thegoodfellas/blogset-br huggingface dataset:
really important area of difference and concern has been the behavior of China in the South China Sea. And while we have made very clear consistently that the U.S. takes no position on the underlying sovereignty of claims in other words, we dont say that land feature X belongs to China or belongs to Vietnam or Philippines, because we dont make judgments about the merits of a countrys claims that mustnt be confused with not having any position onthe behavior of the countries in a sensitive region like the South China Sea. We have very strongviews. That shouldnt be confused with not having a position on international law and universal rights such as freedom of navigation and overflight. That is a right thats inherent to every state, not a right that is granted, and certainly not something that should be denied by any one country similarly, the right of unimpeded lawful commerce. It also shouldnt be confused with the fact that we do take a position that all claims by all claimants should be made in ways that are fully consistent with international law, including and particularly the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. Now, President Xi Jinping made what I consider to be important statements in his press availability with President Obama on Friday in the Rose Garden. He affirmed Chinas commitment to peaceful and diplomatic resolution of problems. Thats an important commitment. The issue of the nine-dash line, for example, is a matter of consideration by the tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and there will be a decision forthcoming on jurisdiction. Should that decision affirm that the tribunal has jurisdiction over the case brought by the Philippines then the parties will be heading towards an arbitral decision. That decision under the treaty is equally binding on China and on the Philippines, and as a matter of international law the United States and the international community expects both countries to honor their treaty obligations.The last point I would make is that we, of course, heard an important statement by President Xi Jinping when he said that China has no intention of militarizing islands or outposts in the South China Sea, in the Spratlys. That, I believe, offered reassurance and encouragement to Chinas neighbors, none of whom want to see a continuation of Chinese large-scale construction on theseoutposts, let alone the deployment of military assets. If in fact, as President Xi has said, Chinas committed to a peaceful resolution of any dispute and has no intention of militarizing its outposts, I believe that the room for settlement and for the conclusion of agreements, whether theyre bilateral agreements or wherever theyre a code of conduct, will rapidly expand. And naturally, we will, as others will, be discussing in detail with the Chinese the steps that they are taking and will take to ensure that they are in no way militarizing the land features that they are that they have built by dredging sand from the SouthChina Sea.MODERATOR: Lets take a question from Washington. Go ahead,
preparatory process that were engaged in year-in and year-out in preparing for the annual leaders summit. So in the multilateral meetings we will discuss the agenda for the U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Meeting. Well discuss the agenda for the East Asia Summit meeting. And well also talk more about the substance and how for example, on the issue of the South China Sea, how the member states of the EAS which, of course, importantly include all of the claimants and particularly China, but also include important security partners such as the United States how collectively we can help to ensure that the tensions are resolved expeditiously and that the disputes also are managed in a way thats fully compliant with international law and with good diplomatic and good neighborly principles.I will also have the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with many of the partner and ASEAN countries. The I was able to meet with a number of the vice foreign ministers or senior official counterparts in New York, but Ill pick up on meetings with the others. Now, when Im in Malaysia, ordinarily I will meet with a range of senior government officials as well as representatives of civil society, consult with our outstanding embassy in KL, and meet with political leaders from the opposition and try to get in contact with a broad section of Malaysia society.Now, as it happens, I have had the opportunity to be in meetings and to speak at considerable length in Washington and now in New York with Foreign Minister Anifah and with Prime Minister Najib as well. And so I dont think I necessarily need to repeat those meetings, but I will certainly meet with civil society and with representative members of the political spectrum in Malaysia.There is no decision, no final decision on a messaging center, but Malaysia is a leading candidateto serve as the host2. There already is a messaging center in the UAE, and what it offers I think is a hub for the regions in which likeminded countries and particularly civil society leaders andreligious leaders can ensure that via traditional and social media means, a moderate and more credible set of messages is delivered to the broad public that counter the distorted messaging being broadcast by ISIL.On your last question, the United States and Japan already have an alliance, and the consultation among these three great countries and three great democracies India, Japan, and the United States do include discussions of some security issues. But those issues are those that are fully appropriate for countries that have common interests as we do in addressing disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, and otherwise enhancing our ability to respond to disasters. Thats one of the reasons that, although the U.S. and India dont have a military alliance, we do have an important annual exercise, the Malabar Exercise hence we invited Japan to participate in that.But this represents only one fraction of the breadth and the depth of our collective interests, and the discussions touched on a wide range of issues pertaining to good governance, promotion of universal
