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Để  quý bạn đọc có thêm tài liệu tham khảo các diễn biến chung quanh hội nghị APEC 2006, chúng tôi xin trích đăng lại hai bản tài liệu ghi lại cuộc họp báo của tham vụ báo chí của tòa bạch ốc ông Tony Snow vào ngày 16 và 17/11. Buổi họp báo vào ngày 16 được thực hiện ngay trên chiếc máy bay số 1 AirForce One chở tổng thống Bush trên đường đến Hà Nội và buổi họp báo ngày 17/11 được thực hiện tại khách sạn Hilton sau khi tổng thống Bush đến Hà Nội. Cả hai tài liệu này được trích lại từ văn phòng báo chí của tòa Bạch Ốc.

Press Gaggle by Tony Snow
Aboard Air Force One
En route Hanoi, Vietnam

9:11 A.M. (Local)

MR. SNOW: All right, I don't know if they read this out in Washington: Last night, Singapore time, the President had a brief conversation with Prime Minister Singh of India, talking about the civilian nuclear proposal saying that we're committed to its passage and he was encouraged by Senator McConnell's comments to the effect that the Senate hoped to vote on it soon.

As for today, I think you guys have seen it, but basically we get in -- let me run through the events for the day and then we'll do questions. The President has already done the radio address. When we get to Hanoi we will have a lunch with Prime Minister Howard of Australia. Then there will be an arrival ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi. The President will meet with the President of Vietnam and also with the Prime Minister, as well as the General Secretary of the Communist Party. And this evening there will be a state banquet.

Questions.

Q Why is he going to Communist Party headquarters?

MR. SNOW: To meet with the Secretary General of the Communist Party. It's a Communist Party state, it's a Communist state and he will meet with the head of the party.

Q What are the President's thoughts coming to Vietnam 30 years after the war? What does he intend to focus on here?

MR. SNOW: Basically, on expanding a number of areas of mutual interest with the Vietnamese. You've got an economy that's now growing briskly. We obviously want to talk about the economy. But there is also security cooperation. There are military to military contacts, which we've begun doing with the Vietnamese. Let me just run through a couple of others: health cooperation, both in the areas of avian influenza and in AIDS -- the President mentioned that in his speech yesterday; POW/MIA, there's still efforts to try to make sure that we've learned everything we can about the status of more than 1,300 Americans still missing and unaccounted for after the Vietnam War; and WTO accession and also permanent normal trade relations.

Q The last time an American President went to Hanoi, there was some concern about having the President appear with all of the trappings of the Communist Party headquarters -- the photos of Ho Chi Minh and so forth. Have you done anything at this point to diminish the optics of this in any particular way, or have you heard any concern from Republicans?

MR. SNOW: No, David, we haven't. Vietnam is now making a transition, we're certainly encouraging that reform in many ways, both in terms of domestic policy -- that is, its political system -- and also economically. You've got an economy that is beginning to grow. You've also had removing Vietnam from the list of nations of concern when it comes to religion, and there's going to be a talk -- there will be talk about further progress, in terms of democracy and human rights, because that is essential for any society to be able to explore its own potential. So the President will be talking about the freedom agenda.

Q Has the President made any calls to congressional Republican leaders about PNTR for Vietnam?

MR. SNOW: No, I don't think so. At this point -- we had conversations before we left town, and the President did meet with House and Senate leaders. It did come up then and so he discussed it with Senator McConnell, Senator Frist, for the lame duck. So it has been discussed.

By the way, he also did call Representative Hoyer this morning to congratulate him on his victory.

Q A question on the conversation with Prime Minister Singh. One of the concerns about the U.S.-India deal has been that there were no provisions in it that would keep India from continuing to make fuel for its own nuclear weapons stockpile or expand that. Has he gotten any private assurances from the Indians that they would not do that?

MR. SNOW: I was not party to the phone call and I doubt it would have been considered. This was more, David, a touch base in terms of what's going on, on Capitol Hill.

Q What lessons did Americans learn from the Vietnam War and do any of those apply to what's going on in Iraq now?

MR. SNOW: I think the two situations are not comparable and I don't want to try -- I will let Americans tell you what their various lessons were from Vietnam. That's far too large a question for me to contemplate, let alone answer.

Q Tony, you talk about the transformation in Vietnam and the President wants to focus on that -- this is his first trip to Vietnam, he's a baby boomer who lived through the war. What focus does he intend to put, if at all, on the war and the lessons of the war?

