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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #2, 97-01-03

U.S. State Department: Daily Press Briefings Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: The Department of State Foreign Affairs Network (DOSFAN) at <http://www.state.gov>


U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing

I N D E X

Friday, January 3, 1997

Briefer: Nicholas Burns

DEPARTMENT
    1  Secretary Christopher's Letter to Serbian President
       Milosevic
    1  Secretary Christopher's Conversation with Sen. Helms
       on the President's Extension of the Suspension of Title III of
       the Helms-Burton Act
  1-2  Dennis Ross' Update on Hebron Negotiations
    2  Secretary Christopher in New York Next Week

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 2 Demonstrations in Belgrade 2 Foreign Minister Milutinovic's Letter On the OSCE Report on Annulled Elections 2-4 --Secretary Christopher's Response 5 --Reaction of OSCE to Milosevic Letter 3-5 U.S. Policy and Sanctions on Serbia 5-6 Future U.S. Policy on Serbia

LETTER BOMBS AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB 6 State Dept. Role in FBI Investigation of the Letter Bombs 6-7 Request to Foreign Governments of Assistance in the Investigation 7 Mail Screening Processes at Federal Facilities

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS 7-8 Dennis Ross' Meetings with Chairman Arafat and PM Netanyahu 8-9 Update on the Hebron Negotiations

SYRIA 9-10 U.S. Response to the Bombing in Damascus 10-11 Syrian Accusations of Israeli Involvement in the Bombing

RUSSIAN/BELARUSSIAN DIPLOMATS 11-12 Update on the Incident in New York Between UN Diplomats and the NYPD

TAIWAN/CHINA 12 Report of Transit Visa for Taiwanese Vice President

NORTH KOREA 12 Details on the Joint Briefing for the Four Party Talks

SWITZERLAND 13 U.S. Investigation of Nazi Assets in Swiss Banks

SAUDI ARABIA 13 Update on the Khobar and Riyadh Bombings


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

FRIDAY, JANUARY 3, 1996, 1:28.P.M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. BURNS: Good afternoon. Welcome to the State Department.

I apologize for being a half hour late. I took two phone calls that I think will be of interest to you. That was the occasion for my being late, by the way. That's my excuse.

The first was from Secretary Christopher, who is, as many of you know, in California on leave. Secretary Christopher's leave usually constitutes working only l0 hours a day as opposed to l4 hours a day. And, in fact, today he's been doing several things that I think will be of interest to you. Secretary Christopher sent a message to President Milosevic this morning, a very tough message -- a message that puts into question the inclinations of the Serbian Government to play fair on this question of the November l7 elections. In essence, the Serbian Government responded to the OSCE today in a letter from Foreign Minister Milutinovic to the OSCE on the OSCE investigation into the problems concerning the elections. And while acknowledging - that there may have been some inconsistencies in some of the constituencies in Belgrade - the letter from Foreign Minister Milutinovic does not go nearly far enough in acknowledging the obligations of the Serbian Government to make sure that it respects the voice of the people.

And I'll be glad to go into this issue with you in just a moment.

Let me just very briefly say, in addition to that, Secretary Christopher called Senator Jesse Helms this morning. He gave him a preview of the President's announcement on Title III of the Helms-Burton Act. You've had a very good briefing from Ambassador Eizenstat on that.

And, third, Secretary Christopher has been following the events in the Middle East, particularly Dennis Ross' negotiations in Hebron, very carefully. The second call I had was from Dennis Ross, who just completed, just about an hour ago, a meeting in Gaza with Chairman Yassar Arafat. They met for several hours.

As a result of that meeting, there still is no deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis. They're still working on final details.

They've made some progress over the last week or so but not sufficient progress to complete an agreement on the redeployment of the Israeli Defense Forces from Hebron. They will continue to work on these final details and these final issues tomorrow.

Dennis Ross plans to see Chairman Arafat tomorrow.

Dennis is taking his sojourn out there on a day-to-day basis. He's going to have to assess, on a day-to-day basis, how useful it is for him to be there. It's been very useful this week, but we need to see the Israelis and Palestinians together cross this finish line. The United States cannot do that for them. It's their job; it's in their self-interest to do so, we believe, and we think they believe. And they're the only two parties that can finish these negotiations.

