On-the-Record Briefing En Route to Canada

SECRETARY RICE: Okay, I’m going to do this fairly quickly because I think we’re going to be landing pretty soon. I’m looking forward to going to Canada. I’ll have a meeting and dinner with Prime Minister Martin tonight and then I will be with Foreign Minister Pettigrew tomorrow and also we’ll have a chance to meet some Canadian Parliamentarians.

We have a full range of issues with Canada. Obviously, we have a number of issues of common interest in the international system. I will particularly be interested to talk with the Canadians about Haiti. They have been a part of the Core Group on Haiti. When I was in Haiti, I met with the Civilian Police Administration that is headed by the Canadians and they’ve been very active there.

They have also been very active on Sudan. We’ve been trying to help Canada through the AU to get armored personnel carriers in for use of the AU forces.

So that, and of course the broad war on terrorism, especially Afghanistan, where Canada is considering a larger role when the turnover of NATO leadership comes later on next year.

We have a number of issues, bilateral issues. Of course, we are NAFTA partners, we are partners in the Partnership for Prosperity with Mexico, and so I’m certain that we’ll talk about a range of trade issues as well. But we have a very broad relationship with our neighbor and our largest trading partner, and really on a number of issues. One of our strongest friends and allies in pursuing a number of issues in the international system.

We also have a strong defense relationship through NORAD and we’re going to talk about -- we’re in discussions about our defense relationship. So I think it will be a fairly wide-ranging set of discussions and I’m looking forward to it.

QUESTION: Thank you, Madame Secretary. On Syria, if I could take you there just for a minute, the Security Council begins part of its review tomorrow and then ministerial next week. Can you tell us at this point whether you expect, first of all, to be discussing Syria during this trip and where you see the resolutions going, whether you at this point expect to be pressing for sanctions?

SECRETARY RICE: We’ll certainly have discussions of Syria and Lebanon during this trip. The Canadians are interested in the Middle East in particular and this is a major issue in the Middle East. We will indeed have the Perm Reps tomorrow to receive the Mehlis report and begin discussions on that. We believe that there will be a ministerial on the 31st -- that’s not yet agreed but we’re talking to partners about a ministerial on the 31st -- where we would expect to consider next steps.

Now, and I don’t want to get ahead of the diplomacy here. There are a number of options on the table about how we move forward. I think the most important thing is that that next -- that resolution, if indeed there is one, and I suspect there would have to be some kind of resolution in response to the Mehlis report, that resolution would have to send a very strong signal to Syria that its non-cooperation is not going to be tolerated because the Mehlis investigation will continue and that it should not even contemplate trying to put pressure or trying to intimidate the Lebanese people.

We will at some point also have a report on 1559 from Mr. Larsen, and this is all about Syrian behavior so we’ll need to take a look at the total picture as well. There are a series of events that are unfolding here.

QUESTION: Can you at least address the likelihood of sanctions?

SECRETARY RICE: We have just begun the diplomacy on this and I think we’ll decide what is best at this particular point in time in order to compel Syrian cooperation with the continuation of Mehlis and to send a strong signal to Syria that they should not try and intimidate anybody because of what the Mehlis report says.

QUESTION: May I turn this to Canada? As you certainly know, the Canadian Government is -- I don’t think I’m overstating by saying they are quite angry about the timber issue. They say that the time for negotiations has passed and the United States is ignoring court rulings. You know all this. What are you going to say to them about this and how is it finally going to be resolved?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, the first thing is that I will say to them that I don’t think the time for negotiation has passed. I think that there is time for negotiation. We would like to see a negotiated settlement to this. It is a very small percentage of our trade and it is important to keep it in perspective for all of the trade and all of the economic activity between the United States and Canada, not to mention all of the issues that are before us in U.S.-Canada relations and in the broader international system.

And so absolutely I’m prepared to discuss it. The Commerce Department is reviewing -- was told to review a particular mechanism that is used and they are doing that review. But I do think that we need to keep this in perspective. This is -- we are very, very large trading partners, there will be disputes, and we would like to see this one resolved.