rights and law, the broader trends in the Indo-Asia Pacific region, the economy, regional connectivity, and multiple ways in which we can support Prime Minister Modis Act East policies and work to the common interest. Thank you.MODERATOR: Okay, I think this will have to be our last question. Do you want to give it to Rong?QUESTION: Rong Shi from Voice of America. We dont see a joint statement issued after the Chinese President Xi Jinpings state visit, after the summit with President Obama, only see a achievement list. Is that because of lack of a positive result or cannot solve the difference between the two country?ASSISTANT SECRETARY RUSSEL: No, to the contrary. The United States issued a fact sheet. The Chinese, via their official press, gave a full readout. We issued a joint statement on climate. We signed a memorandum of understanding on coordinating humanitarian assistance. No, there was without a doubt a very rich menu of accomplishments on the issues that I just mentioned, as well as on the economic front, where again there was yet another statement; on ourmilitary-to-military relations, which included out of this visit a further step forward in the form of an annex covering air-to-air encounters to the MOU that was previously signed. We announced significant progress in our people-to-people relationship, both in terms of tourism promotion and in terms of language training. So without a doubt, this was a very rich and fruitful set of meetings.( 2 The Assistant Secretary intended to add that Malaysia is a leading candidate to host a hub for the region.).If theres a non-China question, I think we will take one last one.MODERATOR: Do we have any non-China questions? (Laughter.) Washington? China-related?ASSISTANT SECRETARY RUSSEL: No? No. All right. Well, in that case, lets declare victory.MODERATOR: All right. Thank you for attending.ASSISTANT SECRETARY RUSSEL: Thank you. Thank you all. Glad you could come.# # # U.S. PRIORITIES IN EAST ASIA AND THE PACIFIC FOR UNGA 70FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015, 11:00 A.M. EDTNEW YORKFOREIGN PRESS CENTER, 799 UNITED NATIONS PLAZA, 10TH FLOOR
you in turn.Todays briefing is on the record, and with that, thank you for joining us.MR PALMIERI: Good afternoon. Im really happy to be here with you all, and I want to take an opportunity to outline some of the important events this week here in New York related to the Western Hemisphere. As you all saw, the President had a historic meeting with Raul Castro on Tuesday. The White House has put out a good statement about how that has advanced the process of normalizing relations. And that will be a long process but it is one that is underway. In addition, Secretary Kerry met with his counterpart, the foreign minister of Mexico, the new foreign minister. They had a very excellent conversation. That same day, earlier in the day, Mexico had taken a very large step and extradited 13 different people to the United States who had we had long sought their extradition. Its a clear signal and underscores the deep law enforcement cooperation between our two countries. But the relationship with Mexico is more than just law enforcement cooperation. We are trading partners. We are countries that share a common border. And Mexico has been an important ally in helping us manage the undocumented flow of migrants from Central America over the last year, and we discussed that as well.Later that same day Secretary Kerry met with President Santos and had an excellent opportunity to review the Colombian peace process. It is a historic development over the last week and a half in Colombia. The peace process really has offered the hope that the conflict in Colombia the 50-year-old conflict in Colombia may be coming to an end. The two parties have agreed on a significant set of actions that they both will take over the next six months, and we look forward the United States to continuing our longstanding support to the Colombian Government there.We also had meetings with people in foreign ministers of Central America and in the Caribbean as well.Ill stop there and Ill take your questions now. Thank you.QUESTION: Good afternoon Mr. Palmieri. Thank you very much for taking the time to do this press briefing. My name is Rafael Mathus-Ruiz from Argentina. Im with La Nacion Newspaper from Buenos Aires. I want to ask you two questions related Argentina. The first one is: President Cristina Kirchner say that the U.S. Government is not cooperating in finding a former agent named Stiuso, related to the death of prosecutor Alberto Nisman. I wanted to know: Whats the U.S. position on what President Kirchner said at her UN speech?And the second question is: There is going to be presidential elections in Argentina in a couple weeks, and there has already been some irregular local elections. I was wondering if the department State Department is how is the State Department looking at this process, if theres any concern regarding how the election process may go. Thank you.MR PALMIERI: Well take the election question first. Argentina has a long and strong democratic process. The elections that were carried out
