[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
[June 5, 2007]
[Pages 681-685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Following Discussions With President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic in Prague, Czech Republic
June 5, 2007

    President Klaus. Ladies and gentlemen, unusually, there are three of 
us here, but our meetings took on a platform of the Prime Minister of 
the Czech Republic participating. And what we wanted to show by that was 
that with regard to the United States, the opinions of the President of 
the Republic and of the Prime Minister are identical. This was to 
demonstrate that.
    We are happy about this is the second time we can welcome here the 
American President in the course of his office. He is the first American 
President to be here for a second time in his term. And we are also 
happy about he is actually starting his visit to Europe here.
    We regard his visit as a confirmation of a traditional friendship 
between the Czech Republic and the United States, a friendship that has 
always been confirmed in the key moments of the previous century: in 
1918, in 1945, and in 1989. We very much appreciate the U.S. friendship. 
There are things to follow up on, and I suppose this visit has brought 
new, enriching aspects to our friendship.
    We've exchanged information on the situation in our respective 
countries and on the situation throughout the world. We are aware of the 
fact that the U.S. is highly responsible for the world's development at 
the moment, and I would like to emphasize that President Bush and the 
U.S. enjoys the support of the Czech Republic in that regard. We clearly 
demonstrate that in our participation in missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, 
Kosovo, et cetera.
    We also talked about the stationing of the U.S. military facility in 
this country and in the neighboring country of Poland. And I think we've 
understood--we agree with President Bush on that. We regard it as 
important about President Bush has promised to make maximum efforts to 
explain these issues to Russia and President Putin. We have pointed it 
out to our guest that it is very important that we win maximum support 
for this project of the Czech public, who are very sensitive to those 
issues, and I suppose that this is what President Bush clearly realizes.

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    We've also exchanged views on the European integration process, and 
we've assured Mr. President that both myself and, too, the Government of 
the Czech Republic--the matter is that the U.S. must not be regarded as 
a competitor of Europe. We really are not involved in creating a united 
Europe as a certain counterbalance to the U.S. This is not our goal. We 
really care about a strong transatlantic relationship, relationship 
between the Czech Republic and the U.S.
    We are aware of the fact that our bilateral relationship is 
seamless. And we have emphasized to the President that the solution of 
the visa waiver issue would certainly help that to be regarded that way 
throughout our country.
    May I thank again President Bush for his short, but very busy visit 
to the Czech Republic and for his very open and friendly dialog we've 
engaged in. Thank you, Mr. President.
    President Bush. Laura and I are really 
pleased to be back in this magnificent city. As the President noted, I 
had the honor of being here once before during my Presidency. We had a 
great stay then, and I'm really looking forward to my time here.
    It's beginning an important trip to Europe. Obviously, I'm off to 
the G-8 later on this evening. I think it's important for the people of 
the Czech Republic to know, however, that my first stop is here. And the 
reason why is because the people of the United States marvel at the 
great strength of character that the people of the Czech Republic have 
shown, your great desire for freedom. People in this country took risk 
necessary so that the people could actually live in a free society.
    And, Mr. President, we're honored to call you friend. We appreciate 
very much our relationship--our bilateral relationship and our 
relationship in the transatlantic community. I thank you very much for 
being strong allies, Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. President, against 
extremists and radicals who would deny others the chance to live in a 
free society.
    We live in a world in which there are ideologically driven people 
who murder the innocent in order to achieve their strategic objectives. 
And I thank the Czech Government, as well as the people of this 
important country, for their steadfast refusal to allow the extremists 
to intimidate, allow the extremists to undermine young democracies.
    I appreciate so very much the fact that you have put troops in 
harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. I expressed my deepest sympathies to 
the families who have lost a loved one. I would hope that those families 
understand, the cause is noble and just and necessary for peace for the 
long term.
    I appreciate very much the fact that the Czech Republic supported 
our Fund for Democracy. One of the first countries to step up was the 
Czech Republic, under the leadership of the President. When given a 
chance to help others realize the blessings of a free society, this 
important country stood up and said: ``We want to work together with 
others to bring the blessings of liberty to those who have not had it.''
    I want to thank very much the Government for stepping up and 
supporting those who have--don't have an opportunity to speak for 
themselves, whether they be the dissidents in Belarus or in Cuba. I find 
it inspiring to be in a country where the leadership and the people are 
willing to say: ``We listen carefully for the voices of those who have 
been imprisoned. We care deeply about human rights and human dignity not 
only in our own country but worldwide.'' I am in such a country. And so, 
Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, I'm proud to stand with you here.
    We talked a lot about our mutual concerns. There's no greater issue 
for the people of the Czech Republic than visa waiver. I understand the 
issue well. I understand why people of this country would say: Here we 
are, sacrificing along with the United

