THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release April 29, 1994 PRESS BRIEFING BY DEE DEE MYERS The Briefing Room 1:40 P.M. EDT MS. MYERS: There are no announcements today, so if you all have any questions following that informative briefing on this afternoon's events. Q Could I ask a quick question on China. I understand that the President's going to meet later today with Ambassador Kantor and the other team on China to discuss intellectual property and whether to name China on its list of countries that allow the theft of intellectual property. Can you tell me what's at stake in this decision? Why it's taken the administration so long? I mean, they decided not to release their report today on China and the other countries. MS. MYERS: Well, it hasn't taken so long. The regulatory deadline is tomorrow, I believe, on that. The President and his advisers will talk today to make a final decision. And I think that's perfectly in keeping with the timetables laid out by the regulations. Q Could you tell me a little bit about what's at stake there, what the considerations are, because businesses say this is a blatant case of a country that allows the theft of software and other intellectual property? And I'm wondering what you see -- MS. MYERS: I'm not going to go into the substance of the discussions. I think under U.S. trade law they will consider whether a number of countries that were -- that they're looking at have, in fact, violated trade practices; and if so, we will take action. But I think that's a discussion that will happen later today. Q What time will that be? MS. MYERS: Sometime later today. I'm sure exactly what time it's scheduled for. There's a principals meeting on a number of trade issues today. I don't know if it's a meeting, I think it's a conference call. Q Are we going to get the announcement tomorrow? I mean, will it come out of here or USTR -- MS. MYERS: USTR tomorrow or Monday. Q Dee Dee, can you give us a fill on the meetings on Haiti yesterday and whether there's been any movement on that? MS. MYERS: Well, there have been a number of meetings, ongoing meetings, on Haiti over the course of the last several weeks. As you know, the President and his advisers began reviewing the Haiti policy at the end of last month, I think intensively. The President's had several meetings and a number of phone conversations toward that end, which I think resulted in the announcement of our position to go to the U.N. for increased sanctions last week. I think the -- our proposal is being circulated at the U.N. today. We're urging them to take -- the U.N. Security Council -- to take action on that as quickly as possible. I think -- we're continuing to review aspects of the policy and to look at ways to make it effective. As you know, what's contained in the proposal that we've taken to the U.N. is tightening sanctions, which includes a couple of things. One is universalizing the targeted sanctions, which are visas and assets -- freezing assets and revoking visas of the Haitian military and their friends, which is about 550 people. That's something that the U.S. has been doing, OAS has been doing. This would universalize it. The other thing it would do is expand the comprehensive sanctions to all countries. Those are currently observed by the U.N. and the OAS in addition to the fuel and arms sanctions which are currently in effect. The Haitian military would have -- or the Haitian military and police leaders would have 15 days to think about this before the broader sanctions went into effect. But, obviously, the objective here is to get the military leaders to either leave the country or to resign. Q But so far that hasn't had -- even the sanctions that have been there haven't had much of an effect. I mean, what -- MS. MYERS: Well, the sanctions that have been there have had a tremendous effect on the economy. Q But not on the military leaders -- MS. MYERS: Correct. Q It has only strengthened their resolve. MS. MYERS: -- they have not yet resigned or left the country. That is why we're tightening the sanctions. We will continue to work with our allies in terms of creating a blockade -- not a blockade -- but interdicting trade on the high seas. We'll continue to work with the Dominican Republic to try to crack down on that border. They're in the process of developing a task force which should help. And I think that these are tougher sanctions; they expand targeted sanctions, again, directed at assets of the military officers and their friends to all countries. This is something that we have had good response to at the U.N. Security Council, and we're hopeful it will pass next week. Q Why do you think it will have any effect? MS. MYERS: Well, I think, again, these are cranking down on the Haitian military leaders themselves and continuing to hurt the economy. I think, unfortunately, the middle class and the working class and poor of Haiti have felt the pinch of the less restrictive sanctions. I'm not sure that those have been as -- have