Secretary Christopher has received a full brief on Dennis Ross' most recent meeting with Chairman Arafat.

Secretary Christopher returns to Washington on Sunday evening. He'll be back in the Department on Monday morning. He's going to be spending most of Tuesday in New York City.

He'll be the guest of honor at a dinner by the council offered for him - by the Council on Foreign Relations. He'll also be seeing a number of your colleagues in the media establishment in New York on Tuesday. But he's got a busy schedule for the next few weeks.

So those are the major issues of interest here today. In addition to Helms-Burton, Serbia, and the Hebron negotiations, I'd be glad to go into detail on the Serbian question that you might have.

QUESTION: Can you give us some more details on the letter that the Secretary sent to Milosevic? Can you release the letter?

MR. BURNS: I'm not going to release the letter. It's not been our habit to release any of the messages that we've sent to President Milosevic, but I can give you a general sense of it, Carol.

First of all, just by way of a quick background, as you know the opposition protests continue; and despite some of the coldest weather that Central Europe has seen in a century, and in fact dangerous and icy conditions, 30,000 demonstrators marched again yesterday in Belgrade.

The Serbian Government, as I said, issued a statement today in response to the OSCE mission; and this letter by Foreign Minister Milutinovic characterizes the visit of the Felipe Gonzalez delegation, the OSCE delegation, as useful and positive. As I said before, it does acknowledge some of the opposition victories in several constituencies. Nevertheless, the letter also contains defensive and legalistic justifications for the annulment of the November l7 election results. And the letter contains hollow assurances, in our view, of Serbia's commitment to democracy.

The letter fails to address seriously the recommendations in the Gonzalez report that would try to help resolve some of these very serious issues that have led to the political crisis in Belgrade.

As a result, the United States repeats its call for the Serbian authorities to restore the results of the November l7 elections and to allow the voice of the Serbian people and their votes to be heard. Secretary Christopher's message to President Milosevic today urges President Milosevic to accept the election results, to legitimize the election results in a fair way and to legitimize the democratic will of the Serbian people. The message from the Secretary reiterates the call of the United States, that we have made since the day after the elections, for a meaningful political dialogue between the Serbian Government and the Serbian opposition.

The message from Secretary Christopher warns President Milosevic about the consequences of increased isolation should he fail to take sufficient action to correct the anti-democratic actions of his own government over the past month.

Secretary Christopher told me, in our phone conversation, he took great care with his message. He thought over what he was going to say.

I think it's fair to say that the Secretary believed, at the time of the Dayton Accords, a little over a year ago, that perhaps events in Serbia would finally move in the right direction; and, unfortunately, Secretary Christopher has now concluded that events are moving in the wrong direction in Serbia - in an anti-democratic direction - and that's of great concern to the United States.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) I'd like you to elaborate a little bit about the warning of the consequences of increased isolationism; and, specifically, I mean, speak to the point that this Government has threatened and warned Milosevic repeatedly in recent weeks about, you know, he wouldn't get international financing and other kinds of things that he wants. And this seems to have had little effect on him. It sounds like your leverage is pretty nil.

MR. BURNS: As you 'd expect, I don't agree with that analysis at all. In fact, I think

that the so-called inner wall of sanctions are sanctions that have teeth and that are felt in Belgrade. What Milosevic needs, what the Belgrade Government thinks it needs, is it needs increased contacts - economic, especially - with the West: with Western financial institutions, like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and with Western private investors.

It does not have that today, and it doesn't have it because the United States is using its effective veto in those organizations to make sure those organizations do not lend money to Belgrade.

Those are sanctions that have teeth and that Mr. Milosevic has to worry about. And, frankly, what he has done since November l7 is leading to Serbia's further economic, as well as political, isolation in Europe and in the West.

QUESTION: Are you saying that these sanctions have effect, yet even you admit that he's moving in the wrong direction?

He's not gaining.

MR. BURNS: He has been moving in the wrong direction since November l7. And I think the very clear warning from the United States, embodied in Secretary Christopher's message, is that should he continue these policies, he's going to see an increasing determination by the United States and by our partners in Europe to make sure that he does not have the ability to rely upon the Western economic institutions for any kind of financial support.

That is a warning that he ought to heed.

