[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 34, Number 26 (Monday, June 29, 1998)]
[Pages 1222-1231]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Interview With the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg Business News, and 
Business Week

June 19, 1998

Intervention To Support the Yen

    Q. I wanted to talk to you a little bit, to start with, about the 
different reasoning between the 1995 intervention for the dollar and the 
1998 intervention for the yen. In '95 the thought was that the dollar 
was out of line with the economic fundamentals and, therefore, needed to 
be supported. In this particular case we have the yen, which doesn't 
really seem to be out of sync with the fundamentals in the Japanese 
economy. And yet, we went in to intervene. Can you explain to me what 
the different reasoning is?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think the yen would be out of 
line if you look at the fundamental productive capacity and the strength 
of the Japanese economy and the prospect of genuine reform of the 
financial institutions and appropriate economic policy. So that when the 
Prime Minister had agreed to put out the statement being clearer and 
more specific than before about the kinds of things that the Japanese 
Government was prepared to do in those areas, particularly around the 
institutional reform, we thought it was the appropriate thing to do, 
especially since a continued movement in the other direction in our view 
would have been unnecessarily destabilizing and out of line with what we 
think is the reality of the Japanese economic capacity.
    Q. Let me just follow up this way if I could. Obviously, what needs 
to happen in order for Japan to have a recovery would be that the 
Japanese people need to open their wallets and start spending. Is there 
anything that you can do to help Hashimoto inspire them to do that?
    The President. I don't know. But I think that in order to get them 
to change their well known habits for incredible savings, even when it's 
not the right thing to do, they have

[[Page 1223]]

to first of all have confidence in the long-term security and stability 
of the Japanese economy.
    And so I think, you know, the reform of the financial institutions, 
the sense that the world believes the Japanese policy is moving in the 
right direction I think will at least inspire a greater degree of 
confidence in the Japanese people to do that. Part of what has caused 
the recent difficulties was the movement of money out of Japan by 
Japanese citizens. In these other countries it's normally what foreign 
investors do or don't do. And so we hope that this will contribute to 
that.
    Now, in terms of changing the normal habits of Japanese consumers 
that have built up over decades and that were forged at a time when they 
did need an extremely high savings rate, that is something that will 
probably have to take place more within their border than as a result of 
discussion among the Japanese themselves. But first things first, you 
have to get the right framework before people could be asked to do that.

Devaluation of the Yuan

    Q. Bringing the currency question around to China, China has been 
making noises that it might not be able to hold the line on devaluation. 
I was wondering how worried you are about that and what you might be 
able to do in the upcoming summit to ease their concerns or to help 
solve that?
    The President. Well, first of all, I think it's clear to everyone 
that they don't want to devalue, and they've been taking extraordinary 
actions to avoid devaluation. And I think in so doing they have helped 
to contain and to stabilize the situation in Asia. And they deserve 
credit for that. And I personally appreciate it.
    I think the most important thing is to try to alter the conditions, 
which if they continue to worsen would make them feel compelled to 
devalue. And I think from our point of view that they have to make the 
policy call. The best thing we can do is to work with them, with Japan, 
and with others to try to change the conditions so that they will--that 
the pressure to devalue will decrease, rather than increase.

U.S. China Policy

    Q. Mr. President, if I could ask broadly about your China policy. 
How--at this point, as it's evolved, how does your policy now differ 
from the policy followed by the Bush administration? And how do the 
Republican criticisms of it--do they differ from the ways in which the 
Democratic Party and you in the `92 campaign criticized the Bush 
administration's policy?
    The President. Well, first of all, I never felt that it was wrong to 
engage China. I never criticized any President for going to China. I 
always think you're better off talking whenever there's a possibility of 
advancing the ball, if you will.
    I thought it was important after Tiananmen Square that the United 
States be clear, unambiguous, and firm, and to the extent I thought the 
signals were not as clear or unambiguous as they should have been, I 
tried to make that plain. Some people I think concluded from that that I 
thought we ought to, in effect, launch a policy of isolation and try to 
contain and isolate the Chinese and that that would be the best way to 
get change. I never believed that.
    And the reason I'm going to China now is that I think there have 
been a lot of positive changes in the last 6 years. No, we don't have 
all the problems solved, we still have differences with them over human 
rights, over religious rights, over economic issues. In some ways we've 
made the most progress in the nonproliferation area.
    But if you look at what's happened in the 5\1/2\ years I've been 
President, at the work the--you know, the Chinese agreeing to sign the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, accepting the missile technology control 
guidelines, agreeing not to cooperate in nuclear matters with India and 
with unsafeguarded facilities, including those that are in Pakistan; 
they're a member of the NPT. I think we've made significant progress, 
even in the area of human rights. We've seen the release of Wang Dan, 
Wei Jingsheng, Bishop Jingmu.
    And I hope there we will get a real resumption of our dialog. I hope 
this whole legal systems cooperation will continue where I think we can 
have a big impact in

