SG: Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. We are very happy to meet with you this morning. I have come to Beijing to hold discussions with the Chinese authorities on UN related issues and for us to discuss some of the crises we are dealing with and obviously we will also discuss UN reform. I had a chance to be briefed by Carolyn McAskie, as some of you may know, she has just come back from Mongolia where she had to rush there for the accident of the helicopter in which 14 people died, including one Chinese staff member who was injured and is back here in hospital. I have been quite touched by their courage and the determination of my colleagues. I have sent our deep sympathy and condolence to their families. And for us in the UN family, this is a very bad way to start the year to lose 14 colleagues in January. No, actually, it wasn't 14, we lost nine. Nine people died, 14 people survived. So to lose nine people in the helicopter early in the year is very, very difficult for us. But we are going to persevere and we are going to conclude, complete our work to be able to assist the Mongolian people who are going through a very disastrous situation -- drought followed by very severe storm weather, lots of ice. And the society that lives on the land and on its herd have almost lost their herd. We will be making an appeal for assistance in the course of next week and I would hope that the international community will give very generously. And I think I will take the questions since we don?t have too much time. We have to use our time effectively.
Q: What are your comments about the political situation in the Philippines?
SG: Yes, I have been following it. I have been on the road. The last I heard is that the president has indicated that he will step down and call for an election. I have been in the plane -- I hope nothing else has happened since then. I think if the President has decided to step down, then constitutional arrangements must be allowed to play their role and what is important is that the change, if it does come, should be peaceful and the indications are, for the moment, that it should be a peaceful change. And I think that is what we should all pray for.
Q: From Australian Radio. You're coming from the summit of African states. There was an announcement by the French to cancel half of billion francs in debt to some of the poorest African countries. What message do you think that sends to the rest of the world?
SG: I hope the rest of the world will follow the French example and that they will be encouraged to do that because it is quite clear and I think it is more or less universally accepted that one has to find a way of giving these poorer countries debt relief or they are not going to be able to make it. I think the French initiative is a powerful message, which I hope others will follow. Later on this year in May, we would have a conference for the least developed countries in Brussels. There are indications that the Europeans may lift all tariffs and quotas against imports from these countries and that would be another powerful message if it were to happen because quite frankly, the poor would much rather trade their way out of poverty rather than live on charity.
Q: What are the specific issues (inaudible) when you are in China? Are you going to reach any formal agreement with Chinese Ministries or anything specific?
SG: I have not come to sign any agreement but we have many issues to discuss which I hope we will be able to have frank and constructive discussions but I have not come to sign any agreement.
Q: The traditional Chinese lunar New Year is a few days away. Do you have anything to say to the Chinese people?
SG: First of all, I wish them good health, happiness and prosperity and I understand the year of the snake is a good one and the snake is the friend of the man in the Chinese culture. So I hope it will see us through in the coming year and that we would all have a wonderful year.
Q: (Inaudible question on the Koreas by NHK)
SG: We will definitely discuss the Korean peninsula and the developments in that area and the relationship between the north and south. But I have no intention at this stage anyway, no plans, of meeting the Northern Korean leader.
Q: When your Human Rights Commissioner, Mrs. Mary Robinson, came to China, she said when she left, she hopes to see the Chinese ratifying the covenant on social and economic rights early this year. Now you are back here, will you be pushing the Chinese on this? What are your hopes for human rights development in China?
SG: I have to say the human rights issue has often been discussed between me and the Chinese. And you will recall that Mrs. Robinson signed an agreement with them on technical cooperation. And I think when we look back, a year ago, we've made quite good progress. And we will be pursuing these discussions with them.
Q: To follow up there, as you said, there have been quite progress in discussions, but at the same time, the US government and British government said in the last 12 months, the human rights situation in China has actually deteriorated. At the same time, these discussions are going on. Is that something that concerns you? Is that something you will bring up with the Chinese?
SG: I think, first of all the human rights commission each year has a chance to discuss these sensitive issues. Mary Robinson and I are working very closely together. And I am looking at from the UN angle. I am not that engaged with the British Government or the American government's approach to these issues and what they have done. But from our point of view, we are talking about the Chinese, about moving forward, and working with them to ensure that the human rights programs and human rights are respected though the land and they have come on board for this and they sign all the covenants and we are going to keep on that.
Q: (An inaudible question about China's involvement in international peacekeeping)
SG: Well, the Chinese are participating, but could perhaps, I would encourage them to do more. They have military observers in quite a few operations including East Timor but I think they have the capacity to do a bit more and I would encourage them to do that 'cause they have several million people in the army and they could do more.
Q: (An inaudible question about on UN reform)?
SG: I think one of the issues on the mind of many members states this year is the question of Security Council reform. The last General Assembly they had many more positive comments on the Security Council reform. Whether we will be able to make progress in reality by the end of this year only time will tell. But we are also discussing internal reforms of the organizations some of the restructuring aspects that we are working on. In fact this, I don't want to be too technical, but this year for example, the Fifth Committee did agree on resource-based budgeting, which is quite a major achievement and a push forward. The scale of assessment of contributions of member states was also changed which I hope is going to bring to normal our the relationship with Washington and Washington will pay a considerable amount of its back dues, which will allow us to be able to do some of the things that we have difficulty doing now and permit us to encourage governments with troops to make contributions for peacekeeping operaions because in the past, some had been hesitant because we had not been able to reimburse them for the cost incurred in participation of peacekeeping operations. Since we don't have troops in the United Nations, we borrow troops from governments, on the understanding that we will reimburse them on the average a $1,000 per month. In the past, we have not been able to make this reimbursement because the member states have not paying their dues and we owe these governments several hundred million dollars. Now that the United States is going contribute $600 million, we will be able to reimburse these countries. Quite a few of them are poor so that they can continue to provide troops in future operations.
Q: What do you think of China as a permanent member and what's your expectation of China?s role in the future?
SG: I think China as a permanent member has an important role to play in the organization and has used in the council, the Security Council effectively. It has also been particularly sensitive to concerns and problems of the Third World and I do expect that to continue. I would ask Ms. McAskie maybe to switch places with me. She will tell you a little bit about her experience in Mongolia.... *****