in the first round or the primaries earlier this year were conducted in an open process. We expect that this next round of elections will be equally open and observed and carried out. No strong concerns about that process. It should be fair, free, and credible.Regarding the question on law enforcement cooperation, we have a long record of cooperating with the Argentine Government, and with respect to that specific case, we would refer any requests about the status of any specific requests for assistance to the Department of Justice. QUESTION: Vasili Sushko, Sputnik News. Raul Castro reiterated his call for Guantanamo Bay to be returned to Cuba and the embargo lifted. Any concrete timeline or developments on that?MR PALMIERI: The process of normalizing relations with Cuba is going to take its going to be a long and complex process. Its going to require continued interaction and dialogue as we build on the January 20th re-establishment of diplomatic relations and the reopening of our embassy in Havana. I think we will be focused on issues that help Cuban people and continue our policy of protecting and advancing human rights. Other issues on the agenda will be discussed during this through the Bi-National Steering Commission weve established, and we will take those up in the course of those diplomatic conversations. I dont have anything specific on a timeline related to that specific Cuban request. QUESTION: Hi, Claudia Torrens from Associated Press. The Cuban foreign minister talked a couple of days ago here at the UN and said that Obama could do more when it comes to with his executive power regarding the embargo, and that there could be more of a push regarding that on the hands of the President. What is your comment on that?MR PALMIERI: Well, I mean, as everyone knows, the embargo is still in place, and legislative action will be required to end the embargo. The President has called on Congress to end the embargo as soon as possible. But consistent with this view, the Administration has also taken a number of steps within the Presidents authority to begin the process of normalizing relations and to support and empower the Cuban people. While travel to Cuba is still not permitted for tourist purposes, we have taken a number of regular regulatory changes that make authorized travel easier. It also allows it increases the amount of remittances that are permitted, authorize the commercial sales and exports to Cuba of certain goods and services for use by Cuban entrepreneurs, and encourage more engagement by U.S. telecom companies in Cuba to support better connectivity and access to information by the Cuban people. The changes will permit the U.S. private sector to engage more directly with the Cuban people in an effort to bolster Cubas growing private sector. We will Ill stop there. QUESTION: Thank you very much. Fabiola Ortiz, Im a Brazilian journalist. I write for IPS and for the BBC Brazil, the website. Just a quick question about this Venezuela. Venezuelan activist Lilian Tintori, married with Leopoldo Lopez, in jail contempt for
over 13 years now she was here this week meeting with some authorities. So I wonder if youve been able to see her, to meet her, in case youve been so if you could make some comments about this meeting in case. And shes been asking here she went she came this week to the to United Nations, and yeah, to New York, so shes been asking international community to make some pressure on Maduros government to preserve human rights. There are some other students in jail as well, so if you could make some comments on this and the next elections in Venezuela. MR PALMIERI: I did personally get a chance to see and talk to her on Wednesday morning at the Council of the Americas. We, the United States, continue to be very concerned about the grave injustice both in the trial and sentencing of Leopoldo Lopez to 13 years and 9 months. Were also concerned about the sentencing of student activists in Venezuela and call for the release of all prisoners of conscience there in Venezuela.Its very important that the December elections have a wide and a robust international election observation. The U.S. has called for that. UNASUR, OAS, other international delegations should be invited in. The process of international observation helps lend credibility and ensure the fair, free, and legitimate elections are undertaken. She made her points very eloquently, and she not only in the United States but in other capitals in the Western Hemisphere and in Europe has been advocating strongly as well for international observers to attend the elections.MODERATOR: Were going to go next to Washington, D.C., to the Foreign Press Center.QUESTION: Okay. This is Maria Garcia with Notimex. Could you talk about the cooperation of U.S. with Mexico in the recapture of the Mexican kingpin El Chapo Guzman, and also if you have confidence that he could be extradited to U.S. once he is captured again?MR PALMIERI: Yeah, I the Mexican Government is actively pursuing its own investigation in pursuit of Mr. Guzman. Where appropriate and where we can, the United States is prepared to assist when requested. On the matter of extradition, that would be a matter that we would take up after he is recaptured.QUESTION: Back to the question of Venezuela oh, Diego Senior from Caracol Radio in Colombia back to the question on Venezuela, I remember that Thomas Shannon, a former member of the State Department, has been acting to close to re-establish ties between Venezuela and the U.S. What was the result of that effort, and what are the recent efforts on behalf of the U.S. Government in order to approach Venezuela once again?MR PALMIERI: Well, Tom Shannon is still very much active at the State Department. Hes the counselor for the department. I think you all are aware that he has had some conversations. We continue to have diplomatic relations with Venezuela. We have a charge daffaires and an embassy in Caracas. We do not have an ambassador there. Our efforts are based on diplomatic conversations that reflect the deep
