1:04 p.m. EST

MR. ERELI: Who would like to have the first question today?

QUESTION: So there are no new announcements?

MR. ERELI: I have no announcements.

QUESTION: Barry would.

QUESTION: No, I don't. Go ahead.

MR. ERELI: Please, our new Reuters correspondent.

QUESTION: Well, temporary.

MR. ERELI: Our new temporary --

QUESTION: Do you have any information on a possible meeting on Friday, between Secretary Powell and the Geneva Accord co-authors?

MR. ERELI: I think we addressed that yesterday. There are, I think, representatives of both groups that had drafted plans -- Sari Nusseibeh and Ayalon, as well as Yossi Beilin, and Yasser Abed Rabbo will be in town will be in town at various points this week and next. There will be meetings between those representatives and Administration officials. The Secretary has said that he looks forward to hearing from them, that -- and so that, you know, we'll see how that works out.

QUESTION: But nothing is being set up?

MR. ERELI: Nothing to report at this stage.

Yes, Tammy.

QUESTION: Can I ask about Iraq and the meeting that Kofi Annan had yesterday with a whole bunch of people, including Ambassador Negroponte? Is it correct that the Secretary General said that the security situation was such that the UN would not be going back in at this point?

And, if so -- I think that's what he said -- and, if so, what level of concern is there here about that, because I know that the Secretary has clearly been pressuring for a UN role?

MR. ERELI: Right. I'd refer you to what -- to the Secretary General for confirmation, and his office for confirmation on what he said. Our view is obviously that we -- we, as well as the Iraqis have said, look forward to the United Nations returning to the Iraq, as soon as circumstances permit.

There's a balance that needs to be made between their activity in Iraq and the security situation, and their need to protect their people. We hope that it can be done soon. But understand the need for the Secretary General and the United Nations to weigh the security situations in making their decision.

QUESTION: How do you break this cycle though, because the security appears -- is why everybody always talks about how the security is tied to reconstruction, but you don't have, you know, one of the major organs for reconstruction and moving things ahead in civil society at the UN, so how do you -- how do you fix this?

MR. ERELI: I think the Secretary General -- what the Secretary General has said that -- and the Security Council has said, and the Iraqis have said, that there is an important role for the UN to play in Iraq, that the UN wants to play that role. They're looking for a way to do that.

The next step would be the appointment of a UN special representative or a temporary special representative in Iraq. The Secretary General, I believe, has said that he wants to do that soon. So there's a willingness and an interest in doing this, and let's see what happens.

Teri.

QUESTION: Different subject. You guys have put out this Public Announcement on threats in Nairobi, and it's interesting. It's much more specific than we often see in Travel Warnings and in Public Announcements. And I just wondered if you could share with us what prompted you to release that warning at this time, if there's been an accumulation of this data or if they were just such strongly worded threats that you needed to put it out now before you could corroborate it.

MR. ERELI: The Public Announcement which was issued today and the Warden announcement which was put out yesterday in Kenya refers to an anonymous warning that detailed terrorist threats aimed at American and Western interests in downtown Nairobi and specifically mentioned the Stanley Hotel and the Hilton Hotel. The threat also said -- or the anonymous warning also said that the timing of the threat was for the next several days. So, given that specificity, it was incumbent upon us to take the steps that we took.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Does it have anything to do with the fact that the Health and Human Services Secretary is going to be there in the next few days?

MR. ERELI: I think it has to do with the fact that the information was of a specific nature that we couldn't afford to do otherwise.

QUESTION: Can you confirm what people are saying in Nairobi, that this threat was actually posted to an FBI website?

MR. ERELI: I can't confirm that.

QUESTION: Have you heard that?

MR. ERELI: No.

QUESTION: Have you -- you haven't seen reports to that effect?

MR. ERELI: I have not.

QUESTION: And can you go back again to the top of the warning and say that -- are you able to repeat what it says in the warning, that there is no corroboration at all for this?

MR. ERELI: Yes, I can repeat what it says in the warning that --

QUESTION: Okay. That's all.

MR. ERELI: -- that information has not been corroborated.

QUESTION: Thanks.

QUESTION: A follow-up on this?

MR. ERELI: Yes, follow up.

QUESTION: Any Public Announcement for Saudi Arabia besides Kenya?

MR. ERELI: There was a Warden notice issued in Saudi Arabia yesterday, I believe.

QUESTION: No, they said today, according to --

QUESTION: Today.

MR. ERELI: Today? Okay. I stand corrected.

QUESTION: Today is the 2nd, isn't it?