[[Page 1224]]

a positive way, in the way China evolves legally and the way it deals 
with not just commercial matters but also with matters of personal 
freedom. We've clearly had a lot of security cooperation on the Korean 
Peninsula, and China has led these five-party talks in the aftermath of 
the nuclear tests on the Indian subcontinent.
    So I think that this trip is coming at a time when there have been 
substantive changes which justify the kind of measured, principled 
engagement strategy we've followed, and I think it's more than 
justified. And if you ask me how it compares with the previous policy, I 
would say that it may just be the passage of time, but I think there are 
more elements to our policy. We're about to open a DEA office in 
Beijing. And as I said, I hope very much that as a result of this trip 
we'll wind up with a genuinely invigorated human rights dialog and 
perhaps an NGO forum on human rights.
    I don't think there's any ambiguity here about the extent to which 
we have tried to put all the elements of our engagement in China into 
our policy and pursue them all in the way we feel would be most 
effective.
    Q. And the Republican criticisms?
    The President. Well, I think some of them are consistent, some of 
them--some of the Members of the House, for example, in the Republican 
Party, have had a consistent posture on China. Some of it may just be 
election year politics. But to whatever extent it exists, I think that I 
should listen to whatever the critics say and see whether or not they're 
right about any specific things they say.
    But on the larger issue of our engagement in China, I think most 
Americans agree with me. And the most important thing is I'm convinced 
it's in the interest of the United States, and I'm going to pursue it as 
clearly and effectively as I can.

Trade With China

    Q. One of the things that the critics always point to, however, is 
the trade deficit with China; particularly that our exports to China 
dropped below $1 billion in April. Do you have a strategy? Obviously 
there's going to be a yawning trade gap as things happen in Asia. Do you 
have a strategy to sort of combat the isolationists who say that this is 
bad for our country?
    The President. Well, if you take the economic issues--first of all, 
the volume of imports into our country is the function of the strength 
of our economy combined with the weakness of the other Asian economies 
which would normally be markets for China's products. And our people 
have chosen to buy those products, and it has not weakened our economy. 
After all, we had the lowest unemployment rate in 28 years. So that is 
not, for me, the source of the problem. And we knew that the trade 
deficit would worsen this year because of the weakness in Asia.
    But I am concerned about the fact, even though our exports overall, 
notwithstanding the April figures, our exports were up 7 percent in '97 
over '98, and they're running about 17 percent--excuse me, '97 over '96; 
they're running about 17 percent higher in '98 over '97. I do think that 
the United States should have greater market access. And I think if we 
had greater market access, then our exports would be increasing at least 
proportionately to our imports.
    However, my preference would be for China to take those steps that 
would enable it to come into the WTO, not to give America any special 
deals or special preference but to simply adopt a rigorous plan for 
opening new markets. I think Americans would do just fine in a fair and 
free and open market, competing with all other people who would like to 
sell to China. And that's what I hope we can achieve. And I hope we'll 
make some progress on that.
    But in the meanwhile, I have to continue to press for more access 
for American products, and I do have a strategy on it. But we will be 
more vulnerable to those criticisms in this year for the simple reason 
that our economy is especially strong and the problems in Asia are 
especially acute. And the intersection of those things mean we're taking 
on a lot more imports than we ordinarily would.

