[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book II)]
[November 17, 1995]
[Pages 1762-1771]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Interview With NHK Television of Japan
November 17, 1995

President's Trip to Japan

    Q. Thank you very much, Mr. President, for joining us. The Japanese 
people are greatly disappointed that you have suddenly canceled your 
visit to Japan. Was it really inevitable?
    The President. Yes, it was inevitable. And let me begin by saying 
that I am greatly disappointed, more disappointed perhaps than I can 
even convey to you and through you to the Japanese people, to cancel 
this trip. My first overseas trip as President was to Japan. One of the 
first actions I took as President was to try to elevate the Asian 
Pacific Economic Council to a leaders meeting so that we could all work 
more closely together throughout Asia. And I have had many, many 
meetings and telephone calls with not only Prime Minister Murayama but 
his predecessors. When I ran for President, I said the Japanese-American 
relationship was of supreme importance to the United States. And so I am 
very, very disappointed.
    But I would ask the Japanese people to understand what is happening 
here. We are having a debate here which will have great implications for 
the United States for decades to come. And our Government is closed down 
for the first time in history for this length of time. This is 
unprecedented. So that if I were to leave

[[Page 1763]]

the United States now, the American people, and particularly the 
employees of the Federal Government, would not understand how the 
President could leave the country while the Government was shut down and 
when the Congress might be passing bills to me that I would either have 
to veto, disapprove, or to sign.
    I will go to Japan as soon as I possibly can. I look forward to 
rescheduling this trip. And I can only ask the Japanese people to 
understand that this has nothing to do with Japan and America's 
relationship and everything to do with the pressing emergency that I 
must now deal with.
    Q. Mr. President, we all know that you will always come back, even 
to Japan.
    The President. Thank you.
    Q. But we would like to know exactly when you will be able to go 
there. January or----
    The President. Well, I don't know. We have begun to look over the 
calendar. And I have talked this morning with the Vice President. I 
called him on the airplane. He's on his way--he's almost in Japan. And I 
talked with Ambassador Kantor this morning, who is in Japan now, again 
reaffirming my desire to come as quickly as possible.
    As I'm sure you know, we're about to begin our Thanksgiving and 
Christmas season here, a major holiday time--the major holiday time in 
the United States. And then next year we begin the Congress in early 
January and all the Presidential primaries. But I will come as soon as I 
can. This is very, very important to me. And I want--I have conveyed my 
deep regrets to Prime Minister Murayama, and I appreciate his 
understanding.
    But I--again, I want to say I hope the Japanese people will 
understand this is no expression of disrespect by me either to the 
Government or the people of Japan. As a matter of fact, my wife and I 
had looked very much forward to being with the Emperor and Empress again 
in the Imperial Palace because we had such a wonderful time with them 
when they visited us and stayed here. So I'm anxious to have that 
experience, and I'm looking forward to it.
    Q. Any guesstimates as to when--like spring?
    The President. I can't say. We're in the middle of this difficulty 
now, and we have to resolve--see our way through it. And I'm looking at 
the calendar. I will set the date just as soon as I can. I will come as 
quickly as I can. But I want to make sure we have a good visit and we 
have enough time to do it right. I think it's important when I do come 
that we have the time to do it right.
    Q. But you're going to get busier and busier next year.
    The President. Not necessarily. There will be certain down times in 
our schedule next year. And it doesn't matter, I will put some of my 
business aside to come to Japan. I would happily put some of my business 
aside. If it hadn't been for this unprecedented emergency, I would have 
put this aside.

Okinawa and the Japan-U.S. Security Relationship

    Q. Well, your cancellation is especially significant since the 
Okinawa incident by the three marines, and emotions are running high. 
And people are starting to question the most--the linchpin of the U.S. 
security--linchpin of the U.S.-Japan relations, which is the security 
threat. How would you define the treaty after the cold war, the 
importance of the treaty?
    The President. If I might, I'd like to first say something about the 
incident at Okinawa. On behalf of the American people, we want the 
Japanese people to know that we share their outrage and their pain. And 
I want to express my personal regret and outrage to the family, to the 
young woman, to all the people of Okinawa. This was--it's a terrible 
thing. And every father in the world of a young daughter, including the 
President of the United States, was struck by the incident. The United 
States, obviously, has cooperated and supported the turning over of the 
people who were charged. We have tried to improve our procedures for 
cooperating in these criminal matters, and we will continue to do that. 
So I feel very strongly about this.
    Now, however, I think that, notwithstanding this terrible incident 
and the end of the cold war, we shouldn't minimize the importance of 
continuing this partnership. We've had 50 years of relative security in 
Asia because of the partnership that the United States and Japan have 
had for security. We still have an unresolved situation on the Korean 
Peninsula. North Korea has more than a million people under arms. We 
have an agreement, thanks to the cooperation of Japan and the United 
States, with China and Russia and others to dismantle North Korea's 
nuclear program. But it isn't finished yet. And there are many 
uncertainties in the future.

