THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON EAST TIMOR
South Lawn - White House
THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Before I leave on my trip
for New Zealand, I wanted to say a few words about the trip and a
couple of other issues. These APEC summits started in 1993 when
I first invited the leaders of the Asia Pacific region to meet in
Seattle, Washington. They bring together the leaders of more
than half the world's people and half its economic activity.
What we do there will help to decided whether the global
economy continues to move in the direction of greater openness
and integration, equity and growth in the next century. This
year, one of my most important goals is to get a commitment on
the part of all our Asian Pacific partners to rapid, wide-ranging
market opening so that we can launch a new trade round at the WTO
meeting in Seattle in December. We must stand together against
protectionism and for a common future of prosperity.
During the global financial crisis over the last two years,
the fact that the United States kept its markets open bolstered
Asia and the world. It helped to keep the crisis from becoming
even worse, and it certainly helped to turn it around. All of
this was good for American workers, as you can see by the
continued low unemployment rate in our country.
I will meet with Prime Minister Obuchi and President Kim in
Auckland to have the opportunity to discuss not only economic
issues, but also the difficult issues surrounding our
relationships with North Korea. I will also meet with President
Jiang and with the new Russian Prime Minister, Mr. Putin. We
will be meeting following a difficult period in Asia. There are
encouraging signs of recovery from South Korea to Thailand to
Japan.
There are also continuing difficulties, as all of you know,
caused by everything from economic distress to neglect of human
rights. Nowhere are those difficulties more pressing than in
Indonesia. It is the fourth-largest country in the world and the
largest Islamic country. It has been undergoing an important
democratic transformation. It has the capacity to lift an entire
region if it succeeds, and to swamp its neighbors in a sea of disorder if it fails.
Precisely because Indonesia's future is important, I am so
deeply concerned by the failure of its military to bring a stop
to gross abuses now going on in East Timor. After 24 years, the
people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence. Now,
there are forces who want to reverse the popular will. At stake
are the lives and way of life of innocent people. At issue is
whether the democratically-expressed will of the people can be
overturned by violence and intimidation.
Also at stake is Indonesia's own transition to civilian
democratic rule. For these reasons, we will continue with our
allies in Asia and elsewhere to make it clear that we expect the
authorities to live up to their word and to their
responsibilities. The Indonesian government and military are
responsible for the safety of the East Timorese, and of the U.N.
mission there. If Indonesia does not end the violence, it must
invite -- it must invite -- the international community to assist
in restoring security. It must allow international relief
agencies to help people on the ground. It must move forward with
the transition to independence. Having allowed the vote and
gotten such a clear, unambiguous answer, we cannot have a
reversal of course here.
The overwhelming weight of international opinion, from Asia
to Africa to Europe to North America, strongly agrees with this
position. Right now, the international financial institutions
are not moving forward with substantial new lending to Indonesia.
My own willingness to support future assistance will depend very
strongly on the way Indonesia handles this situation.
Today, I have also ordered the suspension of all programs of
military cooperation with Indonesia effective immediately. Our
military leaders have made crystal-clear to senior military
officials in Indonesia what they must do to restore our
confidence. In the past few days, I have made many phone calls
with our partners in the region and around the world and with
Secretary General Annan. I applaud the efforts, especially, of
Australia to mobilize a multinational force to help provide
security in East Timor. I thank all countries that have already
agreed to participate.
The United States is prepared to provide support to this
Australian-led effort. Although we've made no final decisions,
we are consulting with Congress now on the best way to support
this mission if it goes forward.
The will of the people of East Timor must not be thwarted.
They have a right to live in peace and security, and they have
earned and voted for their freedom. This issue obviously will be
an important part of our discussions in New Zealand, and I look
forward to having the opportunity to meet with all of the leaders
on this and the other matters we will discuss. Thank you.
Q Mr. President, Republicans in Congress are saying that
if you veto their tax cut package, they're not likely to send you
another one. Are tax cuts dead for this year, or will you offer
them a little bit more, perhaps, than the $300 billion you said
you might be willing to accept?
THE PRESIDENT: My bill is $250 billion, and it provides
almost exactly as much aid to middle-class Americans as theirs
does. Whether there is a bill, of course, is up to them; they
can control what bills come up. But if they're saying, well,
it's our way or no way, then that is evidence that this has been
pretty much about politics all along.
I'm all about progress; I want to get something done. I'd
like to see us secure and modernize Medicare. I am willing to
work with them on the Social Security issue. I think we ought to
run the life of the Social Security Trust Fund out beyond the
life expectancy of the baby boom generation, and I am willing to
provide for a modest tax cut that will not undermine our ability
to pay down the debt and make this country debt-free over the
next 15 years. So I'm willing to work with them.