Asian Economic and Nuclear Crises

    Q. How have the problems, the economic crisis in East Asia, the 
nuclear crisis in South Asia, and ongoing congressional hearings 
affected the agenda for the summit? Has it

[[Page 1225]]

changed since what you would have conceived of at your meeting last 
year?
    The President. Well, I think the first two matters have made the 
importance of the summit, the importance of the trip even greater 
because I think they illustrate in graphic terms that relate to the 
security and the welfare of the American people why a constructive 
partnership with China is important if we can achieve it.
    If you just look at the economic issues--you asked the question 
about Chinese devaluation. The Chinese have tried to be constructive in 
working with us on the whole Asian economic crisis. If you look at the 
Indian subcontinent, just imagine how much more tension there would have 
been after the India and Pakistan tests if China hadn't signed the 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and then responded with a test of its own 
since India asserted that it was really doing this because of China and 
not because of Pakistan.
    And now, you know, the Chinese headed the five-party talks we had 
with the Permanent Five, and they adhered to every statement we made. 
And I think that's important. And it's really--you can't imagine any 
scenario in which we can unravel the difficulties between India and 
Pakistan without China playing a major role. So I think that's very 
important.
    Now, as to the congressional hearings, I think you have to--or 
investigations--the only one that I think has any bearing on the trip--
it won't have any bearing on the trip, but it has a bearing on our 
relationships with China--is all the inquiries into the question of 
whether any elements of the Chinese Government attempted to influence 
the last election by channeling money into either my campaign or the 
campaign of various Members of Congress.
    As I have always said, that is a serious issue. I have raised it 
with the Chinese, from the President on down. They have vigorously 
denied it. And I have asked them to, please to cooperate in every way 
with the investigation that we have to conduct into this--that is, 
``we'' the executive branch, and ``we'' the United States through the 
Congress. And we will continue to express that view on this trip. But 
that will not--that doesn't in any way undermine the importance of the 
trip or the need for this kind of partnership against the background of 
the economic and security issues you mentioned.

China's Political System

    Q. Mr. President, would you like to see the end of communism in 
China, and is that a goal of American policy?
    The President. Well, of course I would like to see China adopt a 
more open, freer political system in which basic political and civil 
rights would be recognized. The Chinese have expressed their intention 
to sign the covenant. I think that's very important. And I believe that 
the Chinese people will, over time, understand and will come to embrace 
the notion that they can only achieve their full greatness in the world 
of the 21st century if they allow the widest possible latitude for 
personal imagination and personal freedom, and that there is a way to do 
that and still preserve the coherence and stability of their society.
    And so I think there will be a process of evolution here as China 
becomes a more involved and constructive partner with the rest of the 
world, has a bigger say in regional affairs, and also comes to grips 
with the basic elements of what it takes to succeed in the modern world. 
I believe that. And I believe that we can further that by pushing in 
that direction and by actually having a dialog in which the Chinese 
leaders really have to imagine the future and what it's going to be like 
and understand what life is like. You know, they're going to have--what 
do they have, 400,000 people on the Internet now, they're going to 20 
million before you know it. So I would like to see a China that is more 
open and more free, and I believe--and also that is more accommodating 
to difference.
    I think this--if you look at the question of Tibet, I see this as a 
great opportunity for China, not some great problem that threatens 
instability. I think the symbolic importance of the Dalai Lama saying 
that Tibet just seeks to be genuinely autonomous region but not separate 
from China, and then having a President of China agree to meet with the 
Dalai Lama--I think the benefits to China

[[Page 1226]]

would be sweeping, enormous, and worldwide. And I don't think it would 
lead to greater instability.
    And that relates to, you know, you've got--China has a substantial 
Muslim population. China has a not insubstantial and growing Christian 
population. I think, you know, this--the religious leaders who went to 
China at my request, after President Jiang and I worked out the 
opportunity for them to go, came back and made their report to me and 
their recommendations yesterday. And we had an announcement about that 
here.
    I think all this is going to be a big part of China's future. And I 
think that--I think they will--let me just say this. Any society in 
change has to find a way to reconcile the realities it faces, its 
highest hopes for the future, with its biggest nightmare. And every 
country with any kind of history at all has a nightmare. When we worked 
out with the Russians--I'll give you something in a different context--
when we worked out with the Russians how we were going to relate Russia 
to NATO and what the terms of NATO expansion would be, I kept telling 
people over and over again, ``You've got to understand what their 
nightmare is. We were never invaded by Hitler and all that. And you 
could say there's nobody alive in Russia today that remembers Napoleon 
and not all that many remember Hitler, but that's not true. Those 
things, they seep into the psyche of a people. And you have to 
understand that.''
    For the Chinese--the word instability to us may mean a bad day on 
the stock market, you know, demonstrations out here on The Mall or the 
Ellipse, because we're a very long way from our Civil War, and we think 
that such a thing is unthinkable. But to them, instability in the 
context of their history is something that was just around the corner, 
only yesterday. And it becomes a significant problem.
    So what we have to do is to figure out a way to press our 
convictions about not only what we think is right, morally right, for 
the people now living in China but what we believe with all of our 
hearts is right for the future of China and the greatness of China in 
terms of openness and freedom. And we have to find a way to do it so 
that they can accommodate it to their psyche, which is very much seared 
with past instabilities.

