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THE WHITE HOUSE
offñ~ a of the Press secretary
canberra, A1ustraial
For immeotiate Release Novemner 20. 1: 196
PRESS CCNFERENCE OF THE PRESIDENT
AND PRIME MINISTER HOWARD OF AUSTRALIA
Parliament Mouse
Canberra, Australia
12: 45 P. M. ( L) PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Mr. President, ladies and
gentlemen, I would like to say on behalf of my government how
much I have appreciated the opportunity of talking to President
Clinton so soon after his reelection. I would like to repeat
publicly the congratulations I extended to the President
privately ont his reelection.
This is a marvelous opportunity for both of us to
reaffirm the importance of our longstanding, deep and rich
association. It's an association that goes beyond the more
formal elements of a treaty or an alliance. It's an association
of like-mninded people committed to common values with many shared
historical experiences, many common cultural attitudes, and above
all., a very deep commitment to democratic institutions, values
and freedoms of the individual.
It was also for both of us an opportunity to affirm
the importance the contemporary relevance of our partnership
in the context of our common involvement in the Asia Pacific
region, where I have said on a number of occasions that we share
a common future and a common destiny. The President and I had
the opportunity in our discussion this morning to canvas many
global issues, but ones of particular relevance to our region,
and we also touched upon a number of trade issues which are of
ongoing importance in the bilateral relationship.
I want to say how pleased I am personally to have
the Opportunity with my wife. Janette, oñ welcoming the President
and Mrs. Clinton to our country. They are very welcome not only
for themselves and the great leadership that they're giving to
their country, but also as the President and the wife of the
President of the United States.
The President of the United states is always welcome
in Australia. And I will take the opportunity over the next
couple of days in an informal manner to continue the discussion
that both us have had this morning.
But to you, Mr. President, again, publicly, my very
warm welcome. You are here as a very welcome guest and with the
goodwill of all of the Australian people.
TME PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Prime minister.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have wanted to come to
Australia for a very long time. I am glad that I have finally
come. I wish I could have come earlier, and I've had so much fun
in the last day, I'm amazed that only three American Presidents
have come here. I think it ought to be a habit because of the
unique partnership that the United States and Australia have
enjoyed throughout the 20th century and indeed going back long
before that. The Prime Minister and I had our first personal
meeting today. It was a very good one. We talked about a lot of
the things that we share in common as nations, We talked about
Fax From 28/ 11/ 96 82
our common agenda to expand global trade through the World Trade
Organization and APtC where we'll both be goinq in a couple of
days. we talked about the work we have dons to halt the spread
of weapons of mass destruction.
And again, I want to thank in this press conference,
Mr. Prime minister, on behalf of all the American people,
Australia for the leadership that Australia exhibited in securing
the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and for your support in
helping us all defreeze the North Korean nuclear program.
we also share a commitment to advance democratic
values, we have worked on it side by side throughout the wars of
the 20th century, throughout the Cold War and now in this new
era. We've joined together in supporting human rights In Burma,
promoting the rule of law in Cambodia, helping to keep the peace
in troubled corners of the world.
We are working hard to build on the partnership
between the United States and Australia. We talked about our
security cooperation. We're moving forward on the Sydney
statement of July which bolsteredi our security ties. I made a
little bit of a joke about the U. S. Marines who will soon take
part in joint training exercises in North Australia. They are,
seriously, a powerful symbol and a concrete manifestation of our
pledge to protect stability in the Pacific. But they're also. I
think, apprehensive about seeing what that vast and not very
populated area holds for them. There's a lot of talk about it,
Mr. Prime Minister, already in the Defense Department, and we're
certainly glad that there was no extra spaceship up there the
other day. ( Laughter.) And let me say in the Prime minister's defense, when
we started out yesterday morning, we thought that it might land
in the United states. So no one quite knew where it was going to
come down, but we're glad it wound up in the ocean,
Let me also say that on a very serious note for the
future, I was deeply Impressed by the comments that the Prime
Minister had about the upcoming APEC leaders meeting in Subic say
in the Philippines. We know we have to keep this group working
together to push the barriers that still restrain global trade
and to look especially for opportunities that will enable our
people to get better jobs, to lead better lives, and in so doing,
to advance the cause of the other APEC nations as well. So I am
looking forward to the Philippines.