had as great an impact on the military and other sort of elites in the country. I think by universalizing those sanctions we can have an impact. Again, we'll give them 15 days to think about it. They can either resign or leave the country. If not, those sanctions will go into effect. And that's from the time the U.N. resolution passes. Q hurt the poor and middle class even worse. MS. MYERS: Correct, which is why we will step up our humanitarian efforts, as will the U.N. We're already -- I think U.S. efforts directly help 700,000 women, children and disabled people on a daily basis. Additional international programs make that a total of about a million people. We also provide medical assistance. Q With respect, it seems that we've heard this before. I seem to recall briefings in this very room with senior administration officials describing sanction actions that are being taken all aimed specifically at Haiti's military leaders -- but nothing has come as a result of them. Why would you all assume that in essence doing more of the same is going to have some sort of a -- make some sort of drastic change in the effect? MS. MYERS: Well, we think that these sanctions, additional sanctions, will have -- take a tougher bite directly at the people we hold responsible, which is the military and the police forces in Haiti who have -- I mean, the reason that we began reviewing our policy was couplefold-- one, the current policy just wasn't working, it wasn't effective. The military leaders were staying in power -- and not only staying in power but increasing their campaign of terror against the Haitian people. As a result the President announced that he would be reviewing the policy -- we've done that. And I think the next step is to impose additional sanctions that are directed specifically at the people who we hold responsible for these actions. Q Has there been any recent discussion of U.S. military actions? Has that -- MS. MYERS: We've never found it useful to rule anything out. And I think beyond that we'll keep our options open. Q Dee Dee, Randall Robinson is in his 18th day of a hunger strike. There is no direct contact between the White House and he? MS. MYERS: No. Again, I said that Alexis Herman from the Office of Public Liaison had spoken to him. And I think that additional staff are likely to speak to him in coming days from the National Security Council. Q Does the President still think Randall Robinson ought to stay out there and continue his hunger strike -- MS. MYERS: Well, I think the President's message was that he understands some people oppose the policy; that they're very committed to the restoration of democracy in Haiti; they're very concerned about the status of the people there, particularly those who have been the subject of the military campaign of violence. Certainly the President understands people's rights to oppose or to make their views known, and I think he would respect that; and he respects the depth of Randall Robinson's commitment on this issue. Q How can the President in all good conscience continue to turn away Haitians when he is quoted in the paper as saying that they're having their faces ripped off by security down there? MS. MYERS: Well, I think in good conscience, what the President doesn't want to have happen is have an exodus of Haitians, which most people who are familiar with the circumstances down there predict would be in the tens of thousands, possibly close to a million people, fleeing Haiti in unseaworthy vessels and dying at sea. That's a humanitarian concern as well. So what the President has done and what the United States and the U.N. have done -- what the United States has done is tried to have a policy of direct return with incountry processing. There's now a center in Port-au-Prince, plus two additional centers. Nearly 3,000 people have been approved, thousands of others have been screened through the process. We're trying to expand that access to that process. There's certainly been an increase in personnel and an increase in our ability to process people through the in-country processing centers. I think the President believes that that is the most humanitarian approach at this point, and to continue our pursuit, which we've done relentlessly to restore democracy and to return President Aristide. It's been a difficult course. No one would argue that it's been without setbacks. Q The critics of the President still say that there is a domestic political consideration here, which has more to do with politics in Florida than it does with the seaworthiness of these boats. MS. MYERS: And the President is concerned about not encouraging the Haitian people to leave that country in unseaworthy vessels and to die at sea. That is the primary concern in what's driving the policy of direct return. Q Couldn't the President order the Pentagon to send seaworthy boats to Haiti and remove the people that way? MS. MYERS: I suppose that would be an option. It's not one that's being currently considered to my knowledge. Q