Trade, National Security, and Human Rights

    Q.  Your administration, since you've been in office, has 
aggressively pushed U.S. exports, U.S. companies, and products in the 
global marketplace. Some have argued that there's a danger and an 
emphasis on commercialism that could cloud national security or human 
rights interests. What's your view on the matter and how do you deal 
with that, both in China and in a broader sense?
    The President. Well, I think they are two different issues. I think 
on the human rights issue, I think it only undermines human rights if 
you basically just do it with a wink and a nod and it's obvious that you 
don't care about human rights or other issues of liberty or human 
decency. This is not just with China, but generally.
    I think on balance the evidence is that greater economic prosperity 
and greater economic openness leads to more open societies and to 
greater freedom and to a higher quality of life across the board. So I 
think that--I don't see them as fundamentally in conflict. I just think 
that as long as you recognize that there is--as long as we in the United 
States and the Government recognize that we have an obligation to pursue 
a coherent and full policy, that everything we do to open a country 
economically and to bring in new ideas, new information, and new people, 
and to bring people from those countries out of their own environs, that 
that's a good thing, and it advances the cause of human rights and 
liberty over the long run--and sometimes over the very short run.
    Now, on the national security issues, very often these questions 
require a lot of careful judgment by people who know all the facts, and 
even there it's not always clear what should be done because technology 
is becoming more universally available in so many areas. I think we have 
very clear rules and guidelines on nonproliferation, and we've made a 
lot of progress with the Chinese on nonproliferation.
    On the question of the satellites--if you just want to take the 
satellites. The issue there, we have a system now where in every

[[Page 1227]]

decision all the relevant agencies, including the national security 
agencies, are all involved; if the satellites are purely commercial, the 
initiative comes out of the State Department, the initial approval, but 
everybody else gets a say in almost a de facto veto. If there can be 
some interconnection between the satellite and rocket that goes up, then 
it initiates out of State, but everybody else gets a say. And I think 
the system has worked quite well for the United States and has advanced 
our interests without undermining our security. I've not seen any 
evidence of any case where there's been a national security interest 
that's been compromised.
    Q. What about Sikorsky helicopters? The new ones can be sold, but 
the parts and the services cannot. Do you see that sanction--it's a 
leftover, I guess, '89 sanction--do you see that being lifted anytime 
soon?
    The President. Well, first of all, as you know, in the Tiananmen 
sanctions there are five categories of sanctions. The only one we've 
actually lifted outright is the one on nuclear cooperation in exchange 
for the comprehensive agreement we made with the Chinese on nuclear 
cooperation. And I think that's been quite a good thing.
    On the satellite issues, that's a case-by-case thing, initiated in 
1988 and then implemented by President Bush and by me. On the others, 
most of them have to be reasoned on a case-by-case basis. And we'll have 
to look at it, and we'll do the right kind of national security review 
and make the best judgment we can on it.
    Q. What's the reason behind not lifting the sanctions on the 
Sikorsky's?
    The President. Well, I can't--I don't want to talk about it now. I 
mean, I'll be glad to get some sort of answer to you, but I think what--
all I can say is that we have to--we deal with these things on a case-
by-case basis, and we do the best we can with them.