MR. SNOW: David, what's interesting is that the Vietnamese are not particularly interested in that. You've got a young population and a dynamic economy. This is not going to be a look back at Vietnam; it really is going to be a looking forward to areas of cooperation and shared concern, in terms of working with the Vietnamese.
The President, as he mentioned yesterday, is keenly aware that most of our trade now -- we do more trade now with the Pacific Rim countries than we do with Europe. And it is vital for us to continue to maintain a strategic and economic presence in the region. And we'll continue to build closer relations with the parties in the region.

Q Tony, does the White House believe that increased trade with Vietnam would undermine the communist regime in the long run and promote freedom, more political freedom in Vietnam?

MR. SNOW: I think at this point, David, we're simply talking about the virtues of free trade. I'll let you draw whatever long-term conclusions you may wish to draw.

Q Does he want to send a message, though, about the importance of democratic institutions with the hope of undermining the Communist Party in Vietnam?

MR. SNOW: I don't think the President comes and says to his host, I come here to undermine you. But what is going on, David, is significant. You've got a regime that has been liberalizing on the economic front. And you've got an economic growth rate that I think -- Sanger will correct me if I'm wrong -- 8.5 percent last year. It's growing at a brisk rate. It is the second-fastest growing economy in the region, to China. And the President does -- as he said many times and certainly I expect will be reiterating today -- believes that having free institutions are essential for fostering not only economic vitality, but long-term political stability.

Q Was he disappointed that he doesn't have this trade deal?

MR. SNOW: He understands that politics occasionally break out on Capitol Hill. But he also has been encouraging leaders on Capitol Hill to go ahead and finish work on a PNTR. We've been assured that there will be votes in the lame duck, but in December. And we will be passing that word on. We're certainly are going to make it clear to the Vietnamese that we support it.

Q Tony, Secretary Rice said yesterday that she believed that it would require some show of good faith on both sides between the North Koreans and the U.S. before they came back to the talks on the nuclear issue. Could you describe to us what kind of show of good faith the President is looking for from the North Koreans? Would it be dismantling part of their facilities? And what kind he's prepared to show, as well?
MR. SNOW: No. (Laughter.) I'll let the President do his negotiating, David.

Q -- the speech yesterday, the President have any additional plans to expand the (inaudible) of APEC, as he outlined it yesterday? Is there any follow up?

MR. SNOW: I'm sorry, to examine --

Q He's talking about APEC becoming a free trade region. He obviously wants APEC to be strengthened as an institution. Does he have any plans to sort of put that forward in an agenda --

MR. SNOW: Richard, there is already a 21-nation compact for building a free trade area within the region, and we certainly support that. At this point, we're talking about strengthening APEC, but not having dramatic changes, simply building greater economic cooperation.

Obviously, things like the Doha round are important. We're going to be talking about Doha bilateral trade relations, as well. But we continue to hope to make APEC a stronger forum for all of that and to use it as a way for the United States to work even more closely with the Asian allies.

Q Since I struck on my North Korea question, let me try a harder one. (Laughter.) On Saturday, the President is going to meeting President Roh. President Roh has already indicated that he would not participate more fully in proliferation security initiative and so forth.

Does President Bush believe that President Roh has lived up to the commitment that he made during his last visit to Washington, that everything would change if there was a North Korean nuclear test?

MR. SNOW: Certainly, I'll be much better able to give you a read-out after the meeting, but let me put it this way, we do expect parties to abide by the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. And it is, you know, and in terms of the proliferation security initiative, we hope to have the South Koreans playing a role in it.

Q And does that mean that right now you believe that the South Koreans are not living up to 1817?

MR. SNOW: No, it just means that I'm giving you the boilerplate answer and I will be happy to give you a read-out after the meeting. It will be an important meeting and I'll be happy to give you a more candid and effective readout after it has taken place.

Q What's the topic of the radio address?

MR. SNOW: The themes that he talked about yesterday in Singapore.

Q Does the President have any reaction to Milton Friedman's death?

MR. SNOW: I think we have a statement out, but obviously Milton Friedman is one of the giants in global economics over the last hundred years. He lived a long and great life. He was somebody that the President respected and admired -- as you recall, he did something for Milton Friedman's 90th birthday, and at the age of 94, Milton Friedman was a truly amazing guy.

Q Tony, the President as tourist, does he have any personal interest in any Vietnam War relics or trappings that he will experience on his trip?