There's also just the basic element here of Milosevic and his cronies going wildly in the opposite direction from the historical flow of events over the last five or six years. Most Central European countries are nascent democracies. Their governments do not steal the elections from their people. And we've seen an example of that on November l7. He's got to worry about his political isolation in his own region as well.

QUESTION: Nick, does the U.S. Government feel, as The New York Times expressed today, that there may be a crackdown, a lockup of the opposition? Is there such a plan afoot, do you believe, by Milosevic?

MR. BURNS: We're not aware of any imminent plans to take any kind of action like that against the opposition, but we reiterate our call today for Mr. Milosevic and his security forces not to use force against the demonstrators who, since late November, have been marching and organizing and demonstrating peacefully without resort to violence in any way.

So any resort to force by the Milosevic government would be a serious miscalculation and I think would find great opposition on the part of the United States and our allies.

QUESTION: Nick, does the Secretary mention any additional sanctions or any further tightening of the outer wall, or whatever is still left, of sanctions in his letter?

MR. BURNS: I'm not going to go into the details of the Secretary's letter, except to say, David, the Milosevic government understands the policy of the United States and the existing sanctions will remain; and the United States has no intention of lifting those sanctions if we see a continuation of this kind of reprehensible behavior by the Milosevic government.

QUESTION: As Carol said it, it doesn't - I mean, those sanctions are in place. What you've so far told us makes it sound like all you're really saying is those sanctions will remain in place, which clearly hasn't affected Mr. Milosevic's behavior one bit so far.

MR. BURNS: I beg to differ in this sense. The presence of the sanctions is a reminder - a concrete reminder to Mr. Milosevic - that there are concrete penalties for the anti-democratic behavior of the Serbian Government. Furthermore, I think it is absolutely fair to say that his actions might have been quite different, had he not feared the reaction of the West - had he not seen the kind of resolute public statements that the United States in particular has been issuing since day one of this crisis.

The playbook, the standard operating procedures, for an authoritarian regime in that part of the world would probably have led to a violent, repressive crackdown against these demonstrations far earlier, had the United States not supported Radio B-92, had the United States not spoken out publicly and warned him publicly about the consequences of his actions, and had we not warned, as we do today, that the teeth in our sanctions, that the sanctions have teeth, will continue. So I think actually the United States and our allies in Europe have had an effect on his behavior.

QUESTION: Could I just ask whether - you feel that he's been restrained somewhat from more extreme action. What has he been restrained by? Have there been private warnings of additional sanctions if he were to take further steps?

MR. BURNS: There have been public warnings and there have been private warnings, and I'm not going to go into the detail about all the specifics of those warnings, but they've been quite specific and quite concrete.

Yes, Betsy.

QUESTION: Are there any other steps being planned with our European allies to try and tighten the noose on him?

MR. BURNS: As you know, the OSCE met today in Vienna to review the response to the OSCE by Foreign Minister Milutinovic, that response being quite inadequate. The OSCE will continue to study the Serbian Government response, and we'll continue to have a discussion with the Serbian Government about what we think should happen. So I can't predict exactly what the reaction of the OSCE will be next week, but we think it's going to be probably pretty much as tough as the United States Government reaction has been today.

QUESTION: Now my question is whether the U.S. Government is going to try and work with the OSCE and other organizations like that in Europe to bring this threat of continuing sanctions or of other sanctions home to them more forcefully? Is there any action being contemplated by the U.S. and these other groups together?

MR. BURNS: I can't anticipate what future decisions are going to be made in the next week or two or three by the West in response to the Belgrade Government's actions. But let's just summarize what our position is -- the position of the United States.

We support the right of the Serbian people to take to the streets peacefully and to demonstrate to gain their democratic rights and to have the election results restored, to have democracy win; and we oppose the actions of the Milosevic Government that are fundamentally anti-democratic. We reserve the right to take any action necessary to make that policy - our policy - succeed.

QUESTION: Is the Administration holding off on any major new decisions concerning Serbia until after the successor takes office -

MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of any such strategy.

QUESTION: Has the Secretary been in touch with Madeleine Albright on this subject?