Australia really started the APEC organization.
' Then I convened the world leaders of the APEC nations5 in Seattle
in 1993 and we've been building on it ever since. it Is very,
very important, now that we have a goal of free trade in the area
by 2020, now that we have a blueprint for achieving it, it is
important that we actually take some concrete steps toward
implementation of our goal, from tariff cuts to other
deregulation measures. And I will be working hard for that.
Let me say that the area that I would like to see
the most progress in is in information technology, Currently,
trade in that area is valued at a trillion dollars. It's
projected to grow over 250 percent in the next 10 years. And we
need to do more to open up those markets in a way that enables
more people in the world to do what I saw last night when Hillary
and I case in from the airport and all the people were waving to
us. It seemed to me about one in every third person who was
waving to us also had a cellular telephone in his or her ear,
talking to someone back home and telling them about it. As I
said to the Prime minister, half the people in the world are
still two days walk from a telephone. And we have a lot of work
to do if we're going to bring the world together to minimize
misunderstanding, to minimize disruption and to maximize human
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Let me lastly say another word about the special
relationship between the United States and Australia. we're
proud to be Australia's largest foreign investor, its second
largest trading partner. Trade between our nations was about œ 16
billion last year. We're also proud to have stood side by side
with Australia in the conflicts and the struggles for peace and
freedom and Prosperity in this last century. And I believe that
this remarkable and wonderfully unique relationship between our
two countries is on even more solid ground as we look to the 21st
century. And I thank the Prime Minister for the reception he has
given me today. Thank you, sir.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Thank you.
Q Mr. Prime Minister and Mr. President, you
mentioned that you talked about multilateral trade issues. can I
ask did you specifically raise Australia's trade concerns with
the United States? And. Mr. President, Australian farmers are
hoping for some sort of commitments from the U. S. that the SEP
and DEEP programs won't be specifically targeted on Australia.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Could I say that I certainly
did raise with the President the ongoing concern of Australia as
a major exporter of primary produce about the practice of export
support and export subsidies in the area of agriculture. And the
President responded to that and he will do so in his own words.
But I certainly made it very clear that that
remained on of those areas in the bilateral relationship that
needed continuous attention. And it is the tact that the
Australian government believes that the existing arrangements do
work against the interests of major primary producers such as
Australia. I think it is fair to add that the prime source of
the problem is not to be found within the United States, but
rather within the European Union, and that is a view that I have
expressed before and It's not a view or a reflection on the issue
that I have Invented for the purposes of today's discussions.
I've frequently expressed that view and I do see many of the
United states, actions taken in the past as being in the context
of responses to the activities of the European Union.
But our concerns on that were certainly raised, as
they have been in the past and they will be in the future. But I
was quite reassured by the responses that were made by the
President. But he will naturally deal with that in his own
words. THE PRESIDENT: The Prime Minister actually raised
two-trade issues and I'd like to tell you very briefly about both
of them. The first, with regard to the ESP and the DEEP programs
in agriculture, as I'm sure you know, the United States has just
adopted a new five-year farm bill which eliminated specific
program by program or crop by crop support and reduced overall
trade subsidies. We did retain the export enhancement options
because of the problems as the Prime Minister said that we have
with the European Union.
And I committed to the Prime minister end I commit
to you and through you, the people of Australia, that we are
going to do everything we can to make sure that any future use of
these programs is not either directly or indirectly working to
the disadvantage of a country that is innocent of any wrongdoing
in this case, Australia. And I look forward to the day when
we will have a genuinely open market in agriculture, which would
help your agricultural interest and the American agricultural
interest and I believe would work to the benefit of the entire
world. The second thing the Prime minister mentioned was
the leather dispute and let me just reemphasize where that is.
