    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [March 13, 1998]
    [Pages 371-373]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 371]]

    Remarks Prior to Discussions With Prime Minister Chuan Likphai of Thailand and an Exchange With Reporters
    March 13, 1998

        President Clinton. Let me just begin by welcoming Prime Minister
    Chuan here to the United States. We have had a remarkable friendship
    with Thailand over a long period of time. It is our oldest security
    alliance in the region. We have obviously been very concerned about the
    challenges facing the Thai economy but very, very impressed with the
    leadership of this Prime Minister, his willingness to make difficult
    decisions to bring his country back to a full and robust financial
    health. And we want to do whatever we can to be a good friend and a good
    partner, because we have confidence in the Prime Minister's leadership
    and because we value our partnership with Thailand.
        We welcome you here, sir.
        Q. What are you going to do?
        President Clinton. Would you like to say anything?
        Prime Minister Chuan. I thank President Clinton for inviting me and
    the Thai delegation to visit the United States. Thailand and the United
    States have enjoyed a long history of relations for the past 165 years.
    My visit is aimed to reaffirm and underline the friendship that exists
    between the Thai and American people and between our two countries.
        Thailand is undergoing a period of financial and economic crisis.
    During this time of need, we appreciate the help and support of our
    friends. We, the Thai people, will do whatever we can to overcome our
    crisis, and we are confident that we will be able to regain economic
    stability and be a force that can contribute to world peace and
    progress.
        The people of Thailand wish to thank President Clinton for the
    concern that he has displayed for the crisis in Thailand, the concern
    that he has displayed for the situation in Southeast Asia. We thank him
    for his sincere engagement in that region.
        President Clinton. To answer your question, I will make an
    announcement later today. But I think in fairness, the Prime Minister
    and I should have a chance to speak first because we haven't discussed
    it, and I want to have a chance to hear from him on any ideas he has.
    But we will have one or two things to say later in the day after we've
    had a chance to visit.

    Asian Economies

        Q. Mr. President, is the worst of the Asian financial crisis now
    behind us?
        President Clinton. Well, I hope so, but it's hard to say. I think
    what we're beginning to see is a differentiation on the part of the
    markets in dealing with these different countries. And that's what,
    first and foremost, I would like to see; that is, we don't want to see
    the whole region thrown into a long-term recession because of a
    perception that everything is the same everywhere. I think that what we
    want is at least to get the investors where they're making individual
    judgments about nations and about particular investments within nations
    and then get everybody on a path to recovery and reform.
        We've worked hard with Indonesia, with South Korea, with Thailand.
    We want to support the efforts of the IMF and others in Malaysia, the
    Philippines, all these countries that have had either a temporary or
    longer term difficulties. So I hope the worst is over, but I think that
    every leader is going to have to do what this Prime Minister has done,
    which is to try to follow a rigorous path that will build confidence in
    the investment community, get the flows going back into the country of
    the money necessary to get business going and strengthen the lives of
    ordinary people.

    Future Visits to Russia and China

        Q. Are you going to China and Russia this spring? Have you moved up
    a travel schedule?
        President Clinton. I do not have a definite schedule for Russia.
    Prime Minister Yeltsin--I mean, President Yeltsin and I agreed a long time ago, probably a year or so
    ago, that I would come to him for the next visit, but that it would
    occur after the Russian Duma ratified START II so that we could begin to
    work on START III and really get the--take the next big step in lowering
    the nuclear weapons arsenals of both countries.
        Q. They haven't done that?

    [[Page 372]]

        President Clinton. Not yet. That's something that I talked to Prime
    Minister Chernomyrdin about when he was
    here, and the Vice President did. If the
    Russian Duma should decide to do that, then I would attempt to respond,
    as I promised President Yeltsin over a year
    ago I would.
        Now, on the China issue, let me explain why this trip was moved up.
    Ambassador Sasser and other advisers of mine
    have been arguing for months, literally for months, that I should move
    up the trip to China. Because we had such a successful summit here with
    President Jiang, a lot got done. Much has
    happened since then. I felt that, after listening to them, that they
    were probably right, that even though we had a lot of trips this year,
    so we tried to space them out, that our relationship with China is so
    important that we needed to try to build on it and make some more
    progress.
        Now, just yesterday the Chinese announced their intention to sign
    the Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. This is a very significant
    step forward in our attempts to work within to establish rational legal
    systems and to elevate the cause of democracy and human rights. So I was
    very pleased by that. And I expect that they will sign it soon. So we
    will continue to work on that, and we're trying to work out the details
    of the trip now.

