MS. PERINO: It's good to be with you. Sorry that I haven't seen many of you, except if you were in the pool. It's obviously been a little bit difficult to get around. But we've had a very good trip, a very exciting trip, a very interesting trip to Asia. Obviously the President has been quite reflective, given that the past 30 years have seen a lot of changes in China, since he was here in 1975. And so he has enjoyed meeting with his counterpart today.

And I'm going to have Dennis Wilder, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asian Affairs, read out today's meetings for you and answer questions. And also, I brought Jim Jeffrey -- Ambassador Jim Jeffrey, who is the Deputy National Security Advisor, who can provide you an update on the situation in Georgia. And then I can provide some more later on.

One thing I would like to say just to reiterate is let me express on behalf of the United States, on behalf of the President, our sympathies for the Bachman family, who suffered a terrible tragedy yesterday. The President is very concerned about the victims who are in recovery at the hospital. He is asking for regular updates and receiving them from some of our team members who have also been at the hospital. And we have the Bachman family and their extended family of the whole volleyball team in our thoughts and prayers.

And with that, let me turn it over to Dennis, who can give you today's readout. MR. WILDER: Thank you. The President, as you know, has had a very busy day today in Beijing, beginning with the church service that he attended, then going on to the swimming events, and then to meetings with the Chinese leadership. I'll focus on the Chinese leadership meetings.

The President met with President Hu Jintao. The first subject they discussed was President Hu expressing sympathy for the American tourists who suffered the tragedy yesterday. We expressed our gratefulness for the Chinese medical assistance to that family and the swift Chinese action in looking into the matter, and the continuing care that the mother in that family is receiving at a Chinese hospital at this point.

They then moved on to bilateral issues. The President had with him today in the meeting Secretary Paulson, and so one of the major issues that was discussed, of course, was our bilateral economic and trade relationship. The President expressed his appreciation for what has been accomplished in the strategic economic dialogue, and noted that we look forward to the opening of the bilateral investment treaty negotiations with the Chinese. He stressed that this was important to American consumers and American business interests, and both sides agreed that we would move forward on those negotiations.

They also talked about the next round of the strategic economic dialogue, which will take place in December. Of course, it will be the last dialogue of this administration on strategic economic issues, but we hope it helps to lay the groundwork for future economic and trade relations between the United States and China.

They had a discussion of the issue of Georgia, but I will leave that for Ambassador Jeffrey to discuss in detail. Another key issue was North Korea. They agreed that the six-party framework has been a very successful framework, that we have had a good partnership in the six-party process. The President assured President Hu that we are fully prepared to live up to our commitments under the six-party agreements. But the President noted that the North Koreans have commitments of their own that they need to live up to at this point, and that we are still waiting for the North to give us a positive response on the verification protocol.

Again, the President stressed to President Hu that it needs to be a robust verification protocol in order for us to move ahead. I would say that we are in contact with the North Koreans and we're continuing to discuss this. We're in contact with all members of the six-party process and we hope to see progress.

They also discussed the Iranian situation and agreed that we share the same strategic goals on Iran, but that more is needing to be done on this issue. And I'll let Ambassador Jeffrey also talk about that one.

The President raised human rights and religious freedom. He told President Hu that this is an important aspect of the U.S.-China dialogue, and that the Chinese can expect that any future American President will also make it an important aspect of our dialogue. As the President has said, candor on these kinds of issues are part of a constructive and cooperative process between the United States and China.

The President noted that he had been to church; noted that believers will strengthen China; that he sincerely believes that China will be a better place if there is more freedom of religion. And President Hu seemed to indicate that the door is opening on religious freedom in China and that in the future there will be more room for religious believers.

President Hu raised the Taiwan issue. Both men agreed that the issue is now in a much more positive place than it was a few years ago. And the President noted his pleasure at the forward progress in cross-straits relations.

Let me then just say that the President also had meetings today with the Vice President of China, Xi Jinping. This is the first meeting with Xi Jinping that the President has had, and so he enjoyed the opportunity to get to know one of the new fifth-generation leaders. Their discussion was centered on the Olympics, which Xi Jinping has had a major role in organizing. The President told Xi that he was extremely impressed with the organization of the Games, extremely impressed with the Opening Ceremony. Xi Jinping noted that China has waited 100 years for the opportunity to host an Olympic Games, and therefore, they were very happy for this experience.