mutual respect two sovereign nations should have in the normal conduct of bilateral relations. We will continue to find areas where we think we can work with the Venezuelan Government, such as in Haiti, and where we are concerned about human rights issues, like in the case of Leopoldo Lopez, we will not hesitate to defend universal principles such as are raised in that case, in that trial. Thank you.QUESTION: Thank you, good morning. Ramon Sahmkow with Agence France-Presse. I have a question on Colombia. Yesterday, Secretary Kerry mentioned that the U.S. Government is working on adapting Plan Colombia for the post-conflict if that if the government and FARC reach an agreement. Could you explain what is the process the U.S. Government is working on to do that? Will there be an adjustment in the investment the money the U.S. is investing in Colombia? And I have two questions on Venezuela as well. The United States has denounced as you have today said also that the trial against Leopoldo Lopez is are sanctions on the table against Venezuela for on this case? And on the elections, the Venezuelan electoral authority has already said that only UNASUR and other expert from MERCOSUR and ALBA will be only the ones allowed to go to observe the elections. If that is the case, if the OAS and the European Union are not going to be allowed to observe the elections, what is going to be the position of the United States? Thank you.MR PALMIERI: So I think its really important that we all remember that Plan Colombia, which started more than 15 years ago, has played a very important role in support and contributed to Colombias own efforts to bring about an end to the violence in that country that was so prevalent two decades ago, and that has eventually led to this historic opportunity. The architect of that effort, though, have been the Colombians themselves. President Santos has been courageous in the way hes moved forward in the peace process, and the agreement reached last week is historic and offers the real hope to Colombia that the 50-year-old conflict can come to an end.There are three key issues there: transitional justice, disarmament, and then a timetable for a signing of the final agreement. Where U.S. assistance, through Plan Colombia or through adjustments to Plan Colombia, can assist with disarmament, demobilization, retraining, helping the Colombians advance this process, the United States will continue to be a willing partner as we are asked by the government to do that. Its really important that we understand that that support to Colombia has been a bipartisan effort between the between both parties and by fully supported by our Congress as well. And moving forward as the peace process begins to reach its culminating point, we would hope that that type of bipartisan support will continue.Regarding the case in Venezuela, as I said, we see it as a grave injustice, both the trial and the verdict, and not just for Leopoldo Lopez, but for the other three students who
were convicted in that case, and for other students who are also still being held in prisons. The last question was on election observation. Its really important that we have robust election observation. Its important for Venezuela. It goes to establishing the confidence that its own citizens will have in the outcome, and our efforts are not to single out Venezuela for this kind of observation, but to point out that around the hemisphere, around the world, multiple international election observation missions help strengthen the democratic process. And I know thats something we all share for Venezuela.QUESTION: Hi, a follow-up question on Argentina. Can you tell me if this whole Stiuso ordeal has created any tension in the bilateral relationship? Can you give me an assessment on how things are now?MR PALMIERI: I would not characterize it as creating tension in our bilateral relationship. Its an issue that the Argentine Government raised and our response is very clear. We cooperate on law enforcement matters with any number of different countries when they make requests to us, and with respect to the specific case, they the Department of Justice would have more definitive information about the status of that.MODERATOR: I think we have time for one or two more questions.QUESTION: Vasco De Jesus Rodrigues, VascoPress Communicacoes, Brazil. Would you care to comment on the developments on the bilateral relationship between Brazil and the United States in view of the issues such as the strong support Brazil has for the governments of Venezuela, Bolivia, and Argentina; the large Middle Eastern flow of immigrants; and next years Summer Games? Thank you.MR PALMIERI: Thank you. The United States and Brazil are natural partners on any number of different issues, including the issues you raise. We are working closely with the Brazilian Government to assist with preparations for the Summer Games next year, offering our assistance where they ask for it or request it. With regard to relations around the hemisphere, we have shared values about democracy and human rights. Brazil is one of the, I think, leaders in the hemisphere in the advocacy of those rights, and we continue to work closely with the Brazilian Government in those areas.MODERATOR: Great. Lets go to the Washington Foreign Press Center.QUESTION: Thank you very much. This is Marcelo Ninio from Folha de Sao Paulo, a Brazilian newspaper. I have a question about Brazil. Brazils going through a very unstable moment due to crisis, political crisis, and economic crisis. My question first question is: How concerned the American Government is that this crisis could paralyze some areas of the government and put in risk the some cooperation that was set in place in the recent visit by President Dilma Rousseff to Washington? And the second question about the Syrian crisis: Brazil used to be very close to the Assad regime. Would the American Government expect right now from Brazil to take a stand and condemn and also to defend the that Assad the only solution for the crisis in Syria is that Assad leaves power? Thank you.MR PALMIERI: I think