MR. BURNS: I know they've had a number of conversations about a lot of issues. I don't know if they specifically discussed this subject in the last couple of days. We have a fully functioning government here. We have a President, we have a Vice President, we have a Secretary of State, and we'll soon have a new Secretary of State. I think there's a great deal of unanimity in this government about the seriousness of this political crisis, for Serbia's future and for the future of the Balkans. I don't anticipate any dramatic changes in the next couple of weeks, because we do have a unified government, and certainly we have the leadership of President Clinton on this. You heard him speak about this in his last press conference in a quite forthright way.

QUESTION: Does the State Department have any role at all in the government's efforts to get to the bottom of the letter bombs?

MR. BURNS: First, let me just say the FBI is actively investigating the letter bombs that were uncovered yesterday at the National Press Club and investigating these incidents as possible acts of international terrorism. The State Department's role in such investigations is to assist the FBI by requesting the cooperation of foreign governments that might have relevant information about these letters. We are doing so in this case.

We have notified all American Embassies and all American Consulates to review their security measures in light of these incidents, particularly mail and package screening procedures.

As the FBI statement yesterday warned, the American public should report any suspicious mail. We are likewise advising American citizens overseas to report any suspicious mail delivered to them to the relevant American Embassy or American Consulate where they are residing.

We have been in touch with the Government of Egypt, because we believe that some of these letters - not all of these letters - were sent from Egypt, and I'm pleased to say that the Government of Egypt has pledged its full support and full cooperation to the State Department and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation so that we might get to the bottom of this and find out who sent these letters.

I should just say we were very concerned yesterday for the welfare of all of our colleagues, particularly those foreign journalists who have offices in the National Press Club and particularly concerned with two friends of ours, Rafik Maalouf and Dana Sandarusi, and we're very, very pleased that there were no injuries incurred by anyone at the Foreign Press Center.

QUESTION: There were also two sent to Kansas.

MR. BURNS: Excuse me?

QUESTION: There were also two sent to Kansas.

MR. BURNS: That's right.

QUESTION: Can you tell us any other governments in the Middle East that have been asked to help in this investigation?

MR. BURNS: At this point I know that we have contacted the Government of Egypt, and we have its full cooperation. We will be contacting other governments, as necessary, and if the trail of information and evidence seems to lead in the direction of other countries. Obviously, at this point there's no question - I don't believe any evidence has been uncovered of any governmental involvement, but we need the cooperation of governments because some of these letters certainly, if not all of them, emanated from the Middle East.

QUESTION: Did you contact Saudi Arabia?

MR. BURNS: I just don't know if we have or not.

QUESTION: Has anyone taken responsibility?

MR. BURNS: I'm not aware of any claim of responsibility.

QUESTION: Any thought as to why Washington - why this bureau in Washington and why Kansas? Do you see any link?

MR. BURNS: It's hard to fathom the mentality of terrorists, and these people are terrorists. Your guess is as good as mine.

QUESTION: I realize that this might not be your purview, but is the pertinent mail from pertinent sources being screened so that people are now protected?

MR. BURNS: All I can say is that we're following here at the Department of State, and we're urging our Embassies and Consulates to follow a very vigorous policy of screening mail.

We've had such a policy in place for a very long time, and we've simply reminded people to keep security procedures in place. Terrorists should know that we are vigilant, and that we will hunt these people down who seek to inflict terrorism on the United States.

QUESTION: That's not what I was referring to specifically, though. The mail that's coming from abroad that might contain these types of devices - is that being screened as it comes into the U.S.?

MR. BURNS: I think my answer was sufficient. I think I answered your question, with all due respect. We always screen mail.

QUESTION: To go back on the Middle East, Dennis' negotiations - he spent today with Yasser Arafat. You said tomorrow he plans to spend with Arafat as well. There has been some reporting that suggests that the Palestinians really are the ones who are digging in their heels at this time. Do you have an opinion about that, whether it's the Palestinians who seem -

MR. BURNS: I don't agree with it, based on my conversations with Dennis. Look, there's a very practical reason why Dennis Ross met with Chairman Arafat this evening - there's a seven-hour time difference - and tomorrow, and that is the Shabat - the Jewish Holy Day. Israeli Government officials do not have meetings between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday. I'm sure that Dennis will be in touch with the Israeli Government on Saturday evening, as he normally is, and on Sunday.