MR. ERELI: That Warden Message was issued by the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulates in Saudi Arabia. It outlined continuing concerns about the current security situation in Saudi Arabia and noted, particularly, housing compounds in the Riyadh area. The Warden Message cited recent, confirmed information that indicated that the Seder Village housing compound in Riyadh has been under active surveillance by terrorist elements, and that other western compounds within the kingdom may also be targeted. In response to this information, the U.S. Embassy has restricted its American employees and dependents from visiting housing compounds in the Riyadh areas.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Has there been anything in the diplomatic traffic, as far as anyone from State Department going over to Riyadh in the last week or so, as well as anyone from White House? Steven Hadley is reported to -- may be considering going over there to review the security situation. Do you have anything on that?

MR. ERELI: For travel of White House officials, I would refer you to the White House. As far as State Department officials traveling to Riyadh, that's a fairly common occurrence. I don't have anything -- at a variety of levels -- I don't have anything specific for you in terms of officials traveling in the next few days or in the past days.

Yes, in the back.

QUESTION: Can I ask a question about Australia?

MR. ERELI: Are we done with Saudi Arabia?

Yes.

QUESTION: Yesterday, or overnight, the Australian Labor Party elected Mark Latham as the new leader. He's the alternative Prime Minister of Australia. He has described the President as flaky, incompetent, and the most dangerous President in a generation. Are you concerned at all that the new leader of the Labor Party in Australia, and the alternative Prime Minister has that opinion of the President?

MR. ERELI: I haven't seen those remarks, certainly would take strong issue with them. The gentleman you mentioned is somebody that is known to us. We've met him before. And this is obviously a decision that the Australian -- the Australian political parties have made, and we will work with him as circumstances warrant.

QUESTION: Could I just ask a quick follow-up? Would you hope at least for moderation in his language, if not his policies?

MR. ERELI: I really don't want to get into the sort of internal dynamics of Australian politics.

Let's go all the way in the back. Yes.

QUESTION: Okay. In the latest press conference, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said, he urged the United States to abide by the three joint communiqués, and to stick to the One-China principle as well as oppose Taiwan independence.

People, of course, have noticed that the statement by Mr. Boucher yesterday at the press briefing, he said the United States would be oppose to any referenda that would change Taiwan's status or move towards independence. Would the United States consider the opposition to any referenda that would lead to independence be equivalent to opposition to Taiwan independence?

MR. ERELI: We choose our words very carefully, and our -- I'm not going to change those words. What Ambassador Boucher said yesterday, I think dealt with the question fairly explicitly. On the question of Taiwanese independence, our policy has not changed. We do not support Taiwanese independence.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: In less than an hour, Washington's Cardinal McCarrick and other religious leaders are going to hold a news conference at the Press Club to call on the Administration to do more to revive the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. This comes on the heels of the Syrian President kind of urging much the same thing. Any response to that?

MR. ERELI: It's hard to respond to something that hasn't been said yet, so that would be point one.

Point two, in response to the general question about the United States reviving peace efforts, I think it's clear that we believe that we are doing a lot to revive -- to promote peace in the region, starting from President Bush's vision of 2002 of two states, and a fairly consistent and active effort to move the parties to take steps to realize that vision. So I guess I would just take issue with the premise that we're not doing enough.

QUESTION: I think part of the concern is that the Administration seems to be so totally preoccupied with Iraq that the Middle East peace process has simply been neglected.

MR. ERELI: That's not really substantiated by the facts. The fact is that you have an activist diplomacy by the Secretary of State, who speaks regularly and engages regularly with all the parties to this conflict. You have regular trips and meetings with senior U.S. officials to the parties to this conflict. It's hard to look at the action we've taken and conclude that somehow we've taken our eye off the ball in favor of another game.

QUESTION: Is there anything you can say about Ambassador Burns' trip that hasn't already been said? I presume he's now in Tunis, having come from Cairo.

MR. ERELI: He is. He has left Israel to join the Secretary in Tunis.

QUESTION: I'm sorry. I've been gone, so I don't know.

MR. ERELI: Okay.

QUESTION: Wasn't he in Cairo today?

MR. ERELI: He was earlier, over the weekend. Assistant Secretary Burns left Washington on Friday. He met with senior officials in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Cairo to discuss a full range of issues, including the war on terror, the promotion of political and economic reform through the President's Middle East Partnership Initiative, the situation in Iraq and the pursuit of Middle East peace. He is now with the Secretary in Tunisia. I believe they have left Tunisia and are on their way to Morocco.

QUESTION: Okay. So, in other words, no, you don't have anything other than --

MR. ERELI: Other than he had his --

QUESTION: Other than his itinerary and that he's now en route to Morocco, you don't have anything else?

MR. ERELI: And that he had good meetings with the people he saw. He saw Abu Alaa and Nabil Shaath, Salam Fayyad on the Palestinian side; he saw Prime Minister Sharon, Foreign Minister Shalom on the Israeli side; he saw President Mubarak in Egypt.