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Mr. Fischer and Ambassador Barshefsky have been working hard to
resolve this. I very much want it resolved. We are very close
to a resolution and we're going to do everything we can to
resolve it so that when we leave Manila we'll both have smiles on
our face about that. Besides that, I don't want any more
cartoons like the one I saw in the morning paper where I hooked a
golf ball way left and broken the window of the leather goods
store. You need to build up my confidence far thjs golf game
tomorrow, not tear it down. ( Laughter.) I need all the help I
can get. Q Mr. President, the arrest of the CIA'S former
station chief in Moscow is the second major spy scandal involving
Russia in the last two years. Are you going to take is there
going to be any retaliation for this incident, and do you think
that the CIA needs to tighten its Internal watchdog system?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Deputy Secretary Talbott has
already met with the Russians about this, number one. Number
two, this is the direct result of the tightening of the system.-
This arrest comes because of the new cooperation that I ordered
between the CIA and the FBI. And I want to compliment Mr. Deutch
and Mr. Fresh for the work that they did and the work their
people did and I think it's a very good thing. And I'm glad that
it happened and I think that it ought to be a signal that we're
going to continue to do this and we will do what we think we have
to do in intelligence, and we don't want any people in our
intelligence agency spying for other countries, and we're going
to take appropriate action when we find it.
Q And in Russia, or are you
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've already had
conversations with Russia and I think I shouldn't say any more
than that at this time.
Q Mr. President, is your foreign policy in
this region China and trying to, if you want to, ease concerns
that countries such as the U. S. and Australia are trying to
contain China? And what can Australia and the U. S. realistically
do in partnership in the region?
THE PRESIDENT: China first. I think China has to
be a big priority for all of us. if i ask everyone in this room
to go by yourselves and take out a pad and writs the five big
questions down that will determine the shape of the world So
years from now, one of those questions would surely be, how will
the Chinese define their greatness in the 21st century? Will
they define their greatness In terms of the incredible potential
of their people to learn, to produce, to succeed economically and
culturally and politically? or will they define their greatness
in terms of their ability to dominate their neighbors and others
perhaps against their will or to take other actions which could
destabilize the march toward democracy and prosperity of other
people? The united States has no interest in containing
China. That is a negative strategy. what the United States
wants is to sustain an engagement with China, along with our
friends like the Australians, in a way that will increase the
chances that there will be more liberty and more prosperity and
More genuine cooperation in the future. So I intend to spend a
lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of effort on that, but not
with a view of containing the Chinese, but with a view of making
them a genuine partner with ourselves and others as we move
forward. What can we and the Australians do? Number one, we
can continue to push open trading systems that work to the
benefit of all involved. Number two, we can continue to work
together as we did with the comprehensive Nuclear Test San Treaty
to continue to reduce the dangers of serious weapons. And,
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number three. we can lead other freedom-loving nations in
standing up against the new threats of the 21st century
terrorism and the proliferation of other weapons, biological and
chemical weapons. There are a lot of things we can do together
that will make a big difference. But I see this in the context
of building a partnership with China, not isolating it.
Q The crisis in Zaire appears to be easing
significantly. Is it still necessary to dispatch American
troops? THE PRESIDENT: The real answer to that question is
that we have not made a final decision. Tony Lake went to Canada
yesterday to confer with the Prime Minister and others. We are
very pleased, obviously, that so many of the refugees are able to
wove freely back into Rwanda. we are urgently concerned about
the continuing humanitarian problems there and have allocated
about $ 140 million in U. S. AID funds to try to deal with those
problems. And I expect to receive a recommendation shortly. We
are continuing to explore with our allies what sort of mission
needs to go there, what its composition should be, what the
remaining problems should be.
There's no question that the situation looks better
than it did a couple of days ago. It's also no question the that
possibility of serious human loss is still there. so we're
working it hard. We'll try to resolve what we ought to do.
we're working with our allies and I will give you an answer just
as quickly as I can. But we have already allocated a significant
amount of money to try to alleviate the nutritional and other
problems that we know the refugees are going to have.