Well, that would -- if the only concern was the deaths at sea, that would be, it seems to me, a logical option. MS. MYERS: I'm happy to suggest that to the National Security Council. Q What is the U.S. government to protect the people who go to the processing centers in Haiti? MS. MYERS: There are a number of human rights, UN-OAS human rights observers there. We're increasing the number. I believe there are some 40 in the country now. By mid-May, there'll be another 40 there. I think we're looking to increase this up to about 250 over the course of the next several weeks. Q But aside from the numbers of people there, what is being done to protect the Haitians that go to those centers? MS. MYERS: Well, I mean, try to have some -- again, have U.N. personnel, human rights observers there that can help. And ultimately, we're trying to remove the military who is causing the violence and restore democracy and restore President Aristide. Q Over the past year and a half or so, since the in- country processing system began, how many Haitians have been cleared to come to the United States? MS. MYERS: About 2,900 have been cleared, and about 2,200 of those are here. Q How many have asked? What percentage of -- MS. MYERS: Let me give you some exact figures on that. Q You said that a million, up to a million wanted to leave, right? MS. MYERS: That's what some people predict would be in the flotilla. More than 55,000 Haitians have inquired about the in- country processing program. Over 15,000 have been adjudicated by the INS, 2,900 have been granted refugee status and some 2,200 of those are now in the United States. Q By adjudicated do you mean interviewed? MS. MYERS: Adjudicated? Yeah, interviewed and the process completed. Q past year -- MS. MYERS: Since, I think, it's '92. So, it's almost two years. QQ cooperation with the Dominican Republic to stop the flow of trade -- to Haiti? What kind of measures are going to take to stop the flow of this kind of this kind of merchandise? MS. MYERS: Well, we're working with the Dominican government there. President Clinton sent a letter to the Dominican President asking for his cooperation. They have now formed a task force which will look at ways to clamp down on that border. QQ But that cooperation -- it is has not working. MS. MYERS: Well, they're in the process of reviewing it and trying to tighten it. That's one of the steps that we've taken in conjunction with asking for additional sanctions. Q Are you prepared to put international troops to stop the flow of this merchandise? MS. MYERS: I think we're looking at steps to take. We're going to work with the Dominican government, the U.N. on that. Q Can I ask on another subject? The markets sold off in a heavy way yesterday -- bonds and equities -- to the point where today the United States had to defend the value of the dollar versus the German D-mark and the yen and calm the disorderliness of markets. What is your opinion of market reaction today? I mean, do you think that you've calmed the market concerns any or do you still fear there will be an asset dumping by foreigners -- MS. MYERS: Quite frankly, I have not checked the movement of the markets today. I can take that question, but I -- Q? Has the U.S. government changed its strategy of terms of the Japanese yen from trying to drive it up to make Japanese exports more expensive -- MS. MYERS: I'm not going to comment on monetary policy. Q The U.N. observers in Haiti, are they armed? MS. MYERS: No, they are not armed. Q Are they doing anything to protect the people who ask for status beyond taking down their names -- MS. MYERS: Well, they're not armed, so they're not -- but they are there. I think that they send a message to the Haitian leaders. I don't think there have been any attacks on them individually, and I think that they have been helpful. Q Do you have anything more on the Atlanta trip on Tuesday? Do you know what the event is, when we leave, anything about it? MS. MYERS: Wolf, do you want to give us an update on the Atlanta trip? Q Dates and times. MS. MYERS: The President leaves at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday from the South Lawn. He leaves Andrews about 10:40 a.m.; arrives for a public event, I guess, something akin to a rally at the CNN Center. (Laughter.) CNN employees, they are very supportive of the President. We appreciate that. (Laughter.) Q What time is that? MS. MYERS: That is at -- for those of you who don't know, the CNN Center is a mall. What time is the rally -- it's at 1:00 p.m. Q What are they rallying about? (Laughter.) MS. MYERS: I imagine it will be health care. Then at 2:30 p.m. there's a reception, which is something that we do -- that's a closed event, generally meeting with local supporters. Then he will meet with President Carter at the Carter Center. That is at 4:45 p.m.. There will be a -- probably release of White House photo of that. And then the CNN World Report Contributors Conference at 7:00 p.m. And then we come back -- we get back here