[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1993, Book II)]
[November 20, 1993]
[Pages 2032-2034]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks and an Exchange With Reporters Following Discussions With APEC 
Leaders in Seattle
November 20, 1993

    The President. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As we approach 
the end of a week of APEC activities, we've just completed 3 hours of 
meetings among 14 APEC economic leaders. It's been a pleasure for me and 
an honor for the United States to host this week's events and to convene 
this historic meeting on this beautiful island.
    The Asian-Pacific region will provide an increasingly vital role for 
our Nation and the world. The region is home to 40 percent of the 
world's people, includes the world's fastest growing economies, and the 
leaders standing here represent half the world's economic output.
    This week's events have been a success for all the region's peoples. 
We've laid a foundation for regional efforts to create jobs, raise 
incomes, expand business opportunities, and foster regional harmony. 
This week we took several tangible steps toward these goals.
    On Monday and Tuesday over 1,500 business people engaged in trade 
came together to focus on the region's potential to benefit their bottom 
lines. Later in the week, our ministers agreed to a package of market-
opening measures designed to help bring the Uruguay round to the GATT to 
a successful conclusion by December 15th. And the ministerial meeting 
agreed to develop an action plan in the near future to reduce barriers 
to business throughout our region, such as differing product standards.
    The capstone of this week's activities has been this first-ever 
leaders meeting. Our discussions this morning, which will continue in 
the afternoon, give us a chance to become better acquainted and to 
compare our visions for our own nations and for our diverse and dynamic 
region. By meeting and talking we've been able to forge a stronger 
regional identity and a stronger purpose. That purpose is captured in 
the vision statement we just released.
    The statement sets forth our shared view of a regional economy 
characterized by openness, cooperation, dynamic growth, expanded trade, 
improved transportation and communications, and high-skilled, high-
paying jobs. We've welcomed the challenge of the eminent persons group 
to achieve free trade in the Asian-Pacific region, advance global trade 
liberalization, and launch concrete specific programs to move us toward 
these long-term goals.
    In our discussions last evening and today, I've been struck by how 
many priorities we share: strong, sustainable economic growth; more open 
markets; better jobs, working conditions, and living standards for our 
own people; better education for our children and our adults; and 
protection of the region's unique environment. Of course, we will not 
always agree on how to achieve those goals. But at least now, for the 
first time, our region has a means to hold serious policy discussions on 
such questions as how to remove trade barriers or how to sustain robust 
growth.
    If you ask me to summarize in a sentence what we've agreed, it is 
this: We've agreed that the Asian-Pacific region should be a united one, 
not divided. We've agreed that our economic policies should be opened, 
not closed. We've agreed to begin to express that conviction by

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doing everything we possibly can to get a good GATT agreement by 
December 15th.
    With today's meeting, we're helping the Asian-Pacific to become a 
genuine community, not a formal, legal structure but rather a community 
of shared interests, shared goals, and shared commitment to mutually 
beneficial cooperation.
    The development of that community is certainly in the interest of 
the American people and all the people of this region. We should be 
pleased with the progress we've made. And let me say again how honored I 
am on behalf of the United States to have had the opportunity to host 
all these leaders.
    Thank you very much.

Economic Cooperation

    Q. Mr. President, there was no sign of any flexibility from China in 
the area of--or with Japan on the trade imbalances. Can you say, were 
any minds or attitudes changed during the course of this meeting?
    The President. You're referring to meetings that I had yesterday and 
discussions we had. Today I'm the host of the meeting where we discussed 
economic issues, and I frankly believe by--I'll make you a prediction on 
the economic issues: By next June or July, certainly by a year from now, 
I believe that the responsibilities of the United States and Japan to do 
more to promote global economic growth will have been, in large measure, 
advanced. And I think you will see that we've done some of the things 
that we should, both of us. So today we focused on what we could do 
together economically, and I think that's what I ought to respond to 
today.

China-Taiwan Relations

    Q. Mr. President, the fact that--representatives from Taiwan and 
China to join you to discuss about the issues--I wonder, how do you find 
your respective vision for these areas? And in your opinion, how does 
this meeting affect the relationship between Taiwan and China?
    The President. Well, that's something for them to determine. I 
invited, as the host, all the members of this organization, which was 
the appropriate thing to do. Actually, I'm struck by how much common 
investment and common activity there is now, and by the common 
strategies of high savings and investment, hard work and entrepreneurism 
that are sweeping that part of the world. It is immensely impressive, I 
think, to anyone who has observed it.