[[Page 1764]]

    We also know we're going to have to deal with problems of 
proliferation of weapons of destruction, of terrorism, of organized 
crime. Both Japan and the United States have been victimized by 
terrorism recently. So there are still very compelling reasons for us to 
maintain our security partnership. We are reviewing that. We want to 
clarify that in the form of a declaration.
    As you know, we have established a high-level committee to review 
the specifics of our relationship with Japan and particularly the 
problems in Okinawa. We want to show the people of Okinawa that we can 
continue to respond to the specific objections. But the need for a 
security partnership, I think, is still very, very strong. And I hope it 
will remain one of the real pillars of our relationship.
    Q. I think very few people suspect about the need of the continued 
security partnership between Japan and the United States. But many 
people think that since the treaty was written 35 years ago based on the 
conditions prevailing in the Far Fast then, maybe this is a time to 
review the entire system and check it and modify it if there is a need.
    The President. Well, I think--I would say there are two things that 
I think we should do. First of all, we should make clear to the people 
of Japan and the United States and all the people in Asia who are 
affected by this what we believe the security, the common shared 
security interest and the common values we share are as we look toward 
the 21st century. Then I also believe that this group of people we have 
put together to work with your people on the specifics of the 
relationship within Japan and on Okinawa, that we should finish that and 
do that over the next year and look at whether there are further things 
we could do in our operating procedures to accommodate the people of 
Okinawa, look if there is something we can do in the size and the 
distribution of our forces on Okinawa, look at the size of the land we 
occupy and how we occupy it, and then consider whether maybe even we 
could transfer some of our forces elsewhere in Japan.
    You know, there are all these things we need to look at in a very 
disciplined way. And I think that we will do that. But I don't believe 
we should, without great discipline and care, just revise a relationship 
that has plainly contributed to economic growth and political security 
and stability not only for Japan but for the rest of Asia as well.
    Q. What do you think about the Governor of Okinawa, Mr. Ota? You 
used to be the Governor of Arkansas. I think he is presenting a good 
case that Okinawa people are having unfair burden by excessive 
concentration of U.S. bases.
    The President. Well, I believe that his concerns have to be 
carefully considered. You know, we have--for example, in the last few 
years, we've tried to change our training schedules, reducing the firing 
of live ammunition, for example, trying to be concerned about the impact 
of noise on the people of Okinawa. I think that we have to consider his 
concerns very carefully. And as I said, I think we have to look at what 
our options are. I think the United States should be openminded about 
that. I think that we will discuss with the Government of Japan what 
other options we might have within Japan for pursing this relationship.
    But his job as the Governor of Okinawa, like my job when I was a 
Governor, is to represent the real concerns of the people there who have 
a right to want to carry on their daily lives, to make the most of their 
own lives, and to take care of their families. And we should be careful 
to listen to them and see whether or not we can resolve this. And I 
believe we can do better.
    Q. One more point I want to ask you, Mr. President, is the so-called 
free-ride argument in the United States. The asymmetry where the United 
States protects Japan but Japan cannot fight for the United States 
constitutionally is the course of nation we chose 50 years ago under the 
guidance of the United States. And Japanese are, to be frank, quite 
proud of their peace constitution. Is the United Stated growing--
becoming dissatisfied with such Japanese course?
    The President. I don't think so, for two reasons. First of all, the 
Japanese people have been willing to bear an appropriate level of cost 
for the location of our troops in Japan. And we cannot complain about 
that--and have improved that cost ratio over the last couple of years. 
And the United States needs to recognize that. Secondly, Japan has 
become increasingly willing to assume other kinds of global 
responsibilities. You have been very forthright and strong in Cambodia. 
You have even committed to help in the reconstruction of Bosnia, a long 
way from home, and many, many other examples I could cite. So my view is 
that this is still a fair partner-