    Northern Ireland Peace Process

        Q. Sir, what about Belfast?
        President Clinton. Well, as you know, we're about to celebrate St.
    Patrick's Day here, and we expect that many of the major players in the
    Irish peace process will be here. I will do my best to see them all. I
    am--I've been very involved in this from the beginning. I think that the
    next 60 to 90 days are very, very important, and we have to do
    everything we can to try to get the parties together to move in a timely
    fashion.
        Whether I would go to Belfast or not when I'm going to--more or less
    around the time I'll be in England for the G-8 meeting would depend upon
    what the posture of things is then with the peace process and, after
    consultation with Prime Minister Blair and Prime
    Minister Ahern, whether I could make any kind
    of constructive contribution.
        There's been absolutely no decision and hardly any discussion of
    that. I am far more--that's a very premature thing. The more important
    thing is when the parties are here next week, can the United States play
    a positive role in trying to push the Irish peace process forward? It's
    a very--that's a very important thing and, in a way, much bigger in
    terms of its potential impact than a question of an Irish trip.

    China

        Q. Are your confident that China is living up to the nuclear
    agreement?
        President Clinton. You're referring, I think, to the story in the
    paper this morning. Let me say that when I made the agreement with
    President Jiang, sometime after that information
    came to us that indicated that there was a low-level discussion--not a
    high-level one in the Chinese Government, a low-level discussion--about
    the possibility of some transfers which would have been inconsistent
    with that agreement. We followed through on it. The Chinese followed
    through on it and kept their agreement to the letter.
        So I think that the revelation in the paper this morning is further
    support for the proposition that we should be engaged with China. The
    Prime Minister and other Asian leaders who are friends with the United
    States have urged us to build a stronger, constructive partnership with
    China. And so I'm well pleased, actually, with the way that issue came
    out.

    Legislative Agenda

        Q. Sir, do you think the Patients' Bill of Rights is going to pass,
    sir?
        President Clinton. Do I believe it will?
        Q. Do you believe the Patients' Bill of Rights will pass, given that
    you're to receive the report of the quality care commission today?
        President Clinton. I do. I hope it will pass this year, and I think
    there are relatively few differences. The difference between the
    business and the insurance community on the one hand, and the medical
    and patient community on the other, about many things, but there's, you
    know, there's some discussion about the litigation issues and all that.
    We have to resolve some of the differences. I have been impressed with
    the number of Republicans who have agreed with what I think is an almost
    unanimous position of the Democratic Caucus in the House, and I think
    there's a similar sense in the Senate that it is urgent that we do
    something on this. So I'm hopeful that we can do it this year. If we--
    I'm hopeful that that will happen.

    [[Page 373]]

        I hope we get the tobacco settlement. Obviously, I'd like it if my
    entire legislative program could be adopted this year, as well as some
    of their ideas, but at a minimum we shouldn't leave without dealing with
    the tobacco issue.
        Q. Are you going to keep Congress in until it passes, sir?
        President Clinton. Well, I would certainly consider that. I don't
    think they should leave without resolving the tobacco thing. You know,
    passing over from one year to the next is understandable in a measure of
    this size and magnitude, but we're talking about 1,000 children a day
    who are going to have their lives shortened. You can't justify taking
    another whole year to deal with this. The issues are somewhat
    complicated, but they're not that difficult, and they ought to be dealt
    with this year.
        Q. Once the Paula Jones case is resolved----

    NCAA Basketball Tournament

        Q. Did you see the tournament?
        President Clinton. It's a great tournament. It's the most
    interesting tournament we've had in some time, really.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:05 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to President Boris Yeltsin and Prime
    Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia; President Jiang Zemin of China;
    James M. Sasser, U.S. Ambassador to China; Prime Minister Tony Blair of
    the United Kingdom; and Prime Minister Bertie Ahern of Ireland. A tape
    was not available for verification of the content of these remarks.