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U.S. Department of State Daily Press Briefing #27, 97-02-24

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>


853

U.S. Department of State
Daily Press Briefing

I N D E X

February 24, 1997

Briefer: Glyn Davies

DEPARTMENT
1-2......Shooting on Observation Deck of Empire State Building

NATO 2........NATO Sec. Gen. Solana & Russian FM Primakov Mtg. in Brussels 2-3......NATO Expansion

BANGLADESH 3........President Clinton/Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Mtg. 3........Proposed Sub-regional Conference of States in South Asia

FORMER YUGOSLAVIA 3........Civil Lawsuit in U.S. Federal Court against Karadzic

TAWAIN 4-7......James Wood's Allegations against American Institute on Taiwan 6........Status of Appointment of new Director of AIT

SAUDI ARABIA 7........Reported U.S. Denial of Request to Sell F-5's 7........Saudi Request to Purchase AMRAM? 7-8,11...Visit to U.S.--Saudi Delegation led by Prince Sultan 8.........--Possible Discussion of Khobar/Iraq 8-9......U.S. Troop Presence in Region 9-10.....Stability of Kingdom/King's Health

TURKEY 9........Visit to U.S. of Minister of State and Deputy Foreign Minister 9.........--Discussion of Turkish-Iranian Natural Gas Deal

IRAQ 9........Reported Iraqi-Kurd Officials' Trip/Discussions in Tehran

CUBA 11.......Commemoration of Brothers to the Rescue Shootdown

MEXICO 11-12....Drug Certification Issue/Narcotics Corruption/Trafficking

CHINA 12.......Release of Golden Venture Detainees 13-14....U.S. Concerns re: Human Rights

RUSSIA 13.......Gennady Zyuganov Mtg. w/John Herbst, S/NIS


U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DAILY PRESS BRIEFING

DPB #27

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1997, 1:42 P. M.

(ON THE RECORD UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED)

MR. DAVIES: I only had one thing to say to you before going to any other questions you might have, and that is to pass on a little bit of information about the very tragic shooting that occurred yesterday on the observation deck of the Empire State building in New York City. The Danish Embassy in Washington has confirmed that the victim fatally injured in yesterday's shooting was, indeed, as the Mayor of New York has indicated, a young Danish citizen. The United States of America expresses its deepest condolences to the family of the victim and to the Government of Denmark.

Finally, the gentleman who perpetrated this act -- Mr. Ali Abu Kamal -- just a couple of very sketchy facts, but this is all we've got at this stage: Based on the information from his visa application, his date of birth, September 19, 1927, he got a visa in Tel Aviv. That visa was issued in early September of '96.

He entered New York, as I think is already being reported, on Christmas Eve of 1996, and he was admitted by the Immigration Service for a period of six months, which is the standard period for entry granted by the Immigration Service. That's all I have.

QUESTION: So he was here legally?

MR. DAVIES: He entered New York on December 24, 1996; was granted permission to remain in the United States for six months at the Port of Entry by the Immigration Service.

QUESTION: But that doesn't take him to today. He got extensions, is that what you're saying?

MR. DAVIES: It does. Six months from December 24, 1996.

QUESTION: Glyn, this is probably irrelevant, but I'll ask anyhow. Has this incident caused any re-evaluation of security measures in any way?

MR. DAVIES: Mayor Giuliani of New York talked about security measures at various sites in New York.

QUESTION: No, I meant at the federal port --

MR. DAVIES: The Empire State building is not a federal installation.

QUESTION: No, I understand, but --

MR. DAVIES: In other words, has this resulted in any -- not that I'm aware of. Most federal government buildings in the wake of incidents in recent years have been at a fairly high state of readiness, alert and security status, and that remains the case.

QUESTION: Follow-up.

MR. DAVIES: Sure, Bill.

QUESTION: A follow-up on NATO. Glyn, have you any comment on the talks between Mr. Solana and the Russian Foreign Minister Primakov or, for that matter or especially, on what Mr. Yeltsin had to say today about looking -- agreeing to look for a compromise and thinking that they will find a compromise at the summit with President Clinton. Basically, I would ask, does the U.S. expect that the centerpiece of this summit with Mr. Yeltsin is going to be NATO expansion?