But again, he's taking it on a day-to-day basis. We don't agree with this conventional wisdom of the press that you ought to point the finger at one of the parties and say, "There's the problem." The fact is they're engaged in a very intense political and emotional dialogue about incredibly difficult issues, and you know how difficult Hebron is. It has a religious and political component to it, and they've got to cross the finish line together. They've got to work together. They've got to make compromises together. They've got to listen to the other's concerns. They've got to take account for the other party's position in a negotiation.

So this has to be a mutually agreed upon deal, and it takes two to tango, and both are responsible. So we're not pointing the finger at the Palestinians or the Israelis and saying that one or the other has more responsibility than the other to make an agreement.

QUESTION: Nick, you're not disputing that analysis.

You're just unwilling to point the finger yourself.

MR. BURNS: I'm disputing the analysis and saying I'm unwilling to point the finger. I don't think it's accurate, based on my knowledge of these negotiations. In any negotiations, it's just simply not helpful to take a snapshot of a negotiation and say, "On the 84<SUP>th day of the talks, this party is responsible." The fact is there are ebbs and flows and ups and downs. The only thing that matters is the final result, and they've got to cross the finish line together.

QUESTION: But what's your analysis today of why they seemed so close earlier in the week, and there were predictions of a summit, and then a summit again, and then a summit, and now things seem to be farther apart?

MR. BURNS: As the most experienced negotiator that we have in the State Department, Secretary of State Christopher often says when you get to the end-game of a negotiation - the end; this is clearly the end-game - the negotiations often and in this case certainly have become much more difficult and much more intensive. I think that's perhaps part of the reason why there has not been an agreement yet. But Dennis is going to take this on a day-to-day basis. He is there representing the United States as the good-faith intermediary and partner. We think a deal can and should be made.

It's up to the Palestinians and Israelis to make it.

QUESTION: Did the Palestinians in any way change their positions following the market square attack on Wednesday?

MR. BURNS: Again, Judd, I'm going to keep true to the policy we've had of not characterizing the negotiating positions of either party.

QUESTION: Nick, has that complicated the negotiations?

MR. BURNS: As I said yesterday in response to Carol's question, we commend Prime Minister Netanyahu and Chairman Arafat on the productive way that they handled that crisis. Both of them did and said the right thing, and both of them, I think, took account of the position of the other in their public statements and in their actions. You saw the reports that the Palestinian Security Chief and the Israeli Interior Ministry officials and security people had a meeting in Hebron. They're working together.

You saw Prime Minister Netanyahu say the right things, condemn this in absolute terms, as we have condemned it.

You've seen Chairman Arafat take a very responsible position in the wake of this, and you can imagine the pressure upon him in a situation like this where six or seven people have been wounded by a terrorist wielding a gun. So I think we've been pleased to see the reactions by both the Palestinians and Israelis.

QUESTION: Nick, does the United States believe, as at least one of the parties does, that this is a negotiation that is not exclusively about Hebron? Does the United States believe that there needs to be a statement about where the parties go from here, with some specifics in it, as part of this agreement, or does the United States not believe that?

MR. BURNS: The United States believes many things, but we reserve those beliefs - the communication of those beliefs for Israel and the Palestinians privately. It just would not be helpful, David, if I were to go into our negotiating position at this point.

QUESTION: Different subject?

MR. BURNS: Yes.

QUESTION: Nick, your statement yesterday concerning the bombing in Damascus raised a lot of eyebrows in Syria and beyond. It was observed that you failed politically to condemn the act as a terrorism act. It was observed that you failed morally in even extending the condolences of the U.S. Government to the families of the victims, which is something the United States is very quick to do when Israelis are subjected to the same act.

Would you care to add anything to the record?

MR. BURNS: Those are quite serious charges leveled against the State Department. Let me tell you the facts. When I came out to the podium yesterday, we in this building - and that includes the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs and the Bureau of Public Affairs, my Bureau - were not aware of any of the details of the terrorist attack in Damascus. We didn't know exactly what had happened.

We didn't know if anyone had been killed or if anyone had been wounded. We simply saw press reports, but we had no independent information from the Government of Syria. That accounts for the fact that we did not make a statement on the incident at yesterday's briefing.

