[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 35, Number 37 (Monday, September 20, 1999)]
[Pages 1733-1734]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Situation in East Timor and an Exchange With Reporters in 
Auckland

September 13, 1999

    The President. Let me begin by saying that I welcome the statement 
of President Habibie last night inviting the United Nations to send a 
security force into East Timor. I think that this is a real tribute to 
the determination of the friends of the people there--the Australians, 
the New Zealanders here, all the people here at APEC who express 
solidarity.
    I think there are a couple of points I'd like to make about it. 
Number one, it's important to get the details worked out and get this 
force in in a hurry, in a way that it can be effective. Number two, if 
that happens, then we can resume our work with the people of Indonesia, 
the world's fourth largest country, to help their transition to 
democracy and the restoration of prosperity there.
    In terms of what our role would be in East Timor, we have had 
extensive discussions with the Australians through our defense channels, 
and we've been asked to provide a limited but important function related 
to airlift, transportation, communications, intelligence, and perhaps 
some engineering work. Exactly what the details would be have yet to be 
worked out and require more extensive consultations with Congress.
    I made a number of calls before I left the country. Secretary Cohen 
and Mr. Podesta are back there now working on this issue. But I hope we 
can wrap it up. The most important thing is for President Habibie to 
make good on his statement, get the details worked out, get the force in 
in a hurry.
    Q. Mr. President, will there be any U.S. ground troops in combat 
roles in East Timor?
    The President. We've not discussed that; we've not been asked for 
that. I talked to Prime Minister Howard yesterday, and I stopped in 
Hawaii, as all of you know, and

[[Page 1734]]

met with our commander in chief there, Admiral Blair, and, obviously, 
I've talked to Secretary Cohen and General Shelton. What we have been 
asked to do so far relates to airlift; what countries are going to 
contribute to troops--someone needs to take them to the theater--relates 
to transportation, communications, intelligence, and the possibility of 
some engineering work. All of that would require some presence on the 
ground in East Timor, but no one has asked us for any combat troops.
    Q. Mr. President, these are troops that, by and large, have never 
worked together before. It's not like the NATO kind of force. Do you see 
for the United States any kind of coordinating role to keep the 
peacekeepers together, to have a command structure for them?
    The President. We might be asked to provide some help on command and 
control. But keep in mind, a number of these troops have worked 
together. There is a group here in this part of the Asia-Pacific region 
that train together, that work together, that do exercises together. So 
there is some experience here. But there will be some work to be done, 
depending on how many countries come on the command and control, and if 
we're asked to provide some technical assistance there, of course, we'd 
be willing to help.
    Q. Mr. President, how much control will the Indonesians have about 
the makeup of the force? They've already said that they're uncomfortable 
with the Australians being the leaders.
    The President. Well, that has to be worked out today. But my view is 
that we should work with the Indonesians in a cooperative fashion. 
Perhaps they should have some parallel presence even, but they should 
not be able to say who is in or not in the force and what the structure 
of the force will be. Otherwise it will raise all kinds of questions 
about whether there will be integrity in the force and it will also 
delay the implementation.
    The truth is the Australians are willing to carry the lion's share 
of the role. They're willing to put in a large number of people. They 
have enormous military capacity. Our people have great confidence in 
working with them. And so I don't think that we should be in a position 
of having this thing delayed for days and days and days over that, and I 
hope that it won't be when the talks occur today with the Indonesians 
leadership.
    Q. Mr. President, as a practical matter, what's the quickest you 
think a deployment could occur--24 hours, 48 hours--how quick?
    The President. I think we could begin to move quickly, but I think 
it depends upon the meeting today with the Indonesians. Let's wait and 
see what happens today, and then you ask me that question either late 
today or tomorrow, I can give you a more intelligent answer.
    Thank you all.

Note: The President spoke at 8:45 a.m. at the Stamford Plaza Hotel. In 
his remarks, he referred to President B.J. Habibie of Indonesia; and 
Prime Minister John Howard of Australia.