On the 70th Anniversary of the End of World War II in the Pacific

Press Statement

 

QUESTION: About Ambassador David Saperstein’s visit to China, who is in charge of the international religious freedom. As you released the statement yesterday, firstly let me ask about – could you tell me the reason why ambassador visited China this time and raised a deep concern against the violation of the religious freedom at this moment?

MR TONER: I’m sorry. So you’re talking --

QUESTION: Is it – are you --

MR TONER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Is the United States Government is investigating regularly or this is the first time?

MR TONER: But you’re – I’m sorry. Who made – could you just mention – you’re talking about?

QUESTION: Ambassador David Saperstein. You --

MR TONER: Yeah. No, I am aware of that. I’m not sure I have anything on his visit, though. I apologize. I’ll try to find out more about it.

QUESTION: Okay. And I believe U.S. Government is going to raise a concern when President Xi Jinping visit this time. But as we all know, on this human rights and the religious freedom, there are significant differences between the United States and China. So how are you going to – the United States Government raise concern and have a constructive discussion on this issue?

MR TONER: On religious freedom?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR TONER: Well, just like we try to have constructive discussions on difficult issues across the board with China, including human rights, as Ambassador Power just spoke to, we believe strongly as a country, as a nation, in religious freedom, and we would call on all countries to allow people to – their own citizens to worship as they see fit. And that’s a matter of concern to us, ongoing concern.

QUESTION: One more thing.

MR TONER: Last question, guys.

QUESTION: So I would like to know about the fair assessment of the United States Government. The situation of the religious freedom in China is getting better or getting more serious since the last investigation, like the last couple of years.

MR TONER: Well, I can’t give you an overall assessment. It’s something we do watch closely. Certainly, our Human Rights Report speaks to it, our annual Human Rights Report speaks to it. I can say that it is an ongoing concern. And specifically, just to cite a recent case, a prominent Christian human rights lawyer Zhang Kai and his assistant, they were detained by the Chinese authorities. We certainly want to see him released. But this is just indicative of an ongoing pattern that we’ve seen.

Last question in the back.

QUESTION: I want to go back to Turkey and media issue because my --

MR TONER: Turkey and --

QUESTION: Turkey and media issue.

MR TONER: Oh, media issues. Sorry.

QUESTION: Media issue, because my newspaper today, police raid it all day and I don’t know what will happen tomorrow. According to some source, especially from government, they are going to take over all critical media, because we have some information about that. And have you concern – have you related with Turkish Government or communicate with Turkish Government specifically about this issue? Because today they – police raided two newspaper, two TV channel, and our newspaper raided today, and maybe tomorrow another one. Maybe day after, another one. And especially before election.

MR TONER: Well, as I said, we’ve made clear in the past and continue to make clear of our concern about Turkish Government interferences with freedom of expression and assembly, as well as the importance in the administration of due process and justice. I spoke to that already, talking about some of these raids that you referred to, that any kind of law enforcement, legal enforcement activity is done in accordance with international legal standards. And we would urge Turkey to follow those standards in this and any other case.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/09/246537.htm

 

QUESTION: China?

MR TONER: I’ll check.

QUESTION: You’ve mentioned previously that you had hoped that the Chinese military parade would be future-looking. Now that China has concluded its VOJ commemoration ceremonies, did it live up to your expectations?

MR TONER: Did it live up to our expectations?

QUESTION: Yes.

MR TONER: Well, again, I think many of you or hopefully all of you saw the Secretary’s statement on the 70th anniversary of the formal end of World War II in the Pacific. We honor and respect the sacrifices made by many nations, including China, 70 years ago and we believe that all parties should take a reconciliatory approach to the end of World War II. Certainly, as the President noted in his statement, the United States relationship with Japan over the last 70 years has been a model of the power of reconciliation.

So I guess, as I said or reiterated before, we certainly don’t question or challenge Beijing’s right or authority to host these kind of commemorative events, and we’ve consistently shared with our Chinese counterparts our desire to see these types of events highlight the themes of reconciliation and healing.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2015/09/246614.htm

 

 

News Transcript

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook in the Pentagon Briefing Room

Press Operations

Presenter: Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook
September 3, 2015

   Q: I have a missile question and a bomber question. The missile question, the Chinese in their victory parade today unveiled the DF-21D, popularly known as a carrier killer. This building and analysts have been worried about it for years. Apparently, it's been fielded a couple of years ago.