Subsequent to my briefing yesterday, we have been in touch with the Syrian Embassy. I talked to the Syrian Ambassador this morning. Assistant Secretary Pelletreau talked to him yesterday afternoon. The Syrian Government has been in touch with our Embassy in Damascus, and this is what we understand: we understand that a bomb exploded on a passenger bus in Damascus; the Syrian Government has said that nine people were killed in the explosion; that many more were wounded.

The United States condemns this terrorist attack against innocent people, and there's every reason to believe that these were innocent people on that bus - civilians - who ought not to have to fear for their lives when they travel around the City of Damascus. The United States extends our condolences to the families of the victims.

The United States would have made this statement yesterday, had we known about the incident in any kind of detail. But we make this statement today, and we have great sympathy for the people, obviously, who were killed and wounded and for their families.

QUESTION: You could see yesterday, Nick, from press reports and you have a fully functioning Embassy in Damascus; the explosion took place on Tuesday; many foreign diplomats reported the incident. And yesterday you were also quick in criticizing the Syrians for insinuating or saying explicitly that the Israelis were behind this. Now, if the Syrians have not produced any evidence to support their claims, certainly you do not have any counter-evidence to support that their - to say that their claims are incorrect, and that's why you and the Administration appeared to be extremely insensitive to what happened in Damascus. And then you can see why the Syrians reacted the way they did.

MR. BURNS: You're going to have to trust our reliability and our sincerity and the sincerity of what we say up here, and I would ask you to do that, because I've been very straight with you today. You can choose whether you want to believe what I'm saying or not. That's your choice. But these are sincere words of condolence on the part of the U.S. Government. We did not know in this building at 1:00 p.m. yesterday, or 1:30 p.m., when I briefed what had happened. It is very irresponsible of any government to make a public statement about an incident when you don't understand what has happened.

Let's get to the second part of your question. The Syrian Government and press again today made statements in effect accusing the Israeli Government of complicity in this bomb attack and in other such bombings. It is not wise for any government to accuse another government of an act of terrorism without a foundation of evidence to support it. The United States is not aware of any evidence whatsoever that would link the Israeli Government to the bomb attack of a couple of days ago or the other bombings in Damascus.

Furthermore, you have seen from Jerusalem an absolutely clear statement of denial by an adviser to Prime Minister Netanyahu, and I think it's incumbent on the Government of Syria and the Syrian press for that matter - your colleagues in Damascus - to exercise some responsibility here if they don't have any information to back up these claims.

QUESTION: The Syrian press can write whatever it wants.

The Syrian Government, it says whatever it wants. It's not my concern really. What I'm asking you, these two governments have been in a state of war. They've been leveling charges against each other. Something happens in Israel, then the Israeli Government and Israeli press accuse the Syrians or groups supported by Syrian -

MR. BURNS: And you saw from the Israeli Government - in fact, the Prime Minister of Israel yesterday publicly condemned an act of terrorism in Damascus - this bombing. I think you ought to give the Government of Israel its due on that.

QUESTION: Nick, in the contacts between the U.S. and Syria, did the Americans try - ask the Syrians straight out what kind of evidence lay behind this charge?

MR. BURNS: Certainly, we've made the suggestion to the Syrian Government that to make such a charge publicly is not wise, absent the information. I'm not aware that we've been given any information. In fact, I'm quite sure we've not been given any information that would substantiate those claims of Israeli Government involvement.

QUESTION: Did you ask for such information?

MR. BURNS: This is not a matter for the United States to adjudicate. This is really a matter for Syria and Israel, but it's ultimately a matter for the Syrian Government to decide how it's going to characterize its own position, and I can't do that for them. We have made the suggestion to them that it's not right or wise to make these claims, absent information. These are very serious charges.

QUESTION: And was there something today about what the motivation is for Damascus pointing the finger at Israel?

MR. BURNS: I think that's a question that the Damascus Government and Syrian officials are far better prepared than I am to respond to.

QUESTION: Do you have anything - to change the subject - on the protests from the Russians about the incident involving those two diplomats in New York?

MR. BURNS: Yes. I know that the Russian Government has protested quite vigorously to the United States about the alleged - the alleged - police treatment of the Russian and Belarusian diplomats. We've also heard from the City of New York. Mayor Giuliani has written to Secretary Christopher, asking that the two diplomats - the Russian and Belarusian diplomats - who are assigned to their missions at the United Nations - that these people be removed from any diplomatic posting in New York City.