There is always some flexibility in this budget, we can have
an agreement, but it is up to them. They know good and well I'm
not going to sign this bill. It's wrong for America, it's bad
for the economy, it will lead to an increase in interest rates
and a cut in education spending, and a lot of other things that
won't be good, and it won't add a day to Social Security or
Medicare and it will undermine our ability to pay down the debt.
So they know that. The question is whether we're going to meet
and work together. My door is open, and I hope we will.
Go ahead, Ann. Did you have a question?
Q I did, about the FALN. Do you think now that the
clemency has been accepted, but these -- the prisoners say they
are political prisoners, they challenge the restrictions on them
and your disagreement with the First Lady, can you describe to us
how you discussed it with her on the issue of clemency?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, let me discuss this
issue on the merits so you'll know what happened. It came up in
what I would call the ordinary course of business from the
Counsel's Office, and I received a very detailed statement of the
facts and the claims. I was requested by hundreds of people,
including President Carter, Bishop Tutu and many other religious
leaders and members of Congress to look at this and act favorably
on it, and then obviously there were those who disagreed.
My judgment was that these people should be offered a
conditional clemency for two reasons: One, none of them, even
though they belong to an organization which had espoused violent
means, none of them were convicted of doing any bodily harm to
anyone. And, two, they had all served sentences that were
considerably longer than they would serve under the sentencing
guidelines which control federal sentencing now. Most of them
had been in for somewhere around 19 years; they had served very
long sentences for offenses that did not involve bodily harm to
other people.
Because I did not believe they should be held in
incarceration, in effect, by guilt by association, I agreed to
offer them clemency if they would abide by the conditions of
parole and specifically renounce violence.
What that means is, if they get out and they violate the
conditions of parole, and particularly if they are engaged in any
way with people who are espousing violence, that their parole
will be revoked and they'll have to go back to prison. So under
those circumstances, I felt then and I still feel that that was
the just decision.
She didn't know anything about it, as far as I know, until
someone from her office called and asked her for a comment,
because I did not discuss it with her. I haven't discussed other
clemency issues with her and I didn't think I should discuss this
one. So it was up to her and entirely appropriate for her to say
whatever she wanted to about it, but I did what I thought was
right and that's what I'll continue to do.
Q As a very skilled politician, using that perspective,
if your wife decides on a run for office, does she figure to be
hurt by what many people perceive as a flip-flop on the issue of
clemency for the Puerto Rican nationals?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, they'll have to evaluate
that as they please. You know what she said in her statement; I
don't know that that's a flip-flop. I had a different position.
I thought they should be given another week. If, in the course
of this week, if we had come to tomorrow and they hadn't taken it
and I had revoked the offer, would that have been a flip-flop by
me? I don't think so.
The reason I felt they should be given to this week is, I
knew that their lawyer was actually physically going around to
see all of them and would not finish until, I think, yesterday.
So I thought they ought to be given that amount of time, and it's
a judgment I made.
Q Mr. President, what level of military support are you
prepared to provide to any peacekeeping mission, and what
recourse do you have if Indonesia continues to refuse an
international mission for East Timor?
THE PRESIDENT: The answer to the first question is, we're
still -- we're consulting with the Australians and with others
and we're also talking to interested members of Congress about
this, and no decision has been made. I want the American people
to know two things: Number one, the Australians have made it
clear that they, being the nearest military authority, intend to
play the largest role and provide the lion's share of the effort,
and that many other countries have already agreed to contribute.
But, secondly, the United States has been, certainly since
the Second World War, and indeed, going back before, heavily
involved in the Asia Pacific region. The Australians and many of
these other countries have been our allies in every difficulty
that we have faced, and I believe that we should support them in
an appropriate way. But that is something that would still have
to be worked out.
Now, the second question you asked is the most difficult
one. There are any number of countries that are willing to
support this endeavor, there are any number of countries on the
security council who are willing to support it if Indonesia will
ask. The problem is, we're in this interim period where the East
Timorese have voted for independence, but East Timor is still a
part of Indonesia, and we're going through this transition
period.
The frustrating thing to me -- and I don't know how many
phone calls I've made the last three or four days about this, but
the thing that's frustrating people all over the world is, they
either can't or won't stop the violence, which is leading people
to leave, but they don't want to admit they can't so they don't
want to ask anybody else to come in. That is why I have made the
statements I've made today about economic aid, and the military
cooperation.