QUESTION: In the conversations with the Israeli officials, do you know if the, if the subject of this possible meeting between the Secretary and the Geneva peace people --

MR. ERELI: I don't know if that came up.

QUESTION: -- came up?

MR. ERELI: I don't know if that came up.

Yes, Teri.

QUESTION: I don't know if you have an answer on this yet, but I know your office is working on it. In a lawsuit filed by victims of Khobar Towers against the Government of Iran, Louie Freeh has been called to testify, and the Department of Justice is saying that the State Department will not give its blessing to have Freeh testify. Do you have any answers on why that is?

MR. ERELI: I don't. I mean, I don't know if that is the case, number one --

QUESTION: Right.

MR. ERELI: -- so let me say that at the outset. So, number two, let me, let's look into it and see if we can't get you something to clarify the situation.

QUESTION: Okay. Thank you.

MR. ERELI: Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Back on the Middle East. The Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister today said he thought it would be a mistake for President -- or for the Secretary to meet with the architects of this Geneva Accord. Why does the United States not think it would be a mistake to go and meet with these people?

MR. ERELI: The United States believes that the Secretary of State should meet with whoever the Secretary of State wants to meet with, and that's what he'll do.

Yes, Matt.

QUESTION: Richard punted on this one yesterday, but I figured I'd try again. Did anyone in the Department even notice that the French Foreign Ministry and most of its diplomats, many of its diplomats were on strike yesterday?

MR. ERELI: That was noted. It was noted in the press briefing yesterday. It wasn't commented on.

QUESTION: As I said.

MR. ERELI: It wasn't commented on.

QUESTION: He punted on it yesterday. Did anyone notice here?

MR. ERELI: I'm sorry. Did anyone?

QUESTION: Did it affect any of -- any diplomacy, any diplomatic effort?

MR. ERELI: I'm not aware that there was any impact on our interests worldwide by this strike.

Sir.

QUESTION: Do you have something on yesterday's meeting between the Chinese -- Fu Ying and the -- Mr. Kelly and Deputy Secretary Armitage?

MR. ERELI: I really don't have much more for you than what we said yesterday, which is that the Chinese Director General for Asian Affairs met with Assistant Secretary Kelly and Deputy Secretary Armitage separately, and that they discussed our collective diplomatic efforts to achieve a peaceful end to North Korea's nuclear program.

Yes.

QUESTION: And do you have something on the TCOG meeting to be held in Washington?

MR. ERELI: I wouldn't call it a TCOG meeting. I would call it an informal consultation that is taking place on December 4th. South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Soo-hyuck will visit Washington December 3-5. Japan's Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Mr. Mitoji Yabunaka will visit Washington from December 4th through the 6th.

They will meet bilaterally with Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Jim Kelly, as well as other U.S. officials. They will meet trilaterally with Assistant Secretary Kelly on December 4, to discuss preparations for the next round of six-party talks on ending North Korea's nuclear weapons programs.

QUESTION: Are you guys still looking at the second week in December as a --

MR. ERELI: That date has been put out there, but we haven't given it any special credence. We're still looking for a -- we are hopeful that a second round can be -- can be convened soon, but aren't able to be more specific than that.

QUESTION: Well, is that timetable okay with you guys?

MR. ERELI: The timetable that is agreeable to everybody is agreeable to us.

QUESTION: Yeah, well -- yeah, but you're one of the people involved in it.

MR. ERELI: Yeah.

QUESTION: So is the second week in December okay for you guys?

MR. ERELI: I think we'd like to see talks resumed as soon as everybody can agree on when those talks can be resumed.

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. ERELI: Matt, I don't want to get pinned down to a date. That's precisely --

QUESTION: But, no, I'm just asking you if that's okay.

MR. ERELI: That's precisely what's being discussed is when can we get it done, and --

QUESTION: Okay. Well, how about December 25th? Is that okay with you guys? Would that be a good date, January 1st?

MR. ERELI: -- we've made it clear, we've made it clear that we'd like --

QUESTION: Would that be okay?

MR. ERELI: We'd like to get something done before the end of the year.

Yes.

QUESTION: Do you have any reaction on this UN Monitoring Committee -- Commission report on international cooperation on global terrorism on this, particularly on these countries that haven't even finished filing mandatory reports on their efforts to combat terrorism?

MR. ERELI: I think, in brief, what we'd say is that we would note that there are a large number of countries that haven't filed their reports yet. These are -- these, specifically, are reports on implementation of Resolution 1455 and 1266 on sanctions against terrorist groups. That is -- that is unfortunate. We're working with those countries to remedy the situation. But I wouldn't conclude from this that there is not a lot being done by -- by all countries in the United States -- in the United Nations -- to fight terrorism and cooperate collectively in that effort.

