U.S. Relations with the People's Republic of China (2005)

U.S. Department of State

Interview With Sir Trevor McDonald of ITV

Secretary Condoleezza Rice
London, United Kingdom
March 1, 2005
(3:00 p.m. EST)

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

MR. MCDONALD: What about the disagreement with the Europeans about breaking the arms embargo on China? What are the Americans prepared to do about that?

SECRETARY RICE: We had very good discussions when the President was here with our European counterparts so that they could understand better our concerns. This is a problem. It's a problem because the United States was a (inaudible) power and we are concerned about the military balance, and perhaps it was important that that be fully understood in ways that I think it had not been fully understood. It's a human rights problem in that the 2,000 or so people who were arrested for Tiananmen Square, to my knowledge, are still arrested and are still behind bars in China.

So, for those reasons, we've been very clear that the breaking of -- the lifting of the embargo would not be a welcome step and that it could have unfortunate implications for the military balance and for human rights and for China's reading of what the Europeans are saying about human rights.

But the good thing is we've had open and candid discussions about it and we believe that the Europeans will at least listen to our concerns. We will see what happens.

[ ...Intervening Text... ]

MR. MCDONALD: Can I finally ask you, Secretary of State, what is America's ultimate sanction against North Korea?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, it's not America's sanction against North Korea. It's North Korea's neighbors. The one thing that we have not permitted the North Koreans to do is to make this a contest between the United States and North Korea. North Korea is hearing from its neighbors, including from its most supportive neighbor, China, that there must be a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and that North Korea has no entry into a better relationship with the international community but to give up its nuclear weapons. And so if the North Koreans want to end their isolation, they have one course and one course only.

MR. MCDONALD: Secretary of State, thank you.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you.

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