I tried to do this with telephone calls, working with
others. I have seen the frustration and the anxiety in the voice
of the Portuguese Prime Minister and any other number of leaders
who are passionately concerned about this area, and obviously
Prime Minister Howard in Australia, Prime Minister Shipley in New
Zealand, and others. We are doing our best. Kofi Annan is doing
his best. He sent a U.N. delegation there. They arrived there
yesterday. So this may be a question that you'll have to ask me
again tomorrow and the next day and the next day because I don't
have a clear answer for you yet.
Q What are they telling you? What are the Indonesians
telling you, and have you thought of economic sanctions?
Q -- force change in Indonesia right now would suspend
temporarily IMF and World Bank -- who are set to go there -- do
you think that's the right approach?
THE PRESIDENT: First of all, I think today the right thing
to do is to make it clear what our intentions are, and our
intentions are, one, to stop military and military cooperation
right now until this matter gets resolved, and two, we have sent
a clear signal about what we will do on economic cooperation if
it is not resolved.
It would be a pity if the Indonesian recovery were crashed
by this, but one way or the other, it will be crashed by this if
they don't fix it, because there will be overwhelming public
sentiment to stop the international economic cooperation, but
quite to the side of that, nobody is going to want to continue to
invest there if they are allowing this sort of travesty to go on.
So I think one way or the other, the economic consequences
to them are going to be very dire, but I think -- my statement
clearly signals where I'm prepared to go on the economic issue.
Q If you got asked this, I didn't hear the question and I
apologize. But what about in terms of support troops for any
international mission or infantry-level troops? Would it be
mostly just support the United States is considering at this
point?
THE PRESIDENT: There are any number of ways that we can
support this mission and participate in it. But I normally make
a practice, and you will know now after several years of our
doing this from, I guess we started with Haiti and then Bosnia, I
like to consult with the leaders of Congress; they've been gone,
they're coming back.
What I want the American people to know is that the
Australians are clearly prepared to lead this. Prime Minister
Howard's been very strong, very unambiguous and very impressive,
I think, in his determination to try to help. Several other
countries have said they will go along if the Indonesians ask and
the United Nations approves. And I think the United States
should support this mission.
Whatever we do, the lion's share of the people involved will
be from the region. But a lot of those people, starting with the
Australians, have been with us every step of the way for decades
now, and I think we have to be involved with them in whatever way
we can and our military people will have to work that out and
we'll have to work that out -- some consultation with Congress as
well.
Yes, in the back.
Q Yesterday -- coverage. Would you be willing to -- on
this issue -- means testing -- Medicaid coverage?
THE PRESIDENT: In order to jump start what? I think the
question is, would I be willing to work with the Republicans and
take a smaller drug benefit in order to get one started. Is that
what you said? Is that -- what did you say? I don't want to
misstate you?
Q If you would accept means testing.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, what I don't want to do is to accept
something that's so meager it doesn't mean anything. The real
problem with the medical benefits, the prescription drug benefits
available to seniors today in so many of these programs is that
they are so expensive, they're unaffordable, or they're so
meager, they don't mean anything.
Any proposal the President sends to Congress has got to be,
by definition, subject to negotiation and modification. I mean,
that's just any proposal, and you know that. There are things we
could do apart from the prescription drugs proposal to come
closer together on Medicare. They have acknowledged, as Senator
Lott said, which, as I said at the time, for him was probably
high praise, when I proposed my Medicare program and I called him
about it, he said, well, it's not as bad as I thought it would
be, which is another way of saying that I adopted a lot of the
competitive mechanisms and structural reforms in Medicare that
were embraced by the Medicare Commission.
I'm willing to work with them, but I don't want to undermine
the universal character of the program, the clear benefits of the
program. I don't want to force people into managed care by some
pricing gimmick, and I don't want the drug benefit to be so small
as to be meaningless or so expensive as to be unaffordable. And
I think that -- I frankly think the areas we have for compromise
and where I think they want to go may be more in other areas.
But I am willing -- I just want to sit down and talk to them
about it.
Now, we are going to have a chance to do that because
Senator Roth has committed to mark up a Medicare bill. And so
what I would urge you to do is to watch the progress of the
Medicare bill in the Senate, in the Finance Committee, and see
what we have to say about it. And you'll see whether we're
working together or at cross purposes.
Q You've left a big blank on what kind of response you're
getting from the Indonesian government. You keep saying what
we're willing to do and what the Australians -- what are they --
THE PRESIDENT: The reason I left a big blank there is that,
so far, both the political and military authorities have been
unwilling -- they have been very clear -- they do not want to ask
for international assistance.
Now, that is subject to one of two or three interpretations.