MR. DAVIES: We have a number of issues to discuss with the Russian Government. NATO expansion is one of them. It's one of the most important, to be sure. With regard to the meeting between NATO Secretary General Solana and Foreign Minister Primakov, they met in Brussels yesterday for approximately four hours. We understand the discussions were positive and constructive.

Both Secretary General Solana and Foreign Minister Primakov indicated that progress was being made, but they both made no secret of the fact that differences remain between the two sides.

They directed their deputies to continue the discussions today.

So that is indeed happening. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Afanafsievsky is in Brussels today for further discussions with NATO Assistant Secretary General Von Moltke. They also pledged that they would continue their personal discussions later on, and our understanding is they intend to do so in the near future in Moscow.

QUESTION: There was an article the Wall Street Journal that says Russia's neighbors worry about Yalta II, and I know Ukraine has expressed some concern that they're going to be left out in the cold with the expansion of NATO. They would then be vulnerable to be back under the Russian umbrella. If in fact Russia is granted the rights over the former areas of the Soviet Union as one of the conditions of expansion of NATO, isn't this basically a resurgence of the two power blocs?

MR. DAVIES: I'm not sure what you're referring to when you talk about Russia being granted some form of rights over the former states of the Soviet Union.

QUESTION: According to this article, one of the possible conditions for Russia agreeing to NATO expansion is that they be allowed the right to protect the areas that were formerly part of the Soviet Union, and Ukraine has expressed very great concern about being left vulnerable, neither protected by NATO or in any way eligible for entry into --

MR. DAVIES: Again, I have a real problem with the premise of your question. I don't think that anyone is discussing any kind of hegemonistic concessions to Russia over the other former states of the Soviet Union. I don't think that's on the table, so --

QUESTION: (Inaudible) the Wall Street Journal --

MR. DAVIES: It may well have been, but I don't believe that we're talking about that here at all.

Yes, Mr. Arshad.

QUESTION: Glyn, this is Arshad of the Telegraph newspaper of Bangladesh. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina met President Clinton at the White House a couple of weeks back. Besides bilateral relations between Bangladesh and the United States, was there any reference to the sub-regional conference of states between India, Bangladesh and Nepal? And will Pakistan and Sri Lanka be any part of this proposed sub-regional conference? What is the view of the State Department on the proposed sub-regional conference of states in South Asia?

MR. DAVIES: Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was in Washington attending the Micro-Credit Summit and met with President Clinton earlier this month. The White House can give you more on the discussions that they had at that time.

We understand that this idea of a sub-regional conference was proposed at a recent meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the SARC, and that it is still being discussed among the association's membership. The United States has long supported the concept of cooperation among the states of South Asia. All of those states have a set of common concerns, and we think it's important that they find ways to consult, but we don't have any particular views on mechanisms, for how that would be done. That's up to the states themselves to organize.

Judd.

QUESTION: Another subject.

MR. DAVIES: Is it the same subject or some difference?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. DAVIES: You're sure? Go ahead.

QUESTION: I have a question about Karadzic. Karadzic is being sued in U.S. Federal Court by victims of Bosnian Serb atrocities. It's a civil lawsuit, and the lawsuit can proceed without his presence, unlike the criminal trials in The Hague. Therefore, there's some incentive for him to try to defend himself.

He's been summoned before the Federal Court. It's not clear if he would come, but there is at least that incentive.

What is the State Department's position on him if he were to apply for a visa? Do you have any comment on that?

MR. DAVIES: I don't know that he would ever get to the United States, frankly, if he showed up at an American Consulate or at the Embassy to apply for a visa, because, of course, we are duty bound -- as are most other states who have signed up to support the process of going after war criminals -- that if he walks onto our property, comes into the purview of any U.S. officials, we are going to do our level best to see that he gets escorted to The Hague, to the War Crimes Tribunal there. I wouldn't encourage him to buy a ticket for New York, and, if he wishes to come to the Consulate to apply for a visa, he's welcome to do so. But there are other more important charges that are against him right now, and those are in The Hague and not in the United States.