[[Page 1765]]

ship for security matters. And barring some dramatic change of 
circumstances, we should try to modify the partnership to meet the 
demands of this time, not have a dramatic departure from it.
    Q. In that sense, Mr. President, do you think Japanese peaceful 
constitution is still viable for peace?
    The President. Well, I believe it is because I believe that one of 
the things we ought to be trying to do is to get the rest of the world 
to move toward less armaments. You know, Japan is working with the 
United States, for example, and we hope we'll be able to persuade the 
rest of the world to join us in a comprehensive test ban treaty, nuclear 
test ban treaty, next year. We hope that we'll be able to do more 
together in the world to reduce the danger of chemical and biological 
weapons. We worked very hard just a few months ago, Japan and the United 
States, to get almost 180 countries to join the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty. So our objective in the world should be to reduce 
the volume, the danger of arms, to reduce the millions of landmines that 
are in the ground in places that your people in Cambodia have been 
subject to, for example, not to try to have a massive arms buildup 
everywhere.
    Q. Going back to Okinawa, you sympathized with the burden of the 
Okinawan people having bases concentrated there. Would you bring a 
specific package, a concrete proposal, in reducing the bases, the U.S. 
bases there?
    The President. That depends on what the alternatives are. And that's 
why I think it--for me, I should leave it to our negotiators. I have 
gotten--I have put a high-level team in place--Mr. Lord, Mr. Nye, and 
others will be working on this. And I think that they need to see what 
the options are. I do not know enough to know what the alternative 
options are to make a specific proposal. All I can say is that I have 
followed very, very carefully here the specific concerns of the people 
of Okinawa. And I know what it's like for people to feel that they are 
being oppressed by those over whom they have no influence. And I don't 
want that to be the feeling of the people of Okinawa. I want this to be 
a partnership of which they can be proud as well. And therefore, we're 
going to work very hard to--in total good faith--to try to resolve this.
    Q. Are you in agreement with Secretary Perry when he says that the 
number of 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan as a whole will not be reduced? 
Bases in Okinawa could be withdrawn, but they would have to go somewhere 
else in Japan--is that your stance?
    The President. Well, my feeling is that that is the general 
consensus not only of the United States but of other nations as well, 
that we would be sending the wrong signal at this time if we had a 
substantial reduction in our overall commitment, either in Japan or 
Korea, that this is the time for stability, for working toward reducing 
the possibility of any kind of war, any kind of exchange of missiles, 
any kind of military problem, whatever. And that is what we're trying to 
do. We believe that there's a consensus among our allies to try to 
maintain a sense of stability. And we don't want to do anything that 
could send the wrong signal there.

Asia-U.S. Security Agreement

    Q. Do you have a vision as to the post security--post-cold-war 
security vision in Asia? So far it has mainly been characterized by 
bilateral relationship with Japan and the U.S., South Korea and the 
United States. Do you have a vision or a plan that would stabilize that 
part of the area?
    The President. Well, of course, I hope that we will have more and 
more cooperation with other countries which could lead us, eventually, 
to regional agreements like the regional trade relationship we're 
attempting to develop through APEC.
    For example, we have had military-to-military contacts with China 
which we are now resuming. And while we still have some concerns, and we 
hope the Chinese will issue a white paper on defense and be very 
forthright about it, the truth is that the Chinese have put most of 
their emphasis into growing their economy, not growing their military. 
So we hope that we can see further progress there. There are many issues 
to be resolved there, as you know, and we saw some of them in the recent 
flareup of tensions with Taiwan and the testing in that area. But my 
hope would be that by early in the next century we would see other 
countries coming forward to work with Japan and work with South Korea so 
that we can broaden the responsibilities that we all share there.
    Q. So you can envision maybe a military exercise together with four 
or five different countries?

[[Page 1766]]

    The President. It could well happen. That's what we've tried to do 
in Europe. In Europe, if I could just draw a parallel, as long as 
nation-states have existed on the continent of Europe, there's always 
some sort of political or military division. We are now trying to work 
with the Europeans to try to create a united Europe for the first time 
in history through something called the Partnership For Peace, among 
other things. But the Partnership For Peace is a NATO security 
partnership.
    We've done military training with Russia. We just had, in Kansas, a 
Russian-United States military training exercise. We have had military 
exercises in Poland. We have all these countries working together to 
reinforce each others security, instead of planning to fight with each 
other. That's what I hope will happen throughout the world.

