State Dept. Press Briefing on Honduras, China…

Pro-Zelaya protesters

According to the State Dept. website, a background briefing on the crisis in Honduras with three unnamed senior administration officials took place yesterday and the full text of the transcript was posted over at the State.Gov website, here. Significantly, the United States joined the Organization of American States (OAS) in suspending Honduras from it’s membership and all that that entails. In addition, Ian Kelly gave a daily press briefing today, excerpts of which can be found below.

In addition, President Zelaya is expected in Washington DC sometime Tuesday and while it is not confirmed as of yet, there are [unconfirmed?] reports stating that he will meet with Secretary Clinton, although again, Ian Kelly didn’t state this outright during the briefing. [More on this below]

Excerpts from the Press Briefing:

On the Secretary’s schedule:

MR. KELLY: All right. Well, welcome on Monday to the briefing room. Hope you all had a relatively relaxing three-day weekend. I can’t say mine was entirely unbrokenly relaxed, but it was a good weekend.

Let me – I just want to make first a couple of updates to the Secretary’s schedule and then just read some remarks at the top. The Secretary is in the office today. She stopped by Deputy Steinberg’s meeting with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, his meeting today. No readout of that yet. She’s also going over to the NSC this afternoon for a small group meeting.

On the crisis in Honduras:

And then a few words on the dramatic developments over the weekend with the OAS: As you know, on July 4th, the U.S. joined other OAS member-states in unanimously deciding to suspend the right of Honduras to participate in the OAS. Our goal remains the restoration of the democratic order in Honduras. And we renew our call on all political and social actors in Honduras to find a peaceful solution to this crisis.

We regret the necessity of this measure and look forward to the day when circumstances will allow the measure to be lifted and Honduras’ participation resumed. It’s important to note that under the provisions of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, this suspension does not mean the end of OAS diplomatic initiatives to resolve the situation, nor does it relieve Honduras of its legal obligations to the organization, particularly full respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In this regard, we deplore the use of force against demonstrators in Tegucigalpa in recent days. We once again call upon the de facto regime and all actors in Honduras to refrain from all acts of violence and seek a peaceful, constitutional, and lasting solution to the serious divisions in that country through dialogue. Similarly, we call on all OAS member-states to act individually and collectively in a manner that protects and enhances the well-being of the Honduran people by ensuring continued outreach to Honduran civil society, maintaining the effective flow of humanitarian assistance, and rejecting the incitement and use of violence to effect political change.

And with that, I will take your questions.

QUESTION: Hey, Ian.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Have you figured out yet what – when you say you seek the restoration of democratic order, have you guys yet figured out exactly what that means?

MR. KELLY: Well, I think it means – in the most immediate instance, it means the return of the democratically elected president to Tegucigalpa –

QUESTION: Why don’t you say –

MR. KELLY: — the return of Mel Zelaya.

QUESTION: Why don’t you say that, though? I mean, I guess you just said it –

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: — but why don’t you just say, “We call for his return?”

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, we do call for his return.

QUESTION: Okay. And then have you guys made a decision yet on – a determination on whether a military coup has indeed transpired, and therefore whether U.S. aid would have to be cut off?

MR. KELLY: Well, as I said on Thursday, we decided that no aid that would be subject to termination under this law – that none of this kind of aid is now flowing to the de facto regime. We are still in the ongoing process of determining whether the law applies. But we’re not inclined to make a statutory decision while diplomatic initiatives are ongoing.

QUESTION: But there are people on the Hill who feel strongly that despite concern – despite uncertainty about whether or not this was a military coup or not, their view is that it is. I mean, you know, he was arrested in his residence –

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Yeah.

QUESTION: — detained, put on a plane by the military, even if the transfer of authority may have actually been conducted by the – you know, by the congress.

MR. KELLY: Right.

QUESTION: And I suspect you’re going to have some explaining to do if you don’t actually make a determination one way or the other –

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: — on this. Do you – you know, while diplomatic efforts are underway, it could be a week, days or weeks or months. Are you essentially going to put this decision in, which is, you know, legally mandated –

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: — in abeyance until all diplomatic efforts have been exhausted?

MR. KELLY: Well, just a couple of points. One is that there are – most of our activities are excluded under this particular section of the law, and that’s the humanitarian aid and aid to support democracy-building programs.