I'm sorry, George. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Can you talk about James Wood and his allegations of the AIT office being rife with waste, fraud and corruption?

MR. DAVIES: Yes, I can. Mr. Wood's allegations against the American Institute on Taiwan are overstated. They're based on highly questionable evidence, and often they are just plain wrong. He, for instance, indicates that his resignation was in some sense forced. In point of fact, it was forced. The Department decided that Mr. Wood's performance after he'd been in office for a little more than a year had failed to meet the basic needs of U.S. foreign policy. He'd failed to establish a close working relationship, one of trust, with the Taiwan authorities. That, of course, is essential for somebody in his position to promote American interests. He refused to accept State Department direction and oversight, so he was, I guess to put it most elegantly, provided with an opportunity to resign, and he chose to take that opportunity, and he resigned.

QUESTION: How about (inaudible) allegations?

MR. DAVIES: I don't know. Name one. Okay, we can talk about the so-called "sex and visa-buying scandals" for instance. The source of Mr. Wood's stories in these areas -- he talked about thousands of females on Taiwan applying for visas to the United States having been subjected to sexual harassment.

He talked about the purchase of visas on a massive scale. The source for a lot of these appears to be a former local employee of the American Institute on Taiwan. This employee, a Taiwan national, was hired by AIT in 1985 as a Consular Investigations Officer. This is somebody who works in the Consular Section and goes around investigating consular fraud.

In this capacity, his job was to verify statements and documents of prospective immigrants to the U.S. In 1990, we terminated this individual's employment for official misconduct involving his assigned duties. The massive visa scandal that he talks about simply doesn't stand up to the facts. We investigate any such allegations very, very carefully. This same employee's allegation in 1993 that individuals had paid $20-$25,000 for visas was investigated thoroughly by the Department of State. The investigators concluded that the accusations were baseless and indeed may have been made with the specific purpose of discrediting honest AIT officers.

The only case of alleged sexual impropriety that we're aware of dates back to 1989. There was a case in which a woman who had applied for an immigrant visa from the American Institute on Taiwan charged that a local national employee of AIT visited her and made unwanted sexual advances. This again was investigated. AIT investigated the case immediately. The employee denied the charge. That employee subsequently retired. As far as we know, the woman never filed legal charges. So how you get from that to the conclusion of Mr. Wood's manifesto that there were thousands of people being sexually harassed is quite a leap and quite a stretch. I could go into more, but I think you get the picture.

QUESTION: Mr. Wood also accused the State Department of covering up the corruption practice at AIT. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. DAVIES: I would deny that the State Department has covered up any malfeasance or corruption at AIT. What I will tell you is that there has been -- in terms of the accounting procedure at AIT, there have been a number of questions raised about the accounting. AIT is not a business. It's not 100 percent a government office. It is something in-between. But it has tended to follow government accounting practices. In cases where perhaps those accounting practices have not been sufficient, there has also been an ongoing dispute over accounting for a portion of these visa fees in AIT. There's no missing $5.3 million. We're talking about how they were accounted for and how they perhaps should have been accounted for.

AIT offices, both in Taipei and in Washington, had been working to resolve the problem before Mr. Wood came on the scene. They had hired, for instance, independent auditors who issued a report which stated that the auditors could not properly track some $5 million of the visa receipts between 1992 and 1995 under the existing accounting system. That process of looking at AIT's accounting, of reforming it, which began before Mr. Wood came on board, continues.

Again, much of what he is talking about is vastly overblown here.

QUESTION: In retrospect, does the State Department deem naming him as the Chairman of AIT a mistake?

MR. DAVIES: Hindsight is always 20/20, and hindsight in this case maybe teaches us a lesson or two, but I'm not going to second-guess those who made decisions over a year ago based on information they had available at the time. It wouldn't be prudent. It wouldn't be fair.

QUESTION: He also said that he turned the information about visa fraud, sexual abusement and (inaudible) to the FBI.

Has the FBI been in touch with the State Department looking into all the allegations made by Mr. Wood?

MR. DAVIES: Some of the allegations that came to us were referred to the Justice Department. You'd have to talk to the Justice Department to find out where they are and what precisely they are doing. I don't want to do that. I'm not paid to do that. In point of fact, the Justice Department, as far as I know, is actively working on some aspects of this issue.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) When you say "actively working on this issue," what issue?