Japan-U.S. Security Relationship

    Q. So I gather you have recognized that U.S.-Japan security treaty 
has become more important?
    The President. Yes. I think it would be a great mistake to think it 
is less important. If you look at the economic power of Japan and the 
United States, at the fact that we are both great democracies, at the 
fact that our--I believe--I know this is not the prevailing opinion, 
perhaps, but I believe our relationship has grown much stronger in the 
last few years, just since I've been President because we are now more 
open about our differences and more steadfast in holding on to our 
strengths and the things we share. That is the way great democracies 
have to behave. And I think until we live in a very different world than 
we now live in, we should maintain our security relationship as well as 
our economic partnership and our political commitment to democracy and 
freedom. The things go together, and it's not time to change that.

Japan-U.S. Trade

    Q. If I may turn the topic a little bit more to economics. The 
small, tragic incident in Okinawa flared up into such a major diplomatic 
incident. Perhaps it is because for the past 2\1/2\ years while you have 
been in office, Japan and United States has been engaged in very severe 
trade negotiations that maybe--concentration on the economy has brought 
adverse feelings among us.
    The President. Well, you see, I believe that--let's take it back to 
where we were when I became President. The United States had just 
experienced the slowest job growth rate we'd had in 4 years, in the last 
4 years--since we had a Great Depression--for 60 years. The feelings of 
resentment in the United States were building up over the enormous trade 
surplus Japan had in our dealings. And the feeling was that nothing ever 
happens.
    So what I did was to launch a broad-based outreach to Japan to 
reaffirm the security relationship, to reaffirm our political 
partnership, to say that ultimately we needed a regional and a global 
approach to trade. So we had this world leaders meeting at APEC, and 
Japan and the United States helped to resolve the GATT world trade 
agreement so we'd have a global trading system. And we had an aggressive 
approach to our individual bilateral trade differences.
    But look what's happened. Because of good-faith efforts in Japan and 
the United States, we have conducted and completed an unprecedented 20 
trade agreements. The Japanese trade surplus with the United States has 
gone down for 5 months in a row. We have had a big increase in our 
exports in the 20 areas where we have agreements and overall. And the 
Japanese, at a time of economic difficulty for Japan, have gotten a 
wider choice of goods at lower cost. So I believe we are working toward 
a much stronger and more balanced partnership.
    Again, I would say, I would hope the people--there is no American 
who ever would defend or be insensitive to what happened in Okinawa. We 
felt the same way about that the Japanese people did. And again, I would 
say that's why I so much wanted to come now, to say these things 
directly to the people of Japan. But these trade difficulties should be 
seen in the context of our long-term partnership. And we are working 
through difficulties in the way that mature democracies must. So I see 
it as a plus, not a negative, over time. No one likes to read about 
conflict or hear about it on the evening news, but conflict is also a 
part of life--that mature and disciplined people resolve their conflicts 
in a way that is consistent with their values and the long-term 
interests of their people. And I believe that's what we're doing.
    Q. I think you are right in saying that there have been many 
economic progresses, but there does seem times the level of inflammatory 
rhet-


[[Page 1767]]