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States in Afghanistan and Iraq, yet our people don't have the same visa 
rights as other countries that might not be so supportive in the effort 
against the extremists. I see that contradiction, and, therefore, I'm a 
strong supporter in changing our visa waiver policy. I will work with 
Congress to come up with a policy that, of course, meets our needs, 
security needs, for example, but also treats the people of the Czech 
Republic with respect and who listens to those cries.
    I know this is a frustrating issue for your leadership. People in 
the Czech Republic say: ``Get it done now. We're tired of waiting.'' I 
know that, Mr. President. I just want to assure you I'll work as hard as 
I possibly can. We're involved in a very important immigration debate 
here--in the United States now--and the visa waiver is a part of this 
important dialog. And the only thing I can do is to assure the people 
I'll work with Congress to get something done in a constructive fashion.
    And then, of course, we discussed the missile defense issue. Let me 
first talk about a general principle when it comes to relations with 
Russia. The cold war is over; it ended. The people of the Czech Republic 
don't have to choose between being a friend to the United States or a 
friend with Russia; you can be both. We don't believe in a zero-sum 
world. We don't believe that one should force a country to choose. We 
believe, as a matter of fact, when we work together, we can achieve 
important objectives.
    One objective is to safeguard free nations from the possibility of a 
missile attack launched from a rogue regime. See, that's a true threat 
to peace. As I've told President Putin: 
``Russia is not our enemy.'' The enemy of a free society such as ours 
would be a radical or extremists or a rogue regime trying to blackmail 
the free world in order to promote its ideological objectives. And so my 
attitude on missile defense is, is that this is a purely--it's not my 
attitude, it's the truth--it's a purely defensive measure, aimed not at 
Russia but at true threats.
    And therefore, as the President mentioned, I look forward to having 
conversations with President Putin, not only 
at the G-8 but up in the United States when he comes over. And my 
message will be: Vladimir--I call him Vladimir--that you shouldn't fear 
a missile defense system. As a matter of fact, why don't you cooperate 
with us on a missile defense system? Why don't you participate with the 
United States? Please send your generals over to see how such a system 
would work. Send your scientists. Let us have the ability to discuss 
this issue in an open forum where we'll be completely transparent. And 
I'll remind him that we're having these discussions not only bilaterally 
with the Czech Republic and Poland but also through the context of NATO, 
that the missile defense system will be coordinated with NATO.
    And so I just want the people of this important country to 
understand that our intention is--and the reality is, is that we'll 
protect ourselves from the true threat. It seems like to me, it's in 
this country's interest to work cooperatively with the latest 
technologies to provide protection not only for themselves but for 
others. It's a noble gesture and an important gesture. And I'll tell 
Russia that they need not fear such a system, that Russia is--with whom 
we'd like to have positive relations. That's a complex relationship, no 
doubt. But there's a lot of areas where we can work together to deal 
with common threats. And that will be my message, Mr. President, to 
President Putin, not only in Germany but when 
he comes to visit me in the United States.
    We had a really important and interesting discussion. We discussed a 
lot of important issues. That's what you should expect friends to do. 
I'm convinced that this relationship is really good for the United 
States of America, and I will continue to work to foster good relations.
    Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your 
hospitality. I thank you