The President also met with Premier Wen Jiabao and covered similar economic issues in detail that I have noted in the meeting with Hu Jintao.

The President and his father and family members were invited to an extremely special lunch with Hu Jintao in a pavilion within the Zhongnanhai Leadership Complex. This was a great honor for the President and his family to be able to enjoy a comfortable family meal with Hu Jintao and his family. And so that was a very special occasion for both, I think, President Hu and his family, and the President and his family.

With that, I think I will turn it over to Jim Jeffrey to talk about Georgia. AMBASSADOR JEFFREY: Good afternoon. As Dana said, I'm Jim Jeffrey. What I'd like to do is to talk you through the situation in Georgia, what we've done, and what we're going to be doing about it; and also a little bit on the Iran issue, the Iran nuclear issue as it came up in today's discussions with President Hu.

First of all, the situation on the ground. A few minutes ago we spoke with Ambassador Tefft, our ambassador in Tblisi. According to his reporting and some news reports, the Georgian forces have announced the beginning of a pullback of forces from South Ossetia, that they would leave all of South Ossetia. We don't have confirmation on the ground, but we do believe that some movement has occurred, but it is probably not yet complete.

They have reached out to the Russians to ask for a cease-fire, which is very important -- something that we also support -- but we haven't seen a response. There have been reports that in the course of the day there have been further Russian attacks, both air and -- particularly troubling -- possible ground attacks on the border between -- in the Abkhazia area, and we're looking into that urgently, as that would be a further escalation of what is already a very, very serious situation.

You know our position because we've put it out several times. We are calling for a cease-fire. We're calling for both sides to return to the status quo of August 6th, before the latest round of fighting broke out. We're urging both the South Ossetians and the Georgians to sit down and meet, and we're urging the Russians to cease their attacks.

As Ambassador Negroponte put it on the 8th, we deplore the dangerous and disproportionate actions by Russian forces, and we would be particularly troubled if these attacks are continuing now as the Georgians are pulling back, and very, very concerned if, in fact, there is ground action inside of Georgia proper, that is outside of these areas of Abkhazia and Ossetia.

In terms of how we've responded to this, the President was informed immediately on Friday, when we received news of the first two SS-21 Russian missile launchers into Georgian territory. He immediately -- this was at the Great Hall -- he immediately met with President Putin. They had a discussion. The President then engaged with his national security staff continuously over the last two days. He has spoken with -- again with Putin that evening. He then talked with President Medvedev yesterday evening, as well as President Saakashvili. Secretary Rice has spoken repeatedly with President Saakashvili, as well as with her Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Lavrov, and many European leaders.

Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, is in contact with his Russian counterpart. Ambassador Negroponte, the number two in the State Department, called in the Russian chargé on Friday to lay out our position. We have been in further contact with the Russians today, and we will continue to be in contact. In addition, it is quite possible that the President will speak with President Sarkozy of France, who, of course, has the presidency of the European Union at the moment.

We're working very, very closely with the Europeans. President Sarkozy has issued a statement calling for the same actions that we are looking for, which is, again, a cease-fire and a withdrawal of forces to the beginning positions, and negotiated solution. The European Union is mobilizing their diplomatic activities. We have sent an envoy to the region and we will continue to work in the U.N. with the OSCE, which has a mission in South Ossetia, and with the international community, to bring this extremely dangerous situation to an end.

In terms of Iran, the President put particular emphasis on this during his discussions with President Hu, describing the disappointing response that we have received to the offer of the P5-plus-1, in terms of a freeze-for-freeze as a first step to a suspension of enrichment and a suspension of sanctions. The Iranian response, in our view, was not adequate. President Hu confirmed that both the U.S. and China have the same strategic objectives and they're looking forward to working in more detail with us in the days and weeks ahead to try to move this process forward.

That's all I have for you at this point.

seen at 09:00, 10 August in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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