MR. DAVIES: Let me just say -- and I'll be cryptic but for a good reason -- that I don't believe that they're working on these questions of auditing and funds at AIT. They're working on other aspects of the question of Mr. Wood.

Sid.

QUESTION: Change the subject?

QUESTION: Follow-up?

MR. DAVIES: I'm sorry. Another follow-up? Okay.

QUESTION: Is that new Secretary considering any new candidate to be director of AIT? And another one is, can you make available the letters of resignation by Mr. Wood and former Secretary of State Christopher's later (inaudible) to Mr. Wood?

MR. DAVIES: I don't believe we'll be making public any of this correspondence. You can certainly ask him for letters that he's written, but I don't believe we'll be putting our Secretary Christopher's letter. On your personnel question, the standard answer that we'll make announcements when names are put forward, but, of course, the Secretary of State is looking at a whole raft of personnel appointments that have to be made, among them that one.

Still on this one?

QUESTION: In the past, until Mr. Wood, you always appointed a career Foreign Service Officer, retired or separated from State, to manage the AIT. He was the first one, non-career person, and looks to me now as almost like a disaster. So are you going to revert to the old practice of naming career Foreign Service Officers who have retired?

MR. DAVIES: We'll just have to keep you in suspense on who will be named to that post; what their background is. Sorry.

Can't help you with that. But just a general point quickly, which is to say that many, many non-career appointees who go overseas are just terrific, and any number of you can think of quite a few examples. Pamela Harriman is a great example, and there are many others -- Admiral Crowe in London.

I don't accept that portion of the premise of your question that because he was not a career member of the Foreign Service, therefore, he was in the eyes of some a disaster.

QUESTION: You mentioned some of the reasons he was asked to resign. Are these allegations that he was soliciting campaign financing? Did that play any part in his being asked to resign?

MR. DAVIES: That's not the information that I've got.

QUESTION: Saudi Arabia?

MR. DAVIES: Sure.

QUESTION: Big delegation due in this afternoon. I had a question related to that. In the last year or so, has the United States turned down a request by the Saudis to sell the American F-5s that they purchased some time back?

MR. DAVIES: That I don't have a precise answer for you on. I can check into that and see whether they --

QUESTION: Would you take that question, because they said --

MR. DAVIES: I'll look into it. It may be a question better put to the folks who handle arms sales over at the Pentagon, but I'm happy to look into it for you, Sid.

QUESTION: Doesn't State handle FMS?

MR. DAVIES: State has a role.

QUESTION: In approving resales of American equipment --

MR. DAVIES: Sure, it has a role.

QUESTION: -- so I think it would be in this building.

And they say that's one of the impediments to purchasing new aircraft in the United States. They want to sell the old ones first, and you all have turned them down on more than one occasion.

MR. DAVIES: There is no request in from the Saudis -- no formal request -- to purchase new aircraft, so I can't speculate about whether they'll make such a request, and, if so, how we'll respond to that.

QUESTION: Is there a formal request by the Saudis to purchase AMRAMs?

MR. DAVIES: That I can check for you.

Tom.

QUESTION: On the same subject, Glyn, do you know yet enough that you can tell us what to expect from this --this is quite a high-powered delegation the Saudis are sending. You know, what's on the agenda?

MR. DAVIES: Prince Sultan, who is the Deputy Prime Minister, of course, is leading a delegation composed of a number of ministerial-level Saudi officials, including Foreign Minister Saud. I think the Ministers of Energy and Commerce and perhaps others are along as well. It's a lengthy visit. They will be here for a series of meetings, including meetings with Secretary Albright on Thursday.

As a general matter, it is a White House visit, because he is the Deputy Prime Minister. But there is an awful lot to talk about with Saudi Arabia. It's a very, very important country, an ally of the United States in the Middle East, so we'll be talking about economic subjects, military subjects -- the kinds of topics you're all very familiar with.

QUESTION: Khobar?

MR. DAVIES: Pardon me?

QUESTION: Khobar?