Japan

    Q. Mr. President, I wanted to ask about Japan. Why aren't you 
visiting Japan on this trip, and can you respond to the criticism that, 
based on that, that in some way American policy is tilting towards China 
and is giving a lower priority to its allies in Asia?
    The President. Well, I think--first of all, I think that would be a 
huge mistake to say that. I have been to Japan on more than one occasion 
since I've been President. I intend to go to Japan again before I leave 
office. I have had the Japanese Prime Ministers here. And Prime Minister 
Hashimoto is coming here very soon after I get back from China. We talk 
to each other all the time on the telephone, and we had a conversation 
just the other day.
    It's interesting, I think sometimes we can read too much into this. 
I'm going to China because I think--we moved the trip up, you remember, 
at the recommendation of Ambassador Sasser, after the national security 
team looked at it and said they thought he was right because there's so 
much going on in Asia and because President Jiang had a good 
constructive trip here. And we wanted to try to build on our 
relationship with China.
    We have made clear to the Japanese that it will in no way undermine 
the importance of our relationship with Japan, which, as you know, has 
got long security, economic, and political components to it. And I think 
it would be really a stretch to try to interpret the fact that I'm going 
to China and not to Japan at this particular time as having any 
significance other than the fact that I've been President nearly--well, 
5\1/2\ years, now--and I think it's time to go to China. And I think 
it's important to devote a significant amount of time to it and for it 
to be a trip that stands on its own, just as President Jiang's trip here 
stood on its own. But it is in no way a derogation of the Japanese 
relationship. And we've--we certainly, as you know, spent a lot of time 
working on U.S-Japanese issues and Japanese economic issues in the last 
few weeks, and we're going to spend a lot more.

China's Financial Markets

    Q. How important do you think it is for the U.S. to help China 
develop its own financial markets, whether it be bond markets or housing 
or Fannie Mae? And what are you going to do during this trip to help 
them do that?
    The President. The answer to the first question is, I think it's 
quite important. I think that developing these kinds of markets and 
giving international capital access to

[[Page 1228]]

them I think is quite important and will continue the process bringing 
China into the global economy in a way that I think is good. The Chinese 
may be a little reluctant now because they think, you know, they see 
what's happened in some other countries.
    But as long as they've got good, stable financial policies and 
significant cash reserves and follow a prudent course, I think they'd be 
very much advantaged by having more sophisticated and various markets. I 
haven't decided exactly what, if anything else, I can do on that. I'm 
going to Shanghai. And while there, I expect to have a lot of 
discussions about the financial markets, how they're structured, and 
where we're going from here. But I don't have anything specific to say 
about that.

China-U.S. Business Meeting

    Q. Often there are CEO delegations that accompany trips of this 
kind, and it doesn't appear that there will be this time. Is there a 
particular reason for that?
    The President. Well, we are going to have a U.S.-China business 
meeting in Shanghai, and a lot of American CEO's are going to be there. 
And I have--some who have mentioned to me their interest in this trip, 
just in passing, I've encouraged, if they've got an interest in China, 
to participate in that.
    But frankly, since this is the first trip an American President has 
made in quite a long while and since there are issues other than 
economic issues that also have to be front and center, I thought it was 
better this time just to take our delegation. There is another practical 
problem; it would probably be impolitic for me to admit it, but there is 
a practical problem here, which is that there are now so many American 
businesses involved in China, you'd have a hard time figuring out who to 
take and who to leave if we did it. [Laughter]
    So we decided since we had this big event planned in Shanghai, we 
would just tell everyone to please come and try to do the trip with a 
smaller delegation.

Most-Favored-Nation Status for China

    Q. Mr. President, is it your goal to at some point grant China 
permanent most-favored-nation status?
    The President. I think it would be a good thing if we didn't have to 
have this debate every year, yes. I don't think--I think that even a lot 
of the people that feel for whatever reason they have to vote against 
it, recognize that we're better off having normal trading relations with 
China and that we don't need to have this debate every year. And if some 
future, terrible problem arose between the two of us which would call 
into question whether we should continue that, then there certainly 
would be--Congress would have the option to debate and to legislate in 
that area.
    But I don't think this debate every year serves a particularly 
useful purpose. It might actually have for a few years after Tiananmen 
Square when there was uncertainty about what our policy was going to be 
and where there was no systematic way of dealing with human rights and 
other concerns. But I think now that there is and there will continue to 
be a systematic way of dealing with that, and I hope that there are 
other ways for Congress to be involved in China and to make their views 
known. I think it would be better if we didn't have to have this debate 
every year.
    Q. Will you propose legislation or legislative action to----
    The President. I would want to have consultations with Congress. We 
discussed this last year. I discussed this with a number of leaders in 
Congress last year, and the consensus was that it wasn't the right time 
to propose it because the Congress wasn't ready to deal with it. But 
let's see how the trip goes and, when I get back, see how people are 
feeling about it.

