Start Date: Tuesday, April 3, 2001
Last Modified: Monday, May 4, 2020
End Date: Friday, December 31, 9999
SECRETARY POWELL: I've just had some very excellent conversations with King Abdullah on the peace process and the situation in the region. And I'll take one question, then I have to get -- Q: How receptive are you to the Egyptians' and Jordanian ideas concerning the Middle East? Are you going to play a bigger role? Your engaged, but you're not fully engaged, sir. SECRETARY POWELL: We�re engaged, but His Majesty, he always has very interesting ideas on how to further the cause of peace in the region and how to deal with the challenges of the region. So we stay very close with the Jordanian leadership and value their counsel. Q: Secretary Powell, the Chinese seem to have drawn a line in the sand on China, saying they want an apology. The United States says it will not apologize. Where are we now? SECRETARY POWELL: We're in touch with the Chinese. Ambassador Prueher met with Chinese officials this morning. We�ll have other meetings in the course of the day, and we're exploring avenues by which we can get a dialogue going that can cause both sides to present explanations. As we said yesterday, a United States airplane flying over international air space was intercepted by two Chinese planes also flying in international air space. A tragic accident took place. Fortunately, our airplane was able to get down on the ground safely, and it's a tribute to the skill of that crew that got the plane down. We regret that the Chinese plane did not get down safely, and we regret the loss of the life of that Chinese pilot. But now we need to move on and we need to bring this to a resolution, and we're using every avenue available to us to talk to the Chinese side, to exchange explanations and move on. Thank you. [end]
SECRETARY POWELL: I've just had some very excellent conversations with King Abdullah on the peace process and the situation in the region. And I'll take one question, then I have to get --
Q: How receptive are you to the Egyptians' and Jordanian ideas concerning the Middle East? Are you going to play a bigger role? Your engaged, but you're not fully engaged, sir.
SECRETARY POWELL: We�re engaged, but His Majesty, he always has very interesting ideas on how to further the cause of peace in the region and how to deal with the challenges of the region. So we stay very close with the Jordanian leadership and value their counsel.
Q: Secretary Powell, the Chinese seem to have drawn a line in the sand on China, saying they want an apology. The United States says it will not apologize. Where are we now?
SECRETARY POWELL: We're in touch with the Chinese. Ambassador Prueher met with Chinese officials this morning. We�ll have other meetings in the course of the day, and we're exploring avenues by which we can get a dialogue going that can cause both sides to present explanations.
As we said yesterday, a United States airplane flying over international air space was intercepted by two Chinese planes also flying in international air space. A tragic accident took place. Fortunately, our airplane was able to get down on the ground safely, and it's a tribute to the skill of that crew that got the plane down. We regret that the Chinese plane did not get down safely, and we regret the loss of the life of that Chinese pilot. But now we need to move on and we need to bring this to a resolution, and we're using every avenue available to us to talk to the Chinese side, to exchange explanations and move on.
Thank you.
[end]
Colin Powell
Washington, DC
Remarks Following Meeting with King Abdullah of Jordan
04/04/01