Malaysia

    Q. Mr. President, what do you think about Malaysia's absence from 
this meeting? And what do you think about the EAEP, the East Asia 
economic party?
    The President. Well, first of all, I'm in favor of anything which 
increases regional economic cooperation and advances the economic 
interests of people as long as it doesn't close off economic 
opportunities for others. And I wish Mr. Mahathir were here, and I look 
forward to meeting him someday.

North Korea

    Q. Mr. President, how serious is the situation in North Korea as a 
threat to this whole region? And is that something that you discussed 
today at the meeting?
    The President. We didn't discuss it today, but it was discussed 
yesterday. And I look forward to meeting with President Kim in 
Washington. He's going back to Washington, and we'll be meeting there 
and talking about it. It is a source of concern to us, but one that we 
believe we can find solutions to. And we're going to be taking some 
initiatives in that area in the not-too-distant future.

New Zealand

    Q. Mr. President, is New Zealand now figuratively out of the cold, 
if not literally? Have you now restored the political relationship with 
New Zealand?
    The President. Actually, we're out in the cold today. [Laughter]
    The Prime Minister and I had a good talk about that, and we agreed 
that we would at least take a good look at our relationship and see what 
else might be done. We have an awful lot in common and a lot of natural 
instincts toward friendship and cooperation. And I think both of us are 
uncomfortable with what has become of our relationship over the last 
several years. So we'll take another look at it; we may have something 
to say about it, but not today and not tomorrow.

Economic Cooperation

    Q. Mr. President, when you were talking about NAFTA you mentioned 
several times Taiwan, Japan, and China are the three major obstacles 
when you're dealing with U.S. trade defi-


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cit. A lot of people think that was not very helpful when you're trying 
to cooperate with Asian countries. I was wondering, after this meeting--
--
    The President. Wait, wait, wait. You can ask the question, but let 
me restate what I said.
    What I said to the American people was simply the fact that the 
people who were against NAFTA acted as if Mexico essentially was going 
to displace the entire industrial production of the United States or 
significant portions of it. And I pointed out the fact that we have a 
trade surplus with Mexico and that our largest operating trade deficits 
are with Japan, China, and Taiwan. That's simply a fact. That's not an 
act of hostility, it's just a stated fact. So, go ahead, ask the 
question.
    Q. The question is, after this meeting, will you think that in the 
future that United States is willing to use cooperation instead of 
Article 301 type of trade retaliation threat to deal with these 
problems?
    The President. Well, I think, first of all, we've used Article 301 
rather sparingly. And secondly, we do seek cooperation. That's the whole 
purpose of this meeting. That's one of the reasons that I wanted all the 
leaders to come here, because I think that we have so much in common in 
terms of our shared views about what the economy of the 21st century 
ought to look like and what our roles ought to be in it, that I think we 
can do a lot through cooperation. And we're working very hard to do 
that.
    In the end, if we're going to develop the right kind of free market 
system, it is going to have to be a cooperative one. But it's going to 
have to be one that is plainly in the interest of all the people 
involved in the system. That is, everyone has to be going forward 
together.

Multilateral Trade Negotiations

    Q. Mr. President, how hard and fast is the December 15th deadline 
for successful completion of the GATT round? It's slipped a couple of 
times previously. Would you be prepared to extend it if you don't have 
agreement by then?
    The President. Well, it's not entirely up to me, and of course, we 
have certain legislative authority in America, as you know, that 
controls that.
    All I can tell you is that I think we want to take this moment of 
opportunity that, frankly, the House of Representatives, and I hope 
today that the Senate, will give impetus to through NAFTA, and that we 
are trying to give energy to through our meeting here and through our 
clear statement again that we want the Asian-Pacific region to be 
united, not divided, economically; open, not closed; and committed to 
GATT. We want to seize this moment to try to get it done now. And I've 
always found that when you're working on an objective, you shouldn't 
discuss what you'll do if you don't get there until after you don't get 
there. We still think we can be there, and we're going to try.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. on Blake Island. In his remarks, 
he referred to Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad of Malaysia. A tape 
was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.