[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[November 19, 1993]
[Pages 2022-2025]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Following Discussions With 
President Jiang Zemin of China in Seattle
November 19, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon. I have just completed a meeting with 
President Jiang of China which I believe was very productive. It was an 
important meeting for the people of China and the people of the United 
States. China, after all, is home to one of every five people who live 
on this planet and is the world's fastest growing major economy. We have 
to work together on a wide range of issues of regional significance and 
of global significance.
    President Jiang said to me in a letter that we need to talk to each 
other not because we have no differences but because we do have 
differences and need to resolve them. Today I tried to be as forthright 
and clear as I could about our common interests and about our clear 
differences.
    We agreed on the need to work on improving our relationship. We know 
that what we do affects not only our own people but all the people in 
the world. When we work together we're a powerful force for security and 
economic progress. As fellow members of the U.N. Security Council, we 
have worked side by side on many things, including Cambodia and Haiti.
    In our meeting I reaffirmed the United States support for the three 
joint communiques as the bedrock of our one China policy. We agreed on 
the need to preserve the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and 
to work together to ensure that North Korea resolves the world's 
concerns over its nuclear problems.
    We also discussed very frankly areas of disagreement. I emphasized 
to President Jiang the need for early, concrete progress on aspects of 
China policy and practice that are of deep concern to the American 
people: human rights, including Tibet; trade practices; and 
nonproliferation. Over the past few months we have had a number of 
bilateral meetings in Beijing and Washington to explore the 
possibilities for progress in these key areas. Our meeting today is a 
part of that ongoing process. I hope it can lead to substantial 
advances.
    In our meeting today I especially stressed our concerns in the area 
of human rights. Last May I put forward key human rights conditions that 
must be met if most-favored-nation status to China is to be renewed next 
spring. I told President Jiang that I welcome our dialog on human 
rights. I hope we can make significant progress on these issues very 
soon. I mentioned in particular the need for prison access by the ICRC, 
the question of releasing political prisoners, especially those who are 
sick. I particularly mentioned the case of Wang Jontao. I asked for a 
dialog on Tibet with the Dalai Lama or his representatives. And I 
discussed the question of prison labor and the need for our customs 
officials to visit other facilities as already called for in our 
memorandum of understanding.
    In other words, on the question of human rights, I attempted to be 
quite specific, not implying that the United States could dictate to 
China or that China could dictate to the United States the general 
conditions or institutions of

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our society, but clearly recognizing that there are human rights issues 
that are a barrier to the full resolution of normal and complete and 
constructive relations between our two nations.
    I also emphasized the need for progress on our trade imbalance. We 
discussed the needs for greater market access and for the protection of 
intellectual property rights. I think our trade relationships alone 
indicate that the United States has not attempted to isolate China but 
instead has attempted to assist its movement into the global economy. 
After all, this year we will purchase about a third of the total Chinese 
exports, and we must do a better job of selling our products and 
services into that market.
    I also stressed that we look to China to participate fully in 
international efforts to stem weapons proliferation. We continue to have 
differences on these issues. But we agreed that we should seek to 
resolve them through dialog and negotiation. This is clearly in the 
interest of both nations.
    As we approach the 21st century, the relationship between our two 
countries will be one of the most important in the world. I believe that 
my meeting today with President Jiang established our determination to 
build on the positive aspects of our existing relations and to address 
far more candidly and personally than we have in the past the problems 
that remain between our two nations. I look forward to continuing that 
dialog during tomorrow's APEC leaders meeting and in other ways in the 
coming months.
    I believe we have made a good beginning. I always believe the best 
beginning in a challenging situation is to be as frank and forthright as 
possible. And I think that I did that, and I believe that he did that.
    Let me make just one other comment about a domestic issue; then I'll 
answer a couple of questions. I'd like to compliment the United States 
Senate in passing the crime bill today. It is absolutely imperative that 
we now resolve the differences between the Senate and the House bill, 
that we move ahead to get 100,000 police on the street as quickly as we 
can. It will still take several months even after the bill is signed to 
train the police and put them out there. It is a terribly important 
issue.
    There are other matters in the bills, especially the boot camps, 
that I think are important. But I am distressed at the Senate filibuster 
of the Brady bill. I know they're going to vote one more time tonight, 
and before they leave, I would urge the Senate to pass the Brady bill. 
It has been delayed far too long. And the attack against it, that it 
will not solve all the gun violence in the United States, ignores the 
fact that it will solve some of our problems by actually permitting us 
to do a weapons check of the criminal and mental health backgrounds of 
people who want to buy handguns. It will, it will turn up people who 
should not be able to buy guns, many of whom will have criminal records, 
some of whom may have outstanding warrants.
    This is an important issue for our country. I understand that some 
people think the politics are still difficult. But clearly, it is the 
right thing to do. And I hope the Senate will reconsider its filibuster 
and permit the majority to rule. There's plainly a heavy majority for 
the Brady bill. That majority should be able to carry the day.