What we’ve decided to not continue our funding of are those programs that could be construed as having – directly aiding the government or the – what we’re calling the de facto regime of Honduras. And it’s a complicated process, but we recognize that we may make this determination to terminate, and that’s why any programs that could be construed as aiding the government have – none of this aid is flowing through the pipeline now.

QUESTION: What about the – sorry, just a last one from me on this. I thought that the language only specifies aid that is – only excludes aid that is democracy- or democratic processes-related. I didn’t think that it excluded humanitarian aid.

MR. KELLY: I believe it includes humanitarian aid, as well.

QUESTION: Could you double check that?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. We can double check that.

QUESTION: Do you have any amount? How much of it has stopped?

MR. KELLY: I don’t have that information, but I can see if we can get it.

QUESTION: Well, presumably if you stopped it, someone has an idea of how much; at least, I would hope so.

MR. KELLY: That’s a fair assumption.

QUESTION: Yeah?

MR. KELLY: We’ll see if we can get you that.

QUESTION: Thank you.

QUESTION: That was my question, but I have another one on your contacts with the de facto government.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Both the ambassador and – do you plan on meeting a delegation coming here?

MR. KELLY: First of all, we don’t know about a delegation coming here. So this is – if the delegation is from this de facto regime, the State Department wouldn’t meet with them. I mean, if – this is a regime that we don’t recognize. But we don’t have any information about a delegation coming here.

We’ve heard that there may be a delegation going to San Salvador, where President Zelaya is now, but that’s just – again, that’s just reports that we’ve heard.

QUESTION: What about President Zelaya himself?

MR. KELLY: President Zelaya, as I understand it, and you should probably check –

QUESTION: Check exactly where? With his office in San Salvador?

MR. KELLY: You should probably check with his office in San Salvador, yeah.

Well, you know what happened yesterday. He tried to travel to Honduras. The flight was denied clearance to land. The plane first went to Nicaragua and then to El Salvador. President Zelaya met briefly with our chargé in San Salvador last night to discuss his plans. We understand his plans are to remain in San Salvador today and come back to the U.S. tomorrow. And of course, we – we’re just very focused on the need for a dialogue to restore him back and restore the democratic order.

QUESTION: If he comes to the United States tomorrow, does the Administration have any plans to meet him at a senior level?

MR. KELLY: We haven’t made any set plans, but I’m sure we will meet with him at a senior level, but there’s no definite plans yet.

QUESTION: Above the assistant secretary?

MR. KELLY: I’m not prepared to give you sort of definite information on that yet.

QUESTION: So the chargé is the only U.S. official who’s talked with him in recent days?

MR. KELLY: No. I know that Tom Shannon and Dan Restrepo met with him whenever that was, early Sunday morning, July 5th.

QUESTION: Ian, Chinese –

MR. KELLY: Is this also on – same – yeah. Also on Honduras? Yeah.

QUESTION: Same issue. Same issue?

MR. KELLY: Okay. We’ll go here and then we’ll come back to you, Goyal. Yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: We understand that Roberto Flores, who used to be the ambassador before the White House for Mr. Zelaya’s government, he’s back in Honduras. The initial – we were told that he went back to Honduras to present his resignation to the government of Micheletti. Now, there are some reports saying that he’s coming back to the U.S. as ambassador of the de facto government. Do you have any information on that matter?

MR. KELLY: No. No, I don’t, although I would venture to say that somebody who is representing a regime that we do not recognize would have a hard time getting credentialed.

QUESTION: But as far as you – I mean, as far as you concerned, Mr. Flores — this is still the formal Honduran ambassador before the White House?

MR. KELLY: I’m not sure. I’m not sure if he’s – whatever the reverse of a credentialing process is. I’m not sure if he’s submitted his letter informing the White House and the State Department that he was no longer acting as ambassador. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s been done or not.

We’ll go back to Goyal because I know he had a related question to that.

QUESTION: Thank you, Ian. China’s influence have been rising in the area, in the region. Do you know now – right now who’s behind this coup or whatever took place in Honduras?

MR. KELLY: I don’t have any information about any kind of external factors in Honduras. But we’re very focused on our common goal, which is a restoration of the democratic order.

Yeah.

QUESTION: Any military aid will be cut? Do you have any information about that?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. I think we covered that on Thursday, or even Wednesday. You know that the Southern Command has minimized contact with Honduran military –

QUESTION: But monetary.

MR. KELLY: — personnel.

QUESTION: I mean, monetarily.

MR. KELLY: But in terms of the assistance programs, military assistance?

QUESTION: Money.