Q Mr. President, you mentioned the shared
commitment of Australia and the United States to human rights. A
number of members of your party have proposed that you raise in
discussions with President Soeharto the idea of a U. N.-sponsored
act of self-determination or referendum in East Timor. What is
your view of that proposition? And I'd like to ask Mr. Howard
the same question what is your view of a U. N.-sponsored act of
self-determination in East Timor?
THE PRESIDENT: You said people in my party have
said that I should do that? They haven't discussed that with me.
( Laughter.) Let me say, without answering the specific question,
because I haven't made a decision about that, let me say, I have
been concerned about the whole question of East Timor from the
first time I first heard about it. The United States has, while
maintaining basically constructive and friendly relationships
with Indonesia and working with Indonesia on the whole wide array
of shared foreign policy concerns, has consistently done more in
the last three years than we have previously. we changed our
arms export policy to try to not sell those arms which could be
most likely to be used to put down a civilian rebellion or to
oppress people's human rights not in any country, but with our
sales toward Indonesia. We have cosponsored the resolution in
Last Timor In the United N'ations.
And Indonesia is a very large, very great, very
rapidly growing country with a massive amount of diversity
both ethnic diversity and religious diversity. This is one area
where they have not been able to manage it successfully. And we
will continue to try to work to do what we can to resolve this in
a way that is consistent with what I believe are universal values
with regard to human rights and human dignity.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: As far as we are concerned,
that's not an issue that I previously addressed my mind to, so,
like the President, I won't specifically try and respond to it.
But let me say that the East Timor issue is obviously a sep~ sitive
elements of the relationship between Australia and Indonesia and,
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indeed, the relationship between Indonesia and other countriegs,
You will all be aware of the great importance of the bilateral
relationship between both Australia and Indonesia. There will
always be differences of view about how different issues should
be handled between our two countries. But my government and
governments before mine of both political persuasions have shown
a determination not to allow that issue to contaminate or
undermine the broader relationship.
And the significance of the bilateral relationship
between Australia and Indonesia is only surpassed by our
bilateral relationships with one or two other countries. And
it's, therefore, important in everything that we do to try and
keep a proper balance between our desire to foster that
relationship, but, by the same token, to properly put down
markers of errors and values in errors and attitudes and also, of
course, to fully respect the fact that within a democracy such as
Australia, people will openly and vigorously express their views
on this issues. And it is no part of the role of the Australian
government to prevent or discourage that. That Is a point that I
made in my own personal discussions with President Soeharto when
I saw him in Jakarta a couple of months ago.
Thank you.
2 Thanks very much.
Q xr. President, if I could just follow up on the
Indonesia question with your indulgence with the Prime minister.
These stories now coming out back home in the united States
dribs and drabs about John H-uang's phone calls to his former
business associates at the Lippo Group when he was a Commerce
nepartment official 70 phone calls, we're now told is
information that was available before the election, but only
coming out now and other suggestions that some of your aides
were urging other aides over their objections not to release all
of this information once you had it aren't you concerned that
the impression is going to be created that you're trying to
stonewall, that you do have something to hide? Isn't it better
lust to come clean and release everything right away instead of
letting It Just come out piecemeal like this?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, for one thing, one of the
things that we have learned the hard way is that when you release
something as soon as you have it, then somebody is always saying,
well, why didn't you release something else. I don't personally
see any problem with any of the information that I've seen so
far. I think we should answer whatever questions are asked.
I've told everybody else to do the same thing. But, you know,
I've personally, I've answered the questions that were asked of
me in a way I think are entirely appropriate, and I think that's
what-everybody else should do. And I don't think there's a real
issue there. Q come forward and answer these questions
Publicl. y? THE PRESIDENT: I believe that let me just say
this I believe that everyone will have to deal with that in
his or her own way. But one of the things I would urge you to
do, remembering what happened to Mr. Jewel in* Atlanta,
remembering what has happened to so many of the accusations over
the last four years made against me that turned out to be totally
baseless, I lust think that we ought to make sure we've got we
ought to just get the facts out and they should be reported.
That's what I've encouraged everybody to do and that's what we'll
do. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD: Thanks very much.
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