International Monetary Fund

    Q. Another issue that's languishing on Capitol Hill is the IMF. And 
the Senate passed it months ago and overwhelmingly, but the House has 
been holding it up. Some of the social conservatives want to add 
abortion language. Dick Armey wants strict conditions before there would 
be approval. Newt Gingrich has even suggested that unless the 
administration is more cooperative in his mind on some of their 
hearings, that he would hold it up.

[[Page 1229]]

    How important do you think it is to do this, do it quickly? And how 
has the economic trouble of Asia made it more important if you believe 
it is?
    The President. I think the economic trouble in Asia has made it more 
important in two ways, one symbolic and one practical. Symbolically it's 
more important because the United States needs to be seen as doing 
everything possible to be a responsible player in the international 
economy and because we have a huge stake in what happens in Asia. A big 
percentage of our exports go to Asia; a significant percentage of our 
own economic growth has been fueled by that export market. There is a 
practical reason that's important, which is so many countries got in 
trouble at the same time, the IMF is going to need the money pretty 
soon. And we can't expect to lead the world when all these huge 
interests are at stake and then say, but I'm sorry, there are 15 or 20 
members of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives who 
have said that if this administration won't change its family planning 
policy, that they're prepared to see us lose our vote in the United 
Nations and have no influence over the International Monetary Fund and 
not do our part there.
    I think this is part of a dangerous move toward kind of both 
unilateralism and isolationism that you can also see in some of the 
budget proposals for foreign assistance. Some Members of the House 
appear to want to sanction everybody in the world who doesn't agree with 
us on anything and not invest in anybody in the world who does agree 
with us and can be our partner in the future and can build a better 21st 
century for their children.
    I just completely disagree with this whole approach, and I'm hoping 
we can find a way out of it. The Speaker's is in a little bit of a 
political bind because of the way his caucus works, and I feel badly 
about it. But he knows good and well we ought to pay our way to the IMF 
and the U.N.

Tobacco Legislation

    Q. I just wanted to ask you a question actually about tobacco. At a 
press conference about a month ago, I asked you--and this was before 
tobacco had actually blown up--I asked you if you thought you could 
convene a tobacco summit of some sort to bring the companies back into 
the fold at the time the companies were saying they couldn't accept the 
McCain bill.
    Have you discussed with anybody bringing up some sort of tobacco 
summit to try and get everybody back at the table and try and work out a 
compromise? And if so, when would something like that happen?
    The President. Let me tell you, what we're doing now is we're 
exploring every conceivable alternative for how we could come up with a 
bill that can actually pass the Congress that would do the job of 
reducing teen smoking. The only thing I have ruled out, which I did 
earlier today in my press conference, was just taking some slimmed-down 
bill that would make a mockery of the process so that Congress could say 
it did something.
    I believe that the central reason the tobacco companies pulled out 
was not so much the money but was the uncertainty as to whether there 
would be some liability cap. And there was an unusual coalition of 
liberals and conservatives, for an unusual set of reasons, who voted 
against that, which is why, after consultation with Senator Lott, I came 
out and clearly said that I would be prepared to accept one, and I 
thought they ought to vote for it. And I still believe that.
    And the reason is clear. Whether you're philosophically opposed to a 
liability cap or not as part of the settlement, under prevailing Supreme 
Court decisions, I think it's clear that if we want the tobacco 
companies to limit their advertising and marketing, in order to do that 
they're going to have to understand to some extent what their financial 
exposure is in the future.
    So for me, I have no problem with that, and I think if you talked to 
anybody who really wants a bill, they will tell you that in the end, if 
we're going to get a bill, it will have to have some kind of liability 
cap on it. So it ought not to be too generous to tobacco companies. It 
ought to be something they still feel, if they continue to do the wrong 
thing.
    But if you look at--there are three elements. All the studies show 
there are three elements which has led to a very high rate