MR. DAVIES: That may come up. that absolutely may come up, given the work ongoing by the Saudis to investigate that tragedy.

I'm certain that will be discussed as well.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) is he part of the delegation?

MR. DAVIES: I don't know if the Minister of the Interior is on the delegation. I can check that for you. I'd be happy to check that, or you could call the Saudi Embassy. They can help you.

QUESTION: On that same topic, in speaking to reporters the last few days, Saudi officials have said one of the things they would like to do is take a look at -- to come up with a plan for Iraq, once Saddam inevitably falls. They'd like to focus the United States on that, without you specifically. Is that something that you all are doing? Do you have a vision for Iraq when and if Saddam falls? If so, what is it?

MR. DAVIES: I don't want to put out all our visions and thoughts ahead of time here. In our discussion with the Saudis, clearly, one of the big issue areas is the discussion of the region where Saudi Arabia plays a lead role. They have concerns about Iraq as do we. So we'll, I'm sure, have an exchange on Iraq.

I don't know that a great deal of time is necessarily going to be devoted to speculating about the future of Iraq post-Saddam Hussein. Most time, in any discussion of Iraq, will be spent on the situation as it exists now and how to deal with it. Once these meetings take place, and we have some sense of what occurred, perhaps I can get back to you and we can let you know what they discussed.

QUESTION: Sort of a philosophical look. Does the United States consider its troop presence in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf as permanent?

MR. DAVIES: When you get into philosophy, Sid, it really, really worries me. (Laughter) Give me that again? "Do we consider our presence" -- no, our forces stationed in Saudi Arabia are not there permanently at all. They're there for specific, well-defined purposes. They're there on a rotation.

I don't think any of our forces stay there for very long at all, because they're constantly rotated through.

QUESTION: I mean the presence; not a specific soldier?

Does the U.S. foresee a permanent presence in the Gulf region -- permanent military presence in the Gulf?

MR. DAVIES: Sure. Whether it be naval or other force elements, the United States has a direct and vital interest in the security of the Gulf region. So we're going to be there in a fairly serious way for the foreseeable future. I can't speak for a generation from now, but that's the plan for the foreseeable future.

QUESTION: Last week, in the Turkish State Minister Abdullah Gul and also Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Oymen, paid a visit to the State Department, I believe. Did the State Department officials express their concern over the Turkish-Iranian natural gas deal?

MR. DAVIES: I believe the issue came up, and we discussed it with them. Yes.

QUESTION: Also linked to this same issue, last week two of the Iraqi Kurdish official went to Tehran and discussed their conflict between each other, to discuss with the Iranian officials.

Do you have any concern on this subject?

MR. DAVIES: I don't have anything on that. I really don't.

I'm sorry.

QUESTION: A follow-up on that?

MR. DAVIES: Yes, sure.

QUESTION: You said the issue was brought up, but you didn't say if the U.S. agrees with the Turkish thesis on relations with Iran on that?

MR. DAVIES: You noticed that. I think I'm just going to hold on that. We discussed it, and I'll leave those discussions for now private.

QUESTION: To go back to Saudi Arabia for a couple of questions.

How does the United States see the stability of the Kingdom right now? The nature of -- the threat, if there is any, from these groups in the East? Also, the health of King Fahd, what's your current read on that?

MR. DAVIES: We have no reason to question the stability of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For reports on the King's health, I would direct you to the Palace, to his physicians. They have the best understanding of it.

QUESTION: Why don't you question the stability? They blew up a dozen or so Americans, unopposed, six months ago or so.

MR. DAVIES: I don't think the Saudis did that. In fact, I know they didn't. These types of terrorist incidents are all too frequent. They occur all over the place. We've had some terrorists activity here in the United States. I wouldn't conclude from that that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is becoming unstable.

I don't think that's the case at all.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) concluded that the cause was not internal in Saudi Arabia; that it's external?

MR. DAVIES: I don't have conclusions to give you. You can talk to Louie Freeh at the Justice Department.

QUESTION: Would you not argue that internal opposition -- the voice of internal opposition in Saudi Arabia has gone up in volume in the last year, at the very least?

MR. DAVIES: I wouldn't make an argument at all on that score.