The State Department's position is that we need to see a report from the City of New York. We understand that the New York Police Department is preparing an investigative report that would detail its view of the incident --what happened, what was the cause for stopping these people - and it would also include a formal investigation by the City of New York itself. We understand that once these investigations are complete - and we would expect this to happen any day now - that this report will be sent to the State Department. Then we'd have to look at it, and we'd determine whether any appropriate action should be taken.

As I said yesterday, we have no reason to question the professionalism or the competence of the New York Police Department, and we're not questioning that today. But we do have an obligation to see all the facts in a formal way before we can speak formally about this problem where you have the Russians wanting some action taken, on the one hand - the Russian Government - and we have the City of New York wanting opposite action taken on the other.

It's a very difficult situation. We will do our best, obviously, to make sure that we take the appropriate action, if that is necessary.

QUESTION: I thought you said that you were supposed to receive the report yesterday.

MR. BURNS: We thought we would, but we understand now that the New York City officials are looking over the report, and they're conducting a formal investigation. That has to be married with what comes out of the Police Department, and we haven't received the report yet. So we've seen the statements by Mayor Giuliani, but we really don't have a lot more to say until we receive the official report.

QUESTION: It says it did send a report last night to the State Department.

MR. BURNS: Our officials here say that we have not received a report. Maybe they didn't send it by FedEx. Maybe they sent it by U.S. mail.

QUESTION: (Laughter) That has to be checked, right.

MR. BURNS: We don't have a report here, as of 2:00 p.m., Friday afternoon.

QUESTION: Any decision on the Taiwan visa?

MR. BURNS: I think, as you saw, I was behind the curve yesterday when that question was asked. We have received a request from the Vice President of Taiwan for a transit. He's attending another inauguration in the hemisphere, but we've not yet acted upon that request. It's interesting. There have been so many democratic elections in the Western hemisphere of late - so many democracies, with the exception of Cuba, that it gives a lot of opportunity for other people around the world to attend their inaugurations, in this case Taiwan officials. It's a kind of interesting connection. I thought it was interesting. You're not very impressed by -

QUESTION: (Inaudible)

QUESTION: Has there been any agreement on the place for the North Korea briefing?

MR. BURNS: We have not yet agreed with the North Koreans on a date and place for the briefing, but, as Winston Lord told you the other day, we do believe that that should be put together very quickly. It's a matter of a week or two. It shouldn't take much longer than that.

Yes, Carol.

QUESTION: How about the study on the Nazi assets in Swiss banks.

MR. BURNS: Yes.

QUESTION: When do you expect that to be released?

MR. BURNS: When do we expect it to be completed? Ambassador Eizenstat is a very busy person; is in charge of the investigation by the United States, and that's really centered here in the State Department in our Office of the Historian to look at our own archives to ascertain whether or not the United States Government in the years immediately following the second World War did and said the right thing on this current issue.

We have seen some statements by the Government of Switzerland recently on this issue that were quite surprising, frankly, to see. We certainly reject any charges that the United States or any branch of the United States Government has anything other than the best intentions on this issue. We feel that we have an obligation to the historical truth here.

We have tens of thousands of survivors of the Holocaust who are affected by whether or not all of us as governments are doing the right thing by them. We need to look into this question of the financial assets that were stolen from Jews and others by the Nazis. Frankly, to make a charge that somehow an agency of the United States Government is attempting to destabilize the Swiss banking system or is blackmailing the Swiss Government is ludicrous.

We saw such a charge from a very senior official of the Swiss Government over the weekend. We care deeply about this issue, and we're going to get to the bottom of the issue. If the evidence from our historians leads us to even unpleasant truths about the actions of the United States Government in the late 1940s, so be it. People have a right to see the truth, and I think the Swiss Government ought to take the same position on this issue.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Thank you, Nick. Anything new with regard to the investigations in Saudi Arabia, the Khobar and the Riyadh bombings, and -

MR. BURNS: Not that I'm aware of, no.

QUESTION: And anything more with regard to U.S. speaking out about possible penalties to be paid for these atrocities?

MR. BURNS: Nothing further to what we've said repeatedly.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. BURNS: Thank you.

(The briefing concluded at 2:02 p.m.)

(###)


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