 

            What's the building's -- what's the building's view of this unveiling today? Troubling? Expected? Not much a big deal, or what?

 

            MR. COOK: It wouldn't be the first time that new military hardware of some sort was displayed at a military parade, so I would say -- suggest to you it's not completely surprising and not something we wouldn't -- wouldn't have expected.

 

   Q: Wanted to follow up in the region. Jessica Stone with CCTV. President Xi Jinping, yesterday, also unveiled the troop cuts of about 300,000. Wanted to get a reaction from the Pentagon on that. Do you have an interpretation of what that means, or what their military performance might look like?

 

            MR. COOK: I don't think we have a particular reaction to -- to that news, other than it's basically in line with what the Chinese have said in the past about the size of their military going forward. And -- you know, for more details on that, I'd refer you to the Chinese government as to exactly what it means.

 

            But from our perspective, we continue to watch and see the Chinese military as it tries to modernize and adjust to a -- to changing world.

 

Q: What about the fact that a lot of the -- as they were unveiling a lot of the military hardware they kept emphasizing that it's for use in protecting maritime assets, which goes to the South China Sea and the East China Sea and the efforts that the -- that PACOM is making in those regions. Is there a reaction on that?

 

            MR. COOK: We know that the area is of importance to China, it's of importance to a whole host of countries in the Asia-Pacific, including the United States. And so I don't think it's a surprise to us that China would be focusing some of its attention and its efforts in that area. They have been for some time, but this is an area of great importance, of course, to the United States.

 

            Here at the Defense Department, our re-balance to the Asia- Pacific is a top priority for Secretary Carter, and it's going to continue.

 

            (CROSSTALK)

 

     Q: With respect to the carriers off the Aleutian Islands. Was that interpreted as a threat? The president was there at the same time.

 

            MR. COOK: You're referring to the Chinese ships?

 

            Q: (off mic)

 

            MR. COOK: Yeah. They were operating in international waters as U.S. ships operate in international waters. And so we didn't take it as a particular threat. And I'll just refer you to the Chinese government as to exactly what their ships were doing there. But they were operating in international waters, as our ships do as well.

 

            Q: This is just a quick follow-up to that. Did the parade, the Chinese military parade -- did it illustrate or display anything threatening to the Pacific region at large? Was there anything threatening on display there (off mic)?

 

            MR. COOK: Without having seen the parade myself and every single aspect of it, I'll leave -- I'll leave you to ask the Chinese government and others in the region as to exactly what reaction they have to it.

 

            We -- what we saw, obviously kept track of the parade and the -- what it was marking. And, you know, our message to countries in the Asia-Pacific is that stability for the region is important, important for economic reasons, important for a whole host of reasons. And the United States is going to continue to do its part to promote stability in the Asia-Pacific.

 

Q: Why doesn't the U.S. display its new military hardware in parades? -- (Laughter.) 

 

MR. COOK: That's a good question. I hadn't considered that. I'd like to say it's not our style. The U.S. military is the -- is the world's foremost military, and people shouldn't doubt that. And people know the strength of the United States, the strength of our military, and I think it's safe to say that we don't need to display it at parades necessarily for people to understand what the United States is capable of.

 

    Q: At the parade in Beijing, one prominent guest of honor was Russian President Vladimir Putin. Do you see a growing Russian- China alliance as a threat to the United States?

 

            Lucas, from the United States' perspective, China and Russia continuing those conversations is not a total surprise to us.

 

            We see China and Russia both presenting opportunities for cooperation with the United States, and at the same time, as the secretary has mentioned, particularly with regard to Russia, the need to respond to -- in a strong and balanced way, to some of the threats, if you will, that had been presented by Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and else where.

 

            And we would encourage the Russians and the Chinese to continue to work with us on security issues in that part of the world, in the Asia Pacific and beyond.

 

            So, I would just say that, you know, from our perspective, these are countries that pose opportunities and challenges for us at the same time.

 

http://www.defense.gov/News/News-Transcripts/Transcript-View/Article/616244/department-of-defense-press-briefing-by-pentagon-press-secretary-peter-cook-in