QUESTION: So you would say that internal opposition in Saudi Arabia --

MR. DAVIES: Let me just remind you, the Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia is about to come -- 3:00 this afternoon. What I'm not going to do is just kind of off-the-cuff, free form it on Saudi Arabia, in not being a Saudi expert.

QUESTION: I'm just trying to give you --

MR. DAVIES: I know what you're trying to do. It's very clear.

QUESTION: -- a clear picture of what you all are trying to do. So you're acknowledging there is rising internal opposition in Saudi Arabia?

MR. DAVIES: I'm not acknowledging that at all. I'm pointing to a very successful visit about to begin on the part of the Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. He's about to come, and we're going to have a wide-ranging discussion with the Prime Minister and his Ministers. It doesn't serve our interests to get into any kind of analysis of what is occurring internally in Saudi Arabia right now, partly because I'm not the guy for it, not being an expert on it.

QUESTION: Is that because you don't care to embarrass the Saudis before they arrive? Do you think if you say something --

MR. DAVIES: Let's be honest here. I don't have any analysis to share with you on the question of developments internally in Saudi Arabia. I simply don't. I'll be honest.

QUESTION: Just to follow that up. I think you said something.

Will there be a photo-op with writers with Ms. Albright?

MR. DAVIES: I don't think we've yet fixed the media-handling for the visit here. We'll do that soon.

QUESTION: (Inaudible) request?

MR. DAVIES: I'll tell the Secretary that Bill Eicher would like media.

QUESTION: The commemoration of the shoot-down last year of "Brothers to the Rescue," has that gone off?

MR. DAVIES: I haven't had any reports. I would have had reports, I'm sure, had there been a difficulty associated with it. I know the Pentagon and the Coast Guard are very much engaged in watching what's going on. Of course, you heard and saw warnings that we put out, first and foremost to the Cubans but also, importantly, to those demonstrators to take care as they go about exercising their rights to do this.

QUESTION: In Mexico, Foreign Minister Gurria said that an eventual decertification decision by the United States would fracture Mexico's cooperation with the U.S. Do you have any comments on that?

MR. DAVIES: Decertification and that process, of course, we owe a report to the Congress by Saturday on our annual drug certification process. You'll have to wait until we come to this podium at the end of this week for anything further specifically on Mexico.

The United States, for a long time, has recognized that narcotics-related corruption is widespread. It seriously impairs the Government of Mexico's ability to combat drug trafficking. We believe President Zedillo, likewise, acknowledges that narcotics trafficking and related corruption pose the greatest threat to Mexico's national security. He has vowed an all-out effort to combat it.

The investigation and arrest of General Gutierrez Rebollo only underscores the problem and strengthens our determination to assist the Government of Mexico to combat this very serious problem.

Of course, on the certification issue, we're in constant communication with the Government of Mexico on drug and law enforcement related matters. In the wake of General Gutierrez Rebollo's arrest, we provided some suggestions on ways that Mexico could improve its anti-drug and anti-corruption efforts. We, again, extended our offer of assistance.

So that's where we are. The certification process is still underway.

Secretary Albright, in fact, on television just yesterday said that one of her first acts when she gets back will be to take up the issue in order to provide to the President some recommendations on drug certification.

QUESTION: On Gurria's comments in Mexico, do they differ to what they told U.S. officials during his talks here on Thursday and Friday?

MR. DAVIES: I doubt very much that the Foreign Minister of Mexico is saying things in public vastly different from what he said in private. That said, I don't have a full readout of all of his meetings to know whether he said it in quite that way.

QUESTION: When is D-Day on the announcement of who is certified and who isn't?

MR. DAVIES: Drug Day -- D-Day. Don't yet know. All I can tell you is, the end of the week. Stay tuned.

QUESTION: Not Saturday?

MR. DAVIES: Just stay tuned.

QUESTION: We'll decertify you if you do that. (Laughter)

MR. DAVIES: If that happens, it won't be me. I'll point the finger.

QUESTION: Nick -- I'm sorry. Glyn.

MR. DAVIES: He's the old guy.