MR. KELLY: I think the only contact we have is whatever is necessary to conduct the activities of American personnel there. And I think it’s all being reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

QUESTION: Do you know what is the situation in Soto Cano? I mean, you have a considerable deployment –

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: — of U.S. troops in that base. That base is under direct control by the Honduran Government.

MR. KELLY: That’s right.

QUESTION: What is the situation right now there?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. I have to refer you to my colleagues in the Defense Department on that. But as far as I know, the situation is calm.

Yes.

QUESTION: Was there any talk of allowing Zelaya’s plane to land at the U.S. military base there?

MR. KELLY: That would be – that wouldn’t be our decision, anyway. That – as your colleague points out, that base is controlled by the Honduran authorities, so it’s not up to us to allow landing rights or anything.

On the violence taking place in China:

QUESTION: Yeah, on China. There was a major riot in the Xinjiang region of China yesterday, I think. And there are press reports that as many as 140 may have been killed. Do you have any comment on the situation there?

MR. KELLY: Yes. We see that official Chinese media are reporting a death toll of 140 as a result of the violent riots in the city of Urumqi in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. We’re afraid this figure could increase. And, of course, we deeply regret the loss of life. We also understand that there’s been a number of arrests.

We don’t have any confirmation of what actually sparked the unrest. And we can speculate, but I don’t think I want to speculate on what may have caused the violence. And of course, we call on all sides for calm and restraint.

QUESTION: Ian, just to follow on, this is not the first time that people have been rising for their freedom and human rights, and just like anywhere else around the globe, that they want freedom. And now, they’re calling on the U.S. to get involved or interfere, like elsewhere. You think U.S. will take a new position or action there, and China also should free those who are seeking for freedom?

MR. KELLY: Well, as the President and Secretary have said many times, we will always stand with those who are calling for restoration of personal freedoms. I mentioned that Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Wu Dawei is in the building today, and I’m sure that we’ll raise some of these concerns that we have about the violence in Xinjiang the last few days.

QUESTION: But this is – just one more?

QUESTION: Today, it has been raised? You said that Steinberg met with him this morning.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: And that the Secretary – did it come up?

MR. KELLY: I understand that it did come up.

QUESTION: And that’s based on your –

MR. KELLY: Well, like I say, I don’t have a full readout. But if I can get you one, I will.

QUESTION: Well, do you expect it to – is he still here, or does he have other meetings?

MR. KELLY: I know he’s meeting with Ambassador Bosworth, too. I think he still is here.

QUESTION: Presumably, that would be about North Korea, though?

MR. KELLY: That would be about North Korea, yeah.

QUESTION: But, Ian –

QUESTION: The Xinjiang regional government accuses Rebiya Kadeer, the Uighur leader here in the U.S., of orchestrating the event. Do you have any comment on that?

MR. KELLY: I have no comment. I haven’t seen that report, and I have no comment on it.

QUESTION: But, Ian, this – as far as China’s situation is concerned, it’s just like suppressing those who are seeking freedom that U.S. stands for with those people. But they can’t come out because there’s just so much suppressed – suppression by the Chinese, like in Tibet? So there were also risings in Tibet. So millions are there who want freedom in China.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: But somebody has to stand with them.

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, I think we do stand with them. I think we do speak out when we see human rights – fundamental human rights like freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, freedom of religion. And I think we’ve very forthright about speaking out about it.

We also – I think that our concerns in general are well known, not only in China but in other parts of the world, that we will speak out when we see human rights being violated.

QUESTION: Ian?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Arshad.

QUESTION: You don’t have evidence of human rights being violated right now by the Chinese authorities?

MR. KELLY: Well, I just – we don’t have all the – what we have are press reports, and we see this terrible loss of life as well.

QUESTION: I mean, exactly; 140 people dead. You don’t think there’s any kind of a problem there?

MR. KELLY: No, I think there is a problem there.

Arshad.

QUESTION: I’m sorry. Charley, yeah, go ahead.

QUESTION: Of course, this prompts questions about the placement of the Uighurs from Guantanamo. Is that issue still in play?

MR. KELLY: Is the issue still – I mean –

QUESTION: Yes. What’s – have those Uighurs been sent to Palau? What’s – do you have any update on – vis-à-vis –

MR. KELLY: I don’t have an update, but I’ll see if I can get you an update.

The briefing went on to discuss the Mid-East peace process, North Korea’s missile launch and several other issues, the text of which can be found, here.