QUESTION: Do you hold out hopes that the Canadians will revisit the idea of taking part in the missile defense system?

SECRETARY RICE: That’s a decision for Canada to make. What we do have is very good cooperation on NORAD. We have been having joint talks with the Canadians on enhancing defense. I would note that Prime Minister Martin has in his own international policy statement made efforts to enhance Canadian defense capability and therefore to make Canada capable of more activity around the world.

Obviously, we would like to have Canada participate in missile defenses, a defense system. If you are a -- if you’re not threatening anybody, you shouldn’t fear missile defense. But this is going to be a decision for Canada to make and the Canadians aren’t -- I think are not ready to have those discussions. That’s fine.

QUESTION: Madame Secretary, just to go back to Syria for one second, do you think in the current state of things that it is possible when this affair comes to trial to have that trial in Lebanon, and did you discuss the possibility of having trials in The Hague with the Dutch Foreign Minister today?

SECRETARY RICE: I did not discuss with the Dutch Foreign Minister what kind of tribunal might be used for these -- the Hariri assassination crime. I think everybody agrees that it is always better when the country involved -- in this case Lebanon -- is somehow involved in what is going to be an important reconciliation for the entire country, a matter of reconciliation for the entire country.

We are not at the point now of starting to decide what kind of tribunal will be needed. The Mehlis investigation isn’t even over. I think that the writ will be extended to December 15th. But there are many options for us, but I would hope that it would include, at a minimum, some means of Lebanese participation.

QUESTION: If I can go all the way around to Korea -- around the globe, I mean -- you will be in Korea in a few weeks. Where are things with the six-party talks? We have Governor Richardson come back from North Korea. He’s saying that the North Koreans are ready to come back without any preconditions. He said the light-water reactor is not a particular problem as it was before. Where are things and do you hope that indeed they will come back soon?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, I assume they are going to come back, and if they come back it will be without preconditions because that’s the only basis on which the talks would be restarted. And I thought that the statement was pretty clear that there’s a sequence here. We were very clear in that statement. The South Koreans were. The Japanese were. The Russians talked about what, in their laws, had to happen before light-water reactors could be discussed.

So the light-water reactor issue continues to be an abstraction and it’s really important for the North Koreans to come back and do what they need to do, which is to talk about dismantlement.

QUESTION: Sorry, just to go back to Syria. There seems to be a mood among some countries that the UN should wait until the final Mehlis report comes out before taking any action and that it would premature to do anything now. What’s your view on that?

SECRETARY RICE: Well, my view is that we have two very important goals now. One is to make very clear to the Syrians that this is a really serious matter and that their nonchalant attitude about this report, their efforts to discredit the investigator, the things that they have said about it being ridiculous and so forth, are actually not the attitude of the international community; that the international community takes this report very seriously, intends for them to comply and intends for them to cooperate because the investigation will go on and Prosecutor Mehlis needs their -- Investigator Mehlis needs their cooperation.

Secondly, we need to send a very strong signal to Syria that people take seriously the implications of this report and that therefore there will be action. It’s a matter of when; it’s a matter of the diplomacy. But the Syrians can not be left with the idea in any way, with the impression in any way, that the international community will tolerate Syria’s -- what the Syrians sometimes do in these circumstances, which is try to intimidate people, to try and intimidate most especially the Lebanese, to treat Lebanon as if it were some kind of client state under Syrian control.

Moreover, we are very confident -- or very content to go ahead now and debate the Mehlis report and to get action on the Mehlis report. There is another report that is coming, and at some point we’re going to have to deal with that, too, because this is all about Syrian behavior. But if people want to sequence it, fine; we can sequence it. But we need to recognize that there are other UN Security Council resolutions that are also at stake, 1559 is at stake, and we will also look forward to Mr. Larsen’s report when that’s available to the Council. So that’s where we are.