oric has unfortunately gone up, partly because we lost a common enemy, 
partly because of our protracted trade imbalance. People are seeing that 
the ``special relationship,'' quote and unquote, does no longer exist 
between the two countries. In that case, we have to lower our mutual 
expectations. What are your comments?
    The President. I think that's very wrong, at least in the United 
States. It's my experience--you know, we have a few politicians here who 
still engage in inflammatory rhetoric against Japan--but not just Japan. 
If they--anybody here who engages in inflammatory rhetoric against Japan 
is probably engaging in inflammatory rhetoric against a lot of other 
places, too----
    Q. That's right.
    The President. ----always trying to blame America's problem on 
someone else. What I tried to do was to preserve and strengthen this 
special relationship by setting up a system through Ambassador Kantor, 
who is in Japan today, to handle the trade problems in a very 
disciplined way in the context of our overall partnership with Japan. It 
is a very special relationship.
    We are still the world's two most powerful economies. We are still 
committed to democracy. We have this unusual, wonderful security 
partnership that has helped to keep war out of the lives of the people 
of Asia for the last 50 years. These are major, major important things. 
And we cannot abandon our special relationship until there are others 
who have as much commitment to the future of the world as we do and who 
have the same ability we do to secure peace and prosperity. No one else 
can do that in the way America and Japan have. So to me, the 
relationship is more important than ever. And I hope it would not be 
abandoned just because the cold war is over. We still have our 
affirmative responsibilities.
    Q. Well, we are very must gratified to hear your comments. But 
still, some people think that the major cause of imbalance is a rather 
microscopic savings investment imbalance, whereas too much political 
emphasis has been given to individual trade issues.
    The President. My own view is that they're both to blame. And if you 
look at what I have done since I've been President--we had one of the 
highest deficits of all the large economies in the world when I became 
President--trade deficits--and a very low savings rate. We have now 
taken our deficit down to the point where--this year at least--it's the 
lowest of all the G-7 countries.
    And we're committed to balancing the budget. Our debate here is over 
how to balance the budget, not whether. We are looking at ways to 
increase the savings rate. We are trying to increase our own 
productivity. And we know that we will never, ever have an overall 
balance of trade in the world until we have done something about our 
Government deficit, done something about our savings and investment 
rate.
    But we also know that it's important that, insofar as possible, all 
countries move toward open, transparent trading systems and treat each 
other fairly. So to me, both things must be done. And I have never tried 
to ask Japan or any other nation to do anything as an excuse for not 
having America do what we must do as well.
    Q. So would you like to concentrate next phase on structure issues 
like debt regulation with Japanese counterparts?
    The President. Well, I think as Japan goes through its deregulation 
program, prices will drop in Japan and the quality of life for average 
Japanese families will go way up. It will also lead to the purchase of 
more American products, and that will create more good, high-wage jobs 
for Americans. But you ought to pursue these policies primarily because 
it's good for the Japanese people. Incidentally, it will help our 
people. But great nations must obviously look after the interests of 
their own people first.
    At this point, your economy is so advanced and so powerful, you even 
have Japanese companies now, if you will, out-sourcing some of your 
manufacturing in other Asian countries that are still developing.
    The reason for opening your economy and deregulating now is not to 
make me happy--although it will create a lot more American jobs and I 
want you to do it for that reason--but because it's also good for the 
Japanese people. The Japanese people have worked so hard for so many 
years and now, with these changes, you can bring the benefits of their 
hard work to them in the form of a better quality of life. That's why I 
think it should be done.
    Q. Another bad news that came from the United States to Japan 
recently was the fact that one of the Japanese commercial banks, Daiwa 
Bank, was ordered to stop their oper-


[[Page 1768]]

ations in the United States. Your view on that decision?
    The President. Well, because it's under active investigation here, 
under our system, I can't really comment on it, except to say that I 
regret it very much. But it should not be taken as a signal that we do 
not welcome Japanese investment in our financial institutions or the 
establishment of Japanese financial operations here. You have a lot of 
other extremely successful operations in America--the Mura Securities I 
just think of as one I could mention off the top of my head.
    So we have to enforce our laws in the way we are required to. And I 
can't comment on that specific case, but please do not believe we do not 
want your country to have the opportunity to send its people here to 
compete, because we do.

Japanese Economy

    Q. But in general, Japan has been suffering--the Japanese Bank has 
been suffering with huge amounts of bad debt. Are you concerned about 
the Japanese economy, where it's going and what effect it might have in 
the global economy?
    The President. Obviously, we're concerned about the financial system 
problems that are reported here. But keep in mind, we went through a 
terrible situation here 10 years ago, where because of a lot of 
imprudent things that were done in many--10, 15 years ago, we had a 
collapse of our savings and loan sector. It cost a lot of money to fix 
it, but fundamentally, the American people were working hard and 
becoming more productive. And we got through it.
    And I think that you'll--I'm not familiar enough to know the details 
and what the options are, but this is something the Japanese people will 
have to address. But don't forget, fundamentally, you have this 
enormously powerful economy. You have a great technology base. You have 
an enormously competitive citizenry. The underlying health and power of 
the Japanese economy is great. So you'll just have to figure out what 
has to be done, and I'm sure the people will do it. And it won't 
permanently weaken the country.
    All these problems--I find that whether we have them or you have 
them or some other country has them, people will always have problems as 
long as we live on this planet. And the important thing is to address 
them quickly and in a disciplined way and so that the underlying 
strengths of the people involved can rise to the top.