China-U.S. Relations

    Q. Mr. President, in the photo opportunity prior to your meeting 
with President Jiang, he sounded reluctant to even discuss in any great 
detail the questions of human rights and weapons proliferation. What was 
his response to your concerns about those issues? And since you appear 
so reluctant to push China into any sort of isolation, just what do you 
have at your disposal to bring China around? What's your leverage there?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think anybody should be 
reluctant to isolate a country as big as China with the potential China 
has for good, not only good for the 1.2 billion people of China who are 
enjoying this unprecedented economic growth but good in the region and 
good throughout the world. So our reluctance to isolate them is the 
right reluctance.
    On the other hand, I laid down a human rights policy and a policy on 
trade and nonproliferation that we are going to pursue: the human rights 
policy in the context of MFN renewal next year and the trade and 
nonproliferation policies, in the proper context, that we are already 
pursuing. And I think that the leverage is not insignificant. After all, 
we are their major purchaser of products and services. We have been 
their commercial friend, as we should have been. I do not begrudge that. 
But we have got to have progress on these three fronts.
    I would remind you these two countries have been somewhat estranged 
ever since Tiananmen

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Square. And the very fact that we talked today I think is a positive 
sign that both of us are interested in trying to resolve our respective 
problems. I don't think you ever lose anything by talking with someone 
as long as you're honest. And I don't think there was any doubt about 
where the United States stands on these issues today.
    Q. And his response, Mr. President?
    The President. Well, he did engage and discuss a number of those 
things. I think, given the nature of the political environment in China 
and their historic reluctance to discuss these issues in public, the 
press statement that he made was consistent with their historic pattern. 
But I thought we began a dialog, and that's all I think I should say 
today.

North Korea

    Q. Mr. President, in your meeting with Prime Minister Hosokawa and 
also as you mentioned in your meeting with President Jiang, you 
discussed the subject of North Korea. What can you tell us about your 
sense of how that situation is developing, whether we're moving toward a 
situation in which you're going to be faced with a deadline because of 
the IAEA's inability to eventually continue to monitor? And what sort of 
assurances have you gotten from the Chinese on cooperation on that 
issue?
    The President. Well, first of all, that's precisely what we want to 
avoid. We want to avoid the situation where the IAEA can no longer 
certify that North Korea is nonnuclear. So you're in the worst of both 
worlds; you don't know whether it is, but you can't say that it isn't. 
That is what we're trying to avoid.
    Secondly, you should understand that perhaps next only to South 
Korea, both China and Japan are deeply interested in the same objective. 
They do not wish to have a nuclear North Korea. And so they support the 
policy of trying to prevent that from happening. All three of those 
countries have a great deal of sensitivity about what is most likely to 
bring about that result. They are worried about whether sanctions would 
backfire. And we have discussed with them some other options, perhaps 
taking a more comprehensive approach to all the differences between us 
in an attempt to demonstrate again to North Korea that they have nothing 
to be afraid of from an honest dialog with the South and from allowing 
the inspectors to come back in.
    So we are looking at what some other options are now. But this is a 
very important issue, and the United States, I think, clearly has the 
responsibility to lead on this issue. And we are doing our best to do 
it. We are on top of it. And I know there are those who think we should 
have taken a different course, who think, well, maybe we just haven't 
been involved in this. But I would remind you that South Korea, Japan, 
and China are intimately interested and personally affected by those 
developments. And we have consulted extensively with all three of them 
all along the way, and we are pursuing the policy we think has the best 
chance of success.

Japan

    Q. Mr. President, in advance of this meeting, one journalist 
described Japan's historic posture toward the United States as one of 
obsequious arrogance, namely the endless stonewalling of various trade 
issues. It took us no less than 22 years to get Washington apples into 
Japanese markets. What is your sense of the posture of the new Japanese 
Government toward moving things on so we will not have to wait 22 years, 
for instance, to get American rice into that market?
    The President. This is a different government and a different time 
with different objectives for the internal economy of Japan. I think 
that the present policy is not sustainable. On the other hand, this 
government was elected and this Prime Minister was elected to deal with 
a wide range of issues. They are working on their political reform 
agenda now, and I think they will conclude it soon.
    The United States supports those efforts at political reform and 
believes that they should be encouraged. It's part of the change that is 
sweeping the world. After that, I believe that Prime Minister Hosokawa 
will move seriously on the two great economic issues that we share in 
common: One is what should be done to make sure that at times like this 
when there's a global recession, the United States, Japan, and Europe 
follow policies that will promote higher rates of global growth, because 
we can't grow unless there's a global economic growth pattern. Secondly 
is, what can we do to follow up on our framework agreement in which we 
identified some very specific areas in which we expect mutually to work 
together to get real results? My vision, as I said to Prime Minister

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Hosokawa, for Japan is that as we move toward the 21st century, Japan 
will become like other great powers in terms of its openness to 
investment and to trade and that together we will help to create a world 
of far more sustained and sustainable growth and opportunity for our own 
people and, in the process for the developing nations as well.

Taiwan

    Q. Mr. President, you just mentioned three communiques and one China 
policy. Does that mean somebody raised the issue of Taiwan in the 
bilateral meeting? And secondly, since you've visited Taiwan four times 
and most knowledgeable of the Taiwan issue, what you want to do in deal 
with U.S.-Taiwan relations?
    The President. I have been there many times. I've been there five 
times, actually. And I have been very impressed with the remarkable 
transformation of the country as it has gotten more prosperous and more 
democratic and impressed also by the amount of investment from Taiwan 
into China. So that it seems that the two countries are getting along on 
a commercial basis, even as the rest of us are confronted with political 
dilemmas from time to time.
    We did not really discuss that today in any detail whatever. The 
policy of the United States on one China is the right policy for the 
United States. It does not preclude us from following the Taiwan 
Relations Act, nor does it preclude us from the strong economic 
relationship we enjoy with Taiwan. There's a representative, as you 
know, here at this meeting. So I feel good about where we are on that. 
But I don't think that will be a major stumbling block in our 
relationship with China. I think we can work through these other things, 
that the practical ingenuity of the Chinese people themselves seems to 
be at least on a course to resolve that in some form or fashion in the 
years ahead.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 3:15 p.m. at the Rainier Club.