approximately at 11:00 p.m. Q Is the Carter event open or closed? MS. MYERS: I said I think we will probably release a White House photo or something like that. So, it's closed. There may be a photo at the top, but probably a White House photo. Q Is the show from the Carter Center or from CNN? MS. MYERS: The show is from CNN. Q No. MS. MYERS: No -- it's from the Carter Center? Let me check. Q The rally. MS. MYERS: It's at the Carter Center. Q Doe he giving a speech first thing or -- MS. MYERS: He'll open with about half an hour of remarks tentatively and then take questions. Q Half an hour? MS. MYERS: That's what's scheduled. Oh, I take it back -- not health care, jobs. Q Jobs. MS. MYERS: A rally on jobs. Q Can you comment -- Secretary Christopher said today that the administration may ask the U.N. to employ new air power to other areas of Bosnia other than the safe havens. Can you comment on that? MS. MYERS: I'm not familiar with those comments. I think we're watching developments in Bosnia carefully. We're concerned about the concentration of weapons in places like Brcko. Obviously, we do not want to allow the kind of violence that stalled the peace process in Gorazde with the Gorazde incidents to repeat itself. So, we are taking that very seriously, but I don't think we've made any final decisions about next steps. Q Has there been discussion on it? MS. MYERS: I think we are in the process of discussing what to do as the situation on the ground there develops. But, again, no final decisions. Q? Is there any kind of a policy or aid level change for Rwanda and Burundi? There are reports of massive amounts of refugees flowing over the border in scales supposedly never before seen. MS. MYERS: I think we're looking at ways to help in Burundi. Again, Ambassador awson is likely to go back. We're looking at ways to ease the humanitarian situation there, working with the U.N. and others in Africa and, again, looking at -- I don't think there's any final decisions about additional aid. I'll check and see if anything's happened in the last 24 hours. Q Dee Dee, you took a question yesterday on the President and reservations. MS. MYERS: Yes. I'm sorry, I don't have an answer to that -- if he's ever visited an Indian reservation. We'll see if we can't get that posted today. Q Is it the President's intention to replace Lawrence Pezzullo? MS. MYERS: Yes. Q When might that appointment be made? MS. MYERS: I don't think we have a deadline for it, but I think it's something that we intend to do. Q Can you state why Pezzullo was ousted? MS. MYERS: I'm not sure that he was -- that I would use the word "ousted." He certainly was an advocate of an internal process, something that we tried, worked very hard at, from the Malval conference idea to the parliamentarian idea. I think that would have been the preferred outcome, to have some kind of an internal process that would resolve the conflict there, restore democracy and restore Aristide. That didn't work. As a result, the President reviewed his policy and has taken a different course of action. I think after conversations between Ambassador Pezzullo and Secretary Christopher, he offered his resignation today, and he will be replaced. Q Was he not representing the President's policy accurately? MS. MYERS: No, he clearly was. Q He is being ousted for representing it accurately? MS. MYERS: First of all, I'm not saying that he's being ousted, but he is -- Q forced to resign? MS. MYERS: -- leaving effective today; I think a mutual decision between Ambassador Pezzullo and the President, and will be replaced. The policy has changed and is moving forward in a slightly different direction. Q Dee Dee, senators and representatives that have been opposing President Clinton's policy toward Haiti, are they aboard, the additional sanctions at the U.N. and the changing of Pezzullo? Have they been consulted -- MS. MYERS: Sure they've been consulted. Q Are they in agreement -- MS. MYERS: I don't think you can generalize all members of Congress, but certainly many of them support and have publicly supported additional sanctions. So, anyway, I think some of them support it. I'm sure that there are still some opponents to the President's policy. We'll continue to consult Congress as we go through this process. Certainly they've been working with us, some of them, on the development of the changes. Q Subject of the radio address tomorrow? MS. MYERS: Foreign policy. Q Any particular area? MS. MYERS: I don't want to be more specific than that. It's fairly general. Q It's a conference call -- principals -- I'm sorry, I don't know what a principals -- who the principals are. MS. MYERS: NEC principals, trade principals -- it's NEC, some NSC officials. Q Is it limited to the deadline -- subjects under deadline tomorrow, or is it a wide ranging -- MS. MYERS: I think it's largely focused on some of the subjects under deadline tomorrow, although I wouldn't guarantee that it wouldn't go beyond that. THE PRESS: Thank you. END 2:00 P.M. EDT #167-04/29