Japanese Investment

    Q. May I tell you on a negative case, Japanese companies have had 
bad investment here in the States like yours in Whitewater--I might be 
wrong----
    The President. If you invest money, you might lose it; that's the 
way the market system goes. [Laughter.]
    Q. And the result is that more Japanese companies are investing more 
into Asia. What would you like to think about that?
    The President. Well, I think, partly that's quite understandable 
because in those rapidly growing countries which are near to you, if you 
put more investment in, it is logical to assume that they will become 
better markets for your products. And a lot of those countries are close 
at hand, and they have rapidly growing economies.
    In our country, some of the Japanese investments--which were, just 
like a lot of Americans, somewhat speculative in nature in certain 
areas--when the markets turned down, a lot of money was lost. On the 
other hand, I think there will always be a healthy level of Japanese 
investment in America because of the importance of the American market. 
And the long-term, stable Japanese investments that are tied to 
production and to productivity are doing very well in this country, and 
I expect they will continue to do well.
    And I might say, the American people have benefited from that. We 
have learned a lot in our own efforts to improve the productivity of our 
people, especially in manufacturing, from the investments of Japanese 
companies in the United States and from watching how your companies 
operate and the relationships between management and labor and the power 
given to the workers in the productive sector to grow the economy. So I 
think it will be quite good in the future.

U.S. Economy

    Q. Well, let me complement the question by asking you something more 
positive. As you say, the productivity in this country is going up. The 
basis of manufacturing industry has become robust. Consumer confidence 
is back. But what we are seeing is your phenomenal growth in export 
performance. Is the United States trans-


[[Page 1769]]

forming itself from import-oriented country to an export-oriented 
country?
    The President. Oh, I think what we want is a more balanced economy. 
That's what I work for. And you're right, it's working. We have the 
stock market at an all-time high in this country, the creation of small 
businesses at a record pace. And we have the lowest combined rates of 
unemployment and inflation we've had in 25 years, because we're 
following a balanced approach: bring down the deficit, investment in 
technology and education, push for more exports, do it in a balanced 
way.
    Our exports have increased in only 3 years by something like 35 
percent to the world and even more in Asia. So there, again, I would say 
the special relationship is important. Over half of America's exports go 
to Asia. Over 3 million American jobs are tied directly to the health 
and welfare of the Asian economies. And again, that makes our 
partnership with Japan, from my point of view, even more important.
    But if I could bring it back at home, that's one reason, 
unfortunately, I have to stay here now, because what we have done is to 
follow a balanced approach: bring the deficit down, work to balance the 
budget, but keep investing in people and technology and keep the power 
to promote America's business interest and the workers' interest around 
the world.
    And so, if you look at the fight we're having here, I want the 
Japanese people to know we're not fighting about whether we should 
balance our budget and be more responsible so we don't take so much 
money out of the world's economy. We agree we must balance our budget. 
But I think--what we have here is--how to balance the budget is a debate 
between two different visions of the future for our own society. I want 
a society where we grow in strength together, and I believe the 
alternative proposal would have us growing apart.
    For example, I don't think we have to balance the budget by raising 
the medical costs of our poorest senior citizens. I don't think we have 
to balance the budget by depriving our younger people of the opportunity 
to be in Head Start programs. I think it's a mistake to say we have to 
balance the budget by reducing the number of college scholarships or 
raising the cost of university loans or by cutting aid to disabled 
children and their families. These are matters really important to 
debate here. I know we don't have to do that to balance the budget, and 
I think that would be bad for our economy.
    I believe the strength of the Japanese economy rests more than 
anything else in the disciplined pursuit, over a long period of time, of 
a responsible investment policy, a responsible production policy, a 
responsible export policy, and the investment into people--education, 
technology, and having all the people do well. That's what we have to do 
in the United States. That's the debate we're having here. That's why, 
in a way, the people of Japan are better off if I stay here now, because 
a strong Japan needs a strong America to be a good partner. We have to 
grow together.

Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation

    Q. Since you mentioned the importance of Asia for the United States, 
I'd like to ask a question in relation to APEC. You convened a summit 
meeting 2 years ago in Seattle, and this year you're not present. 
Perhaps your leadership and credibility in Asia might diminish.
    The President. It might. And I had to think of that. But when the 
President of the United States takes the oath of office of the 
President, he must first promise to deal with the responsibilities that 
the Constitution of our country imposes. If I were to leave now, I would 
be running away from decisions that I have to make here imposed on me by 
the oath that I swore to uphold.
    I have already called not only Prime Minister Murayama but President 
Kim of South Korea, President Soeharto of Indonesia. I'm trying to reach 
President Jiang Zemin now. I'm going to talk to as many of the APEC 
leaders personally as I can to apologize for not being there and to say 
the Vice President's going to be there, because we--this APEC leaders 
partnership is very important to our country and very important to your 
country, because what we want is a growing Asia in the context of a 
global trade system and the agreement. And I want to say one thing 
before we run out of time. Prime Minister Murayama and his government 
have done an excellent job in leading APEC this year. And the agreement 
that will be announced there to deal with comprehensive trade issues, to 
do it in a flexible way, to have regular reviews of how we're doing and 
moving toward an integrated economy, it's a very, very important 
agreement. And it proves that we need APEC.