Interpretation number one is, they believe they can stop this
madness in East Timor and they want to do it, and they don't want
to have to admit that they have to have help to do it. Two is,
nobody's got the authority to make a decision because it's
chaotic there; they've already had a presidential election and
parliamentary elections, but they haven't, because of the complex
system for picking a new leader, they haven't done that. Three
is that at least some elements in the country support what is
happening in East Timor for whatever reasons.
In other words, they didn't like the results of the
referendum and they're trying to undo it by running people out of
the country or into the grave. There may be other explanations.
But, no, we've gotten very clear answers, which is at this time
they are not prepared to ask for international help, and we have
continued to press them in our military contacts, which have been
quite extensive over the last several years. General Shelton, in
particular, has worked very, very hard to push the Indonesians to
send people in there that can stop this killing and stop these
people from being run out of their country.
We want to get the humanitarian agencies in there as well.
So that's what we're doing. But we've gotten a clear answer.
The answer to date has been no, and that's what we're frustrated
about, because if the answer were no and they were fixing the
problem, that would be the best of all worlds.
Q Mr. President, are you confident that Japan is on the
path to economic recovery? Today, they reported a second
straight quarter of economic growth.
THE PRESIDENT: They're doing better, and I'm real pleased
about it. I think the world should be pleased about it. I know
some in America are worried. They're afraid that a resurgent
Japan means more competition for money and more pressure on the
dollar. But on the whole, a Japan that could buy more American
products and buy more products in Asia from other Asian countries
would be very much good for the global economy and therefore good
for America's working people. So you're asking me do I know for
sure that their recovery is underway? I think they're doing
better and I think Mr. Obuchi has shown real ability, real talent
in getting people together.
We -- as you know, our Treasury officials have continued to
recommend things in conversations with the Japanese that we think
will help to speed up the recovery, but we're working with them
well, and I'm pleased that they seem to be turning around. It's
a good thing for the world.
Q Are our relations with China on the mend now? And what
are the prospect for signing a WTO deal with President Jiang?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we've done our best to do what I think
is the honorable and decent thing in the wake of the terrible
accident involving the embassy in Belgrade. And we have made it
clear in the recent tensions between Taiwan and China that we
still strongly support the One China policy and the so-called
"Three Nos." But we also believe that any differences between
them should be resolved in a peaceful manner, and we feel very
strongly about it.
I hope that those things and the passage of time will permit
us to resume constructive conversations with the Chinese,
beginning with my meeting with President Jiang, and I would very
much like to resume the WTO negotiations. I think it would be
good for China, good for the United States, and good for the
world economic system. So I hope we'll be able to resume our
talks, and if we resume them, obviously I hope we'll be able to
bring them to a successful conclusion.
Q Sir, have you seen the new State Department report on
religious persecution out today, and do you plan on talking about
China's actions when you meet --
THE PRESIDENT: On what?
Q -- the State Department report on religious
persecution. Have you seen that today, and do you plan on
talking about China's actions, the allegations, when you see
President Jiang on the weekend?
THE PRESIDENT: I have not seen it, but I will see it, and
if I think it's appropriate, I'll certainly bring it up. I
brought it up before, and as you remember, I actually sent a
delegation of religious leaders to China to tour around the
country and to talk to religious leaders in China and also talk
to high representatives of the Chinese government about that.
That's a big issue for the United States, we have legislation on
it and it's a very large issue for me, personally.
I've been working on that issue ever since I got here and in
many countries, so I look forward to having a chance to review
the contents of the report and to taking appropriate action.
Thank you.
Q There's a lot of pressure on Reno to resign. Do you
think Freeh should resign?
THE PRESIDENT: I think Janet -- first of all, in terms of
the merits of this and the FBI, I don't have anything to add to
what I said last week. I think that she did the right thing in
asking an outside person to review it. I think that Mr. Freeh
did the right thing in supporting that. I think -- I've known
Senator Danforth for -- well, I met him when President Carter was
in office sometime during that period, so somewhere around 20
years. And I have always thought him an honorable man and an
intelligent and straightforward man.
The only thing that I would ask is that he conduct a
thorough and honest inquiry and do it as promptly as he can so
that we can get the facts, take appropriate action and go
forward. But based on what I know of him and what I have
observed, I think that's a good move by the Attorney General, and
I certainly don't think there's any reason for her to resign.
Thank you.
Q Mr. President can you say that -- politics played no
role in the Puerto Rican decision?
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely. Absolutely. I got the memo
from Mr. Ruff, I didn't know it was coming, it came with all the
other papers I get every day and every week and I dealt with it
the way I deal with everything.
Q The First Lady says you didn't tell her about your
deadline when she --
THE PRESIDENT: That's also true.
Q Why not?
END