you know. And we may or may not be able to see the U.N. go 
into every one of these circumstances. That's the only point I wanted to 
make. We have to really go into these things with our eyes wide open.
    In Somalia, I think that we did go in with our eyes open. I think we 
did essentially what we meant to do. I just think that we may have 
underestimated the difficulty of setting in motion a political 
transition, which would send a clear signal to all Somalis that the 
United States in particular and the U.N. in general have no interest in 
trying to dominate or control their lives. We just want them to be able 
to live normal lives. We have no interest in trying to tell them how to 
live or what political course to take.

Security Council Membership

    Q. Do you support the idea that Japan will join the additional 
member, a permanent member of the Security Council? And if you do so, 
will you give me the reason why you think so.
    The President. Yes, I have long supported, even when I was a 
candidate for President I supported Security Council membership for 
Japan and for Germany. And I do so because I think that the conditions 
which existed at the end of the Second World War, which led to the 
membership of the Security Council as it was established then, have 
changed. Our pri-


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mary adversaries in that war, Germany and Japan, have become among the 
major economic powers in the world. They have become great forces for 
democracy. They have been very generous in their support of political 
and humanitarian efforts throughout the world. The rest of the world 
community depends upon the support and the leadership of both Japan and 
Germany to get done much of what we will have to do in the years ahead. 
And so I have always felt in recognition of that that they should be 
offered permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President's 27th news conference began at 4:53 p.m. at the 
Waldorf Astoria.