[[Page 1770]]

    And I hope that my one-time absence will not be interpreted by my 
colleagues and friends, the leaders of the other nations, as a loss of 
interest, because this is a big APEC meeting, thanks largely to the 
leadership of your government.

President's Vision for the 21st Century

    Q. Mr. President, we have two great native Arkansans; one is the 
President, the other one is General Douglas MacArthur. Both of them gave 
us great influence. What would you like to do to the Japanese?
    The President. What I would like to do as President with regard to 
Japan? I would like to be known in the future as the President who 
created a partnership with Japan that took the world beyond the cold war 
into the global village of the 21st century, that together we led the 
world to be a more peaceful and a more prosperous place where more 
people enjoyed freedom and could make the most of their own lives and 
that this is something we did together, that because of our wealth and 
because of our vision and because of our values, that together we were 
the driving forces in making the global village of the 21st century the 
kind of place we would all be proud for our children to grow up in.
    Q. The year 2000 will presumably be the last year in your reelected 
office. And your dreams about the 21st century--short of the United 
States becoming world's policeman, how are you going to bring about the 
safer world?
    The President. Well, my dream for the 21st century is that people, 
nations will define their greatness not in terms of their military power 
but in terms of the quality of life their people enjoy, their ability to 
preserve our common natural environment and our ability to give every 
person the right to make the most of his or her own life. That's how 
we'll define our greatness.
    My vision includes the ability of nation-states to open up their 
systems enough to have a global trading system but to still be strong 
enough to stamp out the organized forces of destruction, to stamp out 
those who would use terrorism and organized crime and drug trafficking 
to kill innocent people. That really is going to be our great challenge, 
to take advantage of all these forces that are pulling the world 
together--essentially, economics and culture pulling the world 
together--and to stamp out these forces that are threatening to tear us 
apart, the forces of racial and religious and ethnic hatred--what we're 
trying to deal with now in Bosnia, hoping to bring peace there--and the 
forces of terrorism, organized crime, and drug trafficking. Those things 
are the great security challenges of the 21st century, along with the 
proliferation of weapons. Those people that want to proliferate 
weapons--we've got to do something about it. When Japan went into 
Cambodia to try to help make the peace--there is something like 10 
million landmines there. We have to do something about that.
    But if we can deal with our differences, our cultural, racial, 
ethnic, religious differences, and deal with the organized criminal and 
the terrorists, then I think the 21st century will be the greatest time 
in all of human history.

1996 Election

    Q. But, Mr. President, he meant you'll be reelected next year.
    The President. I hope he's right. [Laughter.] I let it pass, but I 
hope he's right.
    The main thing is that in a time of change, you can't predict the 
future. And you can't predict what will be popular next month, much less 
next year. The important thing is for us to say, ``Here's what we 
believe in; here's the future we're trying to achieve and the work to 
achieve it.'' And the elections will take care of themselves.

Japan-U.S. Relations

    Q. Finally, we are running out of time so I'd like to ask you if 
there's anything else that you left out to tell the Japanese public?
    The President. I just want to say that I have been coming to Japan 
for many years, first as a Governor, then as President. I have enjoyed 
and been moved by every trip I have ever made there. Again, I personally 
regret that I cannot come now. But I'm doing the right thing for our 
country and for our relationships with Japan by staying here in this 
unprecedented moment. I will come as soon as I can.
    But the important thing is that the Japanese people must know that 
our partnership with Japan is secure and must grow stronger. We owe it 
to ourselves; we owe it to the rest of the world. It is the right thing 
to do, and I will do everything in my power to see that we achieve it.

[[Page 1771]]

    Q. Mr. President, we'd like to thank you very much for joining us.
    The President. Thank you very much. Glad to see you.
    Q. Thank you.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The interview began at 12:30 p.m. in the Roosevelt Room at the 
White House.