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for your important discussions, and thanks for giving me a chance to 
discuss these issues with the media.
    Prime Minister Topolanek. Mr. Honored President, I'm very happy that 
this meeting has taken place. And I will repeat what Mr. President Klaus 
said: I'm very happy that this meeting took place in this format. It 
appears that after a long time, the foreign policy of the Czech Republic 
goes in the same direction; it is coordinated; we are pulling in one 
direction. That's good news not only for the U.S., that's good news 
primarily for the people in this country.
    This visit has confirmed that there are no major problems--no 
problems, I should say--between our two countries. On the contrary, the 
U.S. and the Czech Republic share the same values. Although each of 
those countries has a different size and, as a result, carries a 
different portion of responsibility, we need to say that is the same 
kind of responsibility. That's why we coparticipate in peace missions; 
we are involved in combating terrorism; we want to be involved in 
collective defense by building the missile defense system in the Czech 
Republic and in Poland.
    I would like to emphasize that the cooperation with the U.S. does 
not concern only security issues, human rights issues, et cetera, and 
peacekeeping missions, et cetera. This is what the media has been paying 
most attention to. The U.S. is our--not only our major ally, but it is 
one of the major investors in the Czech Republic. Apart from that, we 
are after business cooperation, technology cooperation. The U.S. is 
world's innovation leader. It is dominant in science. And maybe this is 
our condition--and I may be putting this in a light at all--this may be 
our condition for the installation of the radar facility in the Czech 
Republic. We want cooperation in science technology and innovation. This 
is what we regard as very important, not only for the missile defense 
itself but for the Czech Republic and the U.S., as such.
    I want to say that the point is not only to site the facility in the 
Czech Republic, but this is about the joint will for defense of freedom. 
And I think the Czechs are much more sensitive to that than any other--
many other European nations. That's why we want to be involved. And we 
want to shift the collective defense not only to the Czech Republic but 
also to make sure it stretches over other friends in Europe.
    In response to media speculation, I would like to say that neither 
me nor the American President link the siting of the radar facility to 
the visa waiver issue. Visa is unjust; it must be done away with. We've 
started discussing this much earlier than we started the radar facility 
talks. I trust President Bush and his clear promise that he will 
advocate the waiver of the visa, and talking about a bargain is, I 
think, rather undignified in this regard. We would be involved in visa 
talks even without the radar. And on the contrary, we would want to help 
our allies, protect our allies against a rogue state's rockets, even if 
there was no visa problem. These topics are interrelated only because we 
are the Czech Republic and they are the U.S.; otherwise, not.
    We didn't discuss these issues only; we talked about human rights in 
Cuba, in Belarus, and our support of the opposition there. We talked 
about Southern Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Transdnestria's conflicts. We 
talked about Kosovo, about our missions to Afghanistan. We talked about 
energy security. All those are interrelated issues. We talked also about 
a number of other issues. You need to talk about such issues, and I'm 
happy that in a crushing majority of issues, rather in all issues, we 
could find agreement with the American President.
    There are a lot of things that we could not discuss, and I hope we 
will be able to discuss them during my visit to the U.S. that is now 
being prepared.
    If I were to pick two words from George Walker Bush today that 
characterize our

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cooperation and friendship, I would call it active partnership. Thank 
you.
    President Klaus. Thank you, honored President. Thank you, Prime 
Minister. And let me bring this conference to a close. Thank you, and 
have a good day.

Note: The President spoke at approximately 11:50 a.m. in Rothmayer Hall 
at Prague Castle. In his remarks, he referred to President Vladimir V. 
Putin of Russia. President Klaus and Prime Minister Topolanek spoke in 
Czech, and their remarks were translated by an interpreter. A portion of 
these remarks could not be verified because the tape was incomplete.