[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
[November 12, 1999]
[Pages 2078-2079]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



[[Page 2078]]


Remarks Prior to Discussions With President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia and an Exchange With Reporters
November 12, 1999

    President Clinton. Let me say, it's a great honor for me and for all 
of our team to welcome President Wahid here, with the members of his 
government. He is now the leader of the world's third-largest democracy, 
and we are very encouraged by that. We have seen this peaceful 
transition in Indonesia. We've seen a resolution in East Timor, even 
though there's still the problem of refugees in West Timor. And I'm 
looking very much forward to this visit.
    I think the American people know that a strong and stable and 
prosperous and democratic Indonesia is very much in our interest. That's 
the sort of partnership we're interested in pursuing, and I hope I can 
be helpful in that regard.
    So I'm delighted to have you here, Mr. President. And if you'd like 
to make any public comment to the press while you're here----
    President Wahid. Well, thank you for putting a little time for me 
today to visit you, Mr. President, because you know that I come from 
Indonesia just to make sure that we are still great friends of the 
United States, that we are still in good touch with you. And I think 
that in the future, we meet you more than before. So also that you know 
that although there is a shift in policy but not at the expense of the 
American-Indonesian relationship. This is very important to know, since 
you understand that this is one world, so we have to create that kind of 
one world.
    And I'm interested in the comment you made about our religious 
dialog, which goes toward one world, in that sense. You see, from far 
away we heard that you made very nice comments on those inter-religious 
dialogs in Indonesia. And I hope that 2 months to come, in January, 
we'll have a discussion initiated by the Americans from Philadelphia, 
with the Foreign Minister to be a participant there, to be on the 
organizing committee. We will invite, of course, the chief rabbi of 
Israel as well as the former chief rabbi. And from here from the 
Catholic side and so forth, I don't know who will come. But anyway, 
around 50 people will come there of the three Abrahamic traditions.
    And since, you know, that kind of thing is special for us in 
Indonesia, I would like to use this occasion to inform you about this, 
before anything else--economic things. Those are the troubles there.
    So I'm very glad. Today I met people from the World Bank and the IMF 
and then from the Ex-Im Bank, in which we see the possibility of having 
more hands extended towards us, to help us to overcome the difficulties 
in the economic shape, now.
    Well, you mentioned about East Timor. I think that, of course, we 
still have trouble, and we would like the United States to take 
attention to this kind of problem as well. But I would like to inform 
you, Mr. President, that--[inaudible]--will come to Jakarta, and I'll 
meet him. So I hope that will ease a little bit the situation in that 
area, because East Timor is, you know, our brothers.
    President Clinton. Thank you very much. That's very good news.

Pardon for President Soeharto

    Q. President Wahid sir, why are you inclined to be willing to pardon 
your predecessor, President Soeharto? And President Clinton, what do you 
think of the possibility of a pardon for him?
    President Wahid. I think if we--we will use law, of course. And we 
would like to know whether he is guilty or not, according to the law. 
But after that, we will pardon him because of two reasons. First is that 
he was our President, so we have to be careful about this for the future 
generations. Second thing is that, you know, that it's not easy, because 
Mr. Soeharto still has big followers. So we have to be careful not to, 
let's say, topple the cart.
    President Clinton. I think the decision, first of all, is one for 
the Indonesian people and Government to make. And I think every country 
has to decide how to resolve the tension between the pursuit of a 
particular case and the desire for the reconciliation of people, and to 
go forward. And I think that that's a decision that the President has to 
make, and we ought to support his--anything that he's trying to do

[[Page 2079]]

to build democracy and to take Indonesia into the future.
    Yes, you had a question?

Military Assistance to Indonesia

    Q. Mr. President, after this meeting will you resume military 
assistance to Indonesia?
    President Clinton. Well, we're going to talk about that and about 
what kinds of things that we both can do, over a period of time, to 
strengthen our relationships, including the issue of military-to-
military ties. And I look forward to talking to the President about 
that.

Territorial Integrity of Indonesia

    Q. How important is the structural integrity--the territorial 
integrity of Indonesia? And is it more important than the self-
determination of the peoples of Indonesia?
    President Clinton. Well, I don't think it has to be an either/or 
thing. I think the--I said, at the time when Indonesia supported giving 
the East Timorese a vote, that I would support that, and that having 
given them the vote, that the vote had to be respected.
    On the other hand, we support the territorial integrity of 
Indonesia. And I think we have to acknowledge that it's quite a 
challenging task to preserve a democracy so widespread and so diverse. 
And I hope we can be somewhat helpful in the President dealing with this 
challenge.

Abortion Rights and U.N. Dues

    Q. Sir, are you willing to compromise on the abortion funding issue 
in order to get the U.N. dues paid? And where is the status of those 
talks concerning the budget matter?
    President Clinton. Well, I think it's very important that we pay our 
United Nations arrears. We can hardly ask others to do their part unless 
we do ours. And its a big national security issue for us.
    And it's related to this whole idea of whether we're going to 
fulfill our responsibilities in the world. And we have negotiations 
ongoing. They haven't been resolved yet. And I think I should follow the 
same admonition I try to give others when they're involved in 
negotiations around the world: the less we say, the better--until we 
have an agreement that we think we can all stick by. But we're working 
on it, and I hope we can work it out.
    Deputy Press Secretary Richard Siewert, Jr. Thank you, pool.

World Trade Organization Talks in China

    Q. [Inaudible]--Mrs. Barshefsky coming back tomorrow? Have you given 
up hope of any deal, a WTO deal before the end of the year?
    President Clinton. No. You know, they're actually--I have committed 
not to talk about the details of the talks, and I won't. But there are a 
finite and limited number of issues over which there are still 
differences, and they're working on them. And I have not given up.
    I think it would be a very good thing for the world and a very good 
thing for the Chinese if China were in the WTO. But the reason it would 
be a good thing is that it would give them participation in a rule-based 
system, where you could have more and more open trade on fair and 
balanced terms. So the entry has to be a decision that has some real 
integrity to it, and it makes sense in terms of everybody else's 
membership and everybody else's responsibilities. And we're just trying 
to work through that. I hope we can.
    But I think it's a very, very important objective. And I'm certainly 
glad we've pursued it, and we will continue to do so. And I hope we'll 
be successful, but I don't really have anything to say. I wouldn't read 
too much one way or the other into developments so far. Let's wait and 
see where we are when we've actually run out of time.
    Q. On Pakistan, do you have any information?
    President Clinton. Not yet.

Note: The exchange began at 12:20 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this 
exchange.