Specifically, I'd point to the fact that all 191 member-states of the UN have submitted reports to the Counterterrorism Committee, which was established under Resolution 1373, on their counterterrorism efforts. And I would also note that the Sanctions Committee -- the Sanctions Committee, to which these 106 countries are supposed to report -- has achieved significant progress in promoting greater international cooperation on sanctions against terrorism, specifically -- that specifically includes creating and maintaining a list of individuals and entities associated with al-Qaida and the Taliban.

QUESTION: Any, any -- excuse me, but any reaction to the call from the Commission to create -- for a new UN resolution to get some of these countries to act more expeditiously?

MR. ERELI: I think our focus is, is to continue working with these states to help them meet their reporting requirements and other Security Council obligations. We'll do that bilaterally and through the UN to ensure compliance with existing resolutions.

Yes, Mr. Lambros.

QUESTION: On Cyprus, according to a Reuter News Agency, the Turkish Government compensated the Greek Cypriot Titina Loizidou for her property in Cyprus seized by the Turkish invasion occupation force in 1974, giving (inaudible) $1.1 million. Any comment on that issue?

MR. ERELI: No.

QUESTION: And anything on the second U.S.-Turkey Economic Partnership Commission what's taking place today here at the State Department?

MR. ERELI: Yes. As you mentioned, that meeting is taking place this afternoon -- or all day, actually. There will be a briefing for the press at 3:45. I think a notice to the press went out to that effect yesterday, so I'll leave it to the participants in that meeting to talk about what they've been able to accomplish.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Mr. Boucher yesterday alluded to the fact that the United States was going to have a further look at the President Assad's Peace Initiative and Bilateral Relations Initiative between Syria and the United States.

I wonder while those initiatives were looked at positively and there were -- someone mentioned in The Washington Post today that it was a timely initiative of the President of Syria. I wonder if you have any further comment or if you had enough time to further -- have a further look at, or comment on his initiative.

MR. ERELI: I don't really have more to add to what Assistant Secretary Boucher said yesterday, which is that we noted President Assad's comments in the interview in The Washington Post -- or in The New York Times, that the important point to us is if they are interested in peace with Israel, then they should engage with Israel.

Yes, sir.

QUESTION: Does the involvement of someone at the level of former President Carter in these Geneva meetings, does that complicate matters in any way for the U.S. policy?

MR. ERELI: I don't think so.

Yes, ma'am.

QUESTION: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is going to visit the United States next week and during an interview with The Washington Post in November, he said something about the Taiwan issue again. He said there are several things the United States can do to help with the peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits.

One of the points he made is that the U.S. side must be straightforward in opposing Taiwan independence. And, of course, when they noticed that his points, his suggestion, might be a little bit different from what you just said, the United States did not support Taiwan independence -- one is opposition, one is did not support.

And Taiwan issue might be one of the top of his agenda, you know, the topic. How will the two sides work on this issue?

MR. ERELI: I don't want to preview what will be discussed in the meetings other than to say that, yes, you're right, Taiwan will be an issue of discussion. We look forward to hearing the views of the Government of China and we will share with them our views on the subject. Beyond that, there's really not much more to say.

Yes, Matt.

QUESTION: On this, this continuing lexicolo -- lexicological, whatever, nightmare. Is there a difference between the United States does not support Taiwanese independence and the United States opposes Taiwanese independence, or is it in your mind the same thing?

MR. ERELI: I would say we choose our words carefully, and our policy is that we don't support Taiwanese independence.

QUESTION: And you can't say that the United States opposes Taiwan independence?

MR. ERELI: I would stick with -- I will stick with what our stated policy is and remains.

QUESTION: Can you find -- is this inten -- I mean, is this part of the strategic ambiguity that Kissinger used to like to talk about, or is this just simply what's written down in the book and you don't want to -- even though they might mean the same thing, you just don't want to change the phrasing of it? I mean, what is the difference?

Because, clearly, there is one, if you don't want to say that -- that not support -- if you don't want to equate "not support" with "oppose," then there is some -- then it sounds as though, and particularly to Chinese ears, that you're -- that there's something fishy going on.

MR. ERELI: I don't think there's anything fishy going on. I think that our policy is clear, and our policy is not to support Taiwanese independence. And that's the position, you know, we have elaborated. That is the position we are going to stick with.

QUESTION: But is there any difference in your mind between that and oppose?

MR. ERELI: I think our position is that we don't support Taiwanese independence.

QUESTION: Yes.

MR. ERELI: And I'm not prepared to get into a etymological discussion of the difference between support and oppose from the podium.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MR. ERELI: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:30 p.m.)

DPB # 165