[[Page 1230]]

of teen smoking, even though it's illegal in every State to sell 
cigarettes to teenagers. One is the price. If the price were higher, 
kids wouldn't be as likely to buy them. Two is the advertising. And 
three is the access.
    So we've got to try to deal with all three of those things. Then we 
need the bill to deal with the public health issues. And we need 
something for the tobacco farmers. And everything else, as far as I'm 
concerned, can be subject to negotiations.
    So I'm looking at--we've discussed three or four or five different 
ways that we can get this thing back on track. But the Senate knows what 
the parameters are. They could--we could send them up a bill tomorrow 
that would pass the Senate if they decided they were going to do it.
    Q. Do you have a bill? I mean, a White House bill.
    The President. No, we don't, because we thought it was better--in 
consultation with the Republicans, we thought it was better to let them 
have a committee bill. So they voted this bill out 19 to one, and some 
of the people who voted for the bill voted against it on the floor 
yesterday--the day before yesterday.
    Q. So you can't see a scenario, giving them political cover, of 
having a White House bill?
    The President. Oh, I don't mind giving them political cover. Don't 
misunderstand me. I don't mind--to me, this is about the kids. If there 
is an agreement and there are members--there are Democrats who are 
worried about being attacked because they gave a liability cap or 
Republicans who are worried about being attacked because they voted for 
a bill that would increase the price of cigarettes a buck a pack or 
however much it is in the bill, or they want to have some differences in 
the particulars as it's implemented, I don't mind doing that.
    I think that this administration, I think because of the stand that 
I have taken and the stand the Vice President has taken, I think that 
our credibility on this is pretty strong. People know we really believe 
in this, and we really believe it ought to be done. And I think everyone 
understands that any complicated piece of legislation has to represent a 
series of compromises.
    So I'm more than happy to do all that, but I just--I'm not prepared 
to adopt a bill that I don't think will do the job and that no reputable 
public health authority believes will do the job. That's my only bottom 
line.
    I don't--I'm not interested in gaining any political benefit from 
this except insofar as it's necessary to induce people to ultimately 
pass the right kind of bill. That's my only objective here. I think this 
is a public health opportunity of a generation for the United States, 
and to squander it because there was $40 million in unanswered 
advertising by the tobacco companies, to which there are very good 
answers, is a great--it would be a great pity. And I think in the end 
it's a misreading of the political opinions and character of the 
American people for the Republican majority to think that they've gotten 
some big victory here. I just don't agree with that, and I hope we can 
work it out.

Nuclear Proliferation in South Asia

    Q. One quick last China question. Did China's help for Pakistan's 
nuclear program--was that a contributing factor in these tests, as the 
Indians claim?
    The President. Well, of course that has its roots in the war that 
China fought with India over 35 years ago. And so China quite 
rationally, from its point of view, developed a security relationship 
with Pakistan.
    But the important thing is that the Chinese have agreed now not to 
give assistance to non-safeguarded nuclear facilities, which would 
include the ones in Pakistan. They're in the comprehensive test ban 
regime. And equally important, since deliverability of missiles is a big 
issue, deliverability of nuclear weapons is a big issue, they've agreed 
to abide by the guidelines of the missile technology control regime and 
to work with us in improving both of our abilities to deal with those 
issues.
    So China--India can blame China or say that this is a Chinese issue, 
but the truth is, we need to find a way out of this which leaves the 
Indians more secure, not less, leaves the Pakistanis more secure, not 
less, and puts the India-China relationship back on the path it was on 
before this last change of government and the testing occurred.
    We got to start from where we are, but I think the Chinese 
commitment on that

[[Page 1231]]

going forward was the important thing, and we have it, and I think they 
will honor it.
    Q. Thank you.
    The President. Thank you very much.

Note: The interview began at 3:44 p.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. In his remarks, the President referred to Prime Minister Ryutaro 
Hashimoto of Japan; and President Jiang Zemin of China. The journalists 
who conducted the interview were Jim Mann for the Los Angeles Times, 
Dina Temple-Raston for Bloomberg Business News, and Rick Dunham for 
Business Week. This interview was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on June 25. A tape was not available for verification of the 
content of this interview.