[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 48 (Monday, December 1, 1997)]
[Pages 1888-1890]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Arrival and an Exchange With Reporters in Denver, Colorado

November 22, 1997

    The President. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to make a few 
remarks about the conference that I'm about to leave for, of Asia-
Pacific leaders in Vancouver. But before I do, I'd like to say a couple 
of words about a topic the city of Denver is very much focused on now.
    Recently, this wonderful city has witnessed several vicious, violent 
crimes. The Justice Department has opened a civil rights investigation 
into at least one of those cases; therefore, I cannot comment 
specifically on it. But I can say this: We must not, and I know the 
people of Denver will not, tolerate acts of violence that are fed by 
hate against people of another color. And we must not tolerate violence 
and hatred targeted against police officers, the people who put their 
lives on the line for us every day. And finally, we must honor and 
support the efforts of our fellow Americans, like the courageous woman 
here in Denver, who act to prevent or mitigate such violence.
    These tragic incidents are painful illustrations of why our recent 
White House Conference on Hate Crimes and our race initiative are so 
important and why we have to do more to combat acts like this and to 
prevent them, by removing the poison that breeds them from all our 
hearts.
    Let me also say it is wonderful to be back in Denver. I appreciate 
Governor Romer and Congressman Skaggs and Congresswoman DeGette for 
flying out here with me. And

[[Page 1889]]

I was glad to be greeted by Mrs. Webb and a number of other officials. I 
want to thank the people of Denver again for the wonderful job they did 
in hosting the Summit of the Eight this summer. I'd also like to say a 
special word of appreciation to Congressman Skaggs, as he leaves his 
career in Congress, for all that he has done.
    Now, as you all know, I'm on my way to Vancouver for a summit of 
leaders of the Asia-Pacific region to continue our efforts to build a 
community of Asia-Pacific nations dedicated to working together for 
security, prosperity, and peace.
    America is and must remain a Pacific power as we enter the 21st 
century. Our security demands it. We fought three wars in Asia in this 
century; 37,000 American troops still stand guard for freedom in Korea; 
a profound transition is underway in China, the most populous nation in 
the world. Our prosperity requires it because Asia buys nearly a third 
of what we sell abroad, supporting millions of high-paying American 
jobs. More than ever, America's future and Asia's future are joined.
    With such deep stakes in the region, our security and our economic 
interests must go hand in hand, including strengthening our security 
alliances in the region with Japan and other nations; building a 
constructive relationship with China; promoting peace on the Korean 
Peninsula, where I am very pleased that we have a glimmer of hope in the 
initiation next month of the first permanent peace talks since the end 
of the Korean war; and opening the markets to American goods and 
services. APEC is an important forum for encouraging partnership and 
progress in these areas.
    In 1993, I convened the first meeting ever of Asia-Pacific leaders 
in Blake Island, where we embraced a common vision of an Asia-Pacific 
community, of shared strength and prosperity and peace. Since then, we 
committed to achieve free trade in the area by 2020. We forged a 
blueprint to achieve our goal. We laid the foundation last year with 
concrete market opening initiatives, including an information technology 
agreement that cuts to zero tariffs in computers, semiconductors, and 
telecommunications. This amounts to a $5 billion cut on the sales of 
American high-tech products abroad, a cut that will lead, we believe, to 
hundreds of thousands of new high-paying American jobs.
    Now, in Vancouver we'll take the steps to make APEC work for our 
people. One of our top priorities there will be strengthening and 
stabilizing Asia's financial markets so that their economies and ours 
stay on the right track. That's important for America because our 
economic strength is increasingly tied to theirs.
    To lay the groundwork for future growth, I'll also keep pushing to 
reduce barriers of trade to American products. These international trade 
and financial flows have helped to drive Asia's strong growth in the 
past, and if the leaders act aggressively to promote financial stability 
and to keep opening the markets at the same time, Asia's future growth 
prospects and, therefore, America's are stronger.
    Our approach to financial stability stands on two pillars. First, 
each country must take responsibility for putting sound economic 
policies in place, including open and reliable economic information and 
solid financial deregulation--regulation, excuse me--to bolster investor 
confidence.
    Second, the international community must be prepared to help 
countries that are taking the right measures themselves, with the 
International Monetary Fund playing the central role.
    Last week in Manila, our Asian-Pacific financial officials created a 
framework to promote these principles, establishing a process for 
countries to provide speedy financial support on a case-by-case basis to 
help a neighbor bolster its reserve with a second line of defense after 
IMF funding; setting up a regional forum to monitor, identify, and 
address risks to financial stability before they escalate; and 
recommending that in our global economy, where capital flows are faster 
than ever, the IMF create a new window for providing short-term 
financing. I'll be working closely with the other leaders in Vancouver 
to advance this framework for action. I'll also be working to keep on 
tearing down barriers to trade where America's competitiveness is 
strong.
    Already, our exports to Asia are worth $250 billion. Imagine the 
opportunity for our

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workers and businesses as trade barriers are cut further. In all my 
discussion with Asian and with Latin American leaders, my message is 
clear: We need to keep working to open these markets; it's the best path 
for prosperity, for growth, for good jobs, for better lives for people 
in America and people in all these other nations.
    We can build this future of better prosperity, stability, and 
prosperity we committed ourselves to in Blake Island, Washington, in 
1993 if we keep working on it in Vancouver.
    Thank you very much.

Situation in Iraq

    Q. Mr. President--[inaudible]--sanctions on Iraq?
    The President. I reiterated my position, and I'll be glad to say it 
again. The United States is concerned about the welfare of the people of 
Iraq; we don't want to see them suffer unnecessarily. We took the lead 
in putting in place a policy in the United Nations that permits us to 
expand humanitarian assistance there. But the most important thing is 
that those inspectors need to be back at work, and they need to work 
without impediment. Mr. Butler gave a report today to the United Nations 
Security Council which points out that there are still impediments to 
their work, and he recommends a more robust inspection regime. That is 
what we need to focus on.
    I understand President Yeltsin's position, and I thank him for the 
work they did to end the crisis, at least temporarily--we hope it's 
ended permanently, but we're not sure. But keep in mind, it is more 
difficult for these inspectors to do their work with regard to 
biological and chemical weapons than it is with regard to missile and 
nuclear issues under their jurisdiction. And we have to do more.
    And again I say, I want to compliment the members of the press. We 
sometimes have our differences, but I think there has been a real effort 
to make the public aware of the storage of chemical and biological 
agents that Iraq admitted having in 1989 and now has no records, cannot 
produce records proving it destroyed--and then the admitted stores that 
were there in 1995, just 2 years ago.
    So I just want to--what I emphasized to President Yeltsin is we have 
come a long way by working together, and we have to continue to work 
together. And the decisions about what to do with the inspections should 
be made based on the evidence, the facts, and the professional judgment 
of the inspectors. Neither the political inclinations of the United 
States nor of our allies should control those decisions.
    This is about the future safety not only of the people in Iran and 
on its borders but indeed of the whole world. It's not hard to carry 
this stuff around in small amounts once it's developed.
    So it was a very good conversation, a very forthright one, and I 
thought a constructive one, and I believe it will enable us to take the 
next steps by working together.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 11:58 a.m. at the Denver International 
Airport. In his remarks, he referred to Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado; 
Wilma J. Webb, wife of Mayor Wellington E. Webb of Denver; Richard 
Butler, chairman, United Nations Special Commission; and President Boris 
Yeltsin of Russia.