White House Says U.S.-PRC Meeting "Not Productive"

White House Says U.S.-PRC Meeting "Not Productive"
(Fleischer comments on April 18 meeting in China)

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer held a very short briefing with reporters in Waterbury, Connecticut late morning April 18.

Before questions were asked, he told reporters that last night's U.S.-PRC talks in Beijing were "not productive." Asked if that meant that the Chinese had not offered to return the U.S. aircraft, he said: "That's correct."

Fleischer said U.S. Ambassador to China Joseph Prueher was planning to resume talks with the Chinese later that night.

"No new ground was reached," Fleischer said. Asked whether the talks might be cancelled altogether, he said: "I don't rule that out."

Fleischer noted the United States has the right to conduct surveillance flights "as a matter of maintaining the peace" but would not say whether those flights had resumed. "That's an operational detail that I won't discuss in all cases," the White House Press Secretary said.

On the possible sale of Kidd Class destroyers to Taiwan, Fleischer said: "The President has not received any recommendations at all from his staff. The staff is continuing to talk about their recommendations."

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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