QUESTION: He's the old guy, right. The last detainees from the Golden Venture, which washed up ashore in the New York harbor about three and a half years ago were released. These were Chinese immigrants who were being smuggled in. They've been released into the United States.

Is there concern in the Administration that the message from this is the wrong one? The worse that will happen to you, you might be detained a couple of years but you'll wind up in the United States and not be deported?

MR. DAVIES: We would discourage any intending illegal immigrants from turning over their life savings to some smuggler and getting on a boat for a perilous voyage to come to the United States, to be picked up and thrown into the hoosegow for a couple of years. I would hope that this would provide no great incentive to those who would be considering doing this to attempt it.

To answer your question directly, I don't think there's any great concern that the outcome of this particular case is going to lead to any kind of flood of intending illegal immigrants from that part of the world.

QUESTION: On Friday, Gennady Zyuganov was here. Do you have any information on with whom he met and what issues were raised?

MR. DAVIES: Zyuganov met in the State Department, I believe, with a gentleman by the name of John Herbst who is the Deputy in our office that is in charge of relations with the Newly Independent States. He had a good meeting with Mr. Herbst. It's our policy to stay in touch with political leaders of every stripe, in as many nations as is possible. That was the case here. It was an opportunity for us to talk to him. But I'm not going to get into characterizing the meeting beyond that.

It was a good exchange of views; discussion of what is now going on in Russia and how he views it. But beyond that, nothing for you.

One more question.

QUESTION: There's a New York Times story about some sort of human rights deal that might be being worked out in China which I believe was refuted by Nick. Can you say more about this? Is it on the table, or is the story completely erroneous?

MR. DAVIES: That story is inaccurate. Nick has said as much, and that I think is being carried on the wires. We talked with the Chinese for a number of months about meaningful steps that they might take to address U.S. concerns. Many of these concerns are not just ours but concerns of others as well -- but meaningful steps that they could take on the human rights situation in China.

Secretary Albright has, I think, already had her press conference after her three meetings in China. She's indicated that she did, in fact, raise the human rights issue in her meetings. I'd refer you to the transcript of her press conference for anything further on that.

QUESTION: Glyn, what part of that story is it you're denying?

That you're pressing China for human rights reforms in specific areas, or that you've agreed to drop your sponsorship of the resolution in the Human Rights Commission? The stories circulated in the past, and you all are denying it, but it continues to live, and there are good reporters in Beijing reporting this story. So what specific aspects of it do you deny?

MR. DAVIES: He is a good reporter. What I'm denying is that there is any kind of a deal that is close to closure or even in the works. We're not working with the Chinese on a "deal," number one. Number two, there is nothing close on the human rights front that's close to fruition, close to being announced. So it's more that aspect of it.

Are we talking to the Chinese about human rights? Absolutely.

Will their performance have an effect on what we do or don't do in Geneva? Of course. We are also talking to the Europeans in the run-up to the Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva, which is to begin shortly, about the issue of China. But there's time yet. There's some time here, and some time, obviously, for the Chinese to act.

QUESTION: What you're denying is that something is imminent.

Not that the two elements are present in the discussions and is some relationship between them?

MR. DAVIES: I'm denying that anything is imminent. I wouldn't deny that we're talking to the Chinese about human rights, and that they have some time. They've got a little bit of time to take some action that could, of course, have an effect on what happens or doesn't happen in Geneva.

QUESTION: In those discussions, does the United States lay out what sort of the minimum compliance that China --

MR. DAVIES: What I won't do, especially since this is something on-going, is get into talking about either our tactics or the substance of our conversations with the Chinese on this.

We've been talking with them for months now. As you might imagine, those talks, at times, have been fairly intense.

Secretary Albright picked up the ball and ran with it during her discussions with the President, the Premier, and the Foreign Minister of China today in Beijing. So the beat goes on on human rights.

We'll simply have to see and we'll have to measure the Chinese human rights performance when we get to Geneva.

QUESTION: You can't confirm for the record that the issue of Wang Dan, for example, that they release him --

MR. DAVIES: Again, I won't be getting into cases. I won't be getting to any cases.

QUESTION: Thanks.

(Press briefing concluded at 2:18 p.m.)

(###)


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