MR. SNOW: Not sure, David. I'll check and try to find out for you. I know that's kind of an important nuance. I know today it's basically wall-to-wall meetings. There will be a POW/MIA event, I believe. I think there are going to be some events, and I will try to get you some color that will be useful.

Q But has he talked at all from a personal perspective about what it's like to come here for the first time?

MR. SNOW: Not yet, no. He really hasn't. I mean, at this point, you're -- we spent a lot of yesterday working on the speech for last night, and right now the President is getting ready for a series of meetings with Prime Minister Howard, as well as with the heads of the Vietnamese government. But, again, if he does say anything that I can report, I'll get it back to you.

Q What are he and Howard talking about?

MR. SNOW: Well, obviously, you've got security interests, you've got economic concerns. And they'll talk about the very close and cooperative relationship between the two nations. It'll touch on everything from the global war on terror to economics to working on North Korea. Kind of the predictable topics.

Q The Guardian had a report yesterday that Bush is considering sending 30,000 additional troops to Iraq for one last push. Does that have any conception of reality?
MR. SNOW: I'm not going to try to characterize anything. We saw the report, but I don't want to get into the thicket of trying to characterize it. The best thing to do on that is to throw that over to the Pentagon and let them give you the answer.
I believe -- and correct me if I'm wrong -- The Guardian story was based on at least what they considered a leak about Pentagon ruminations about possible ways forward, at a time when General Pace is conducting a comprehensive review. I think the best thing to do is to let General Pace do that review and provide a report and then we'll --

Q So it's just not true?

MR. SNOW: I don't know.

Q When is his report going to --

MR. SNOW: David, on thing, I think it's pretty clear that what we've said all along is that the United States is going to stay until the conditions on the ground make it possible for American forces to step down as the Iraqi forces become more battle capable. So I don't want to give the impression that we have changed at all the approach, which is, again, working with the Iraqis, making them more capable on the political, economic and security sides so that they're going to have a stable government.

Q The Sudanese accepted a presence of a U.N. force in Darfur -- any reaction from the President?

MR. SNOW: Well, I think the most important thing to do is to have an effective force in Darfur that can protect the people. We are aware of Secretary General Annan's comments on this today and we think that the region and the people in Darfur deserve an effective protection of force and we hope that that is going to be the case.

Q Reaction to the election results in Congo? I see you've got it right there. (Laughter.)
MR. SNOW: Well, I've got it right here, got the election results in Congo. (Laughter.) Well, obviously, you're going to make sure if there is any challenge, they be done in the established electoral process.

Q There's no topic that we can throw at you that you're unprepared for. (Laughter.)
MR. SNOW: I just wanted to make sure, yes. (Laughter.)

Anything else, guys? If you've got some specifics, or any of you guys have specifics over the meetings for the next couple of days that you want to let me know about, I'll try to be helpful. And I'm honestly going to try to -- tomorrow, I'll be in on the bilats, but when they go off to the APEC meetings, I think I may have to do one thing in town, but I'll get to the file and try to be as helpful as I can.

Q Just one logistical thing that you might be able to help us with tomorrow, which is that I think after President Roh's meeting, it's going to be about 8:00 p.m. in the east coast, U.S. if we could get a readout right away on that one, because otherwise we're going to miss a whole news cycle.

MR. SNOW: Understood. I don't know what we have in terms of whether we're going to have statements or questions or all that. I'll let you know in the morning.
Q Is he going to take questions at any of the meetings today?

MR. SNOW: I don't know. I mean, we've got pool coverage at the bottom, so we'll play it by ear.

Q Thank you.

END 9:26 A.M. (Local)

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Press Briefing by Press Secretary Tony Snow and David McCormick, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs
Filing Center
Thang Loi Hotel
Hanoi, Vietnam

5:17 P.M. (Local)

MR. SNOW: The President had a series of meetings today. The first was with Prime Minister Howard of Australia. You probably already have seen their readout after the meeting. There's not much I can add to it. The two of them had a wide-ranging discussion, spent a lot of time talking about the war on terror and, particularly, what's ongoing in Iraq. They agreed that it's important to continue to work with Prime Minister Maliki to develop greater capability on the part of Iraqis from the security, political, and economic standpoints.

They also touched upon the Middle East situation and hoping that there's going to be the possibility to continue working toward the road map between Israel and the Palestinians. They talked about energy concerns and technologies that might provide ways to deal with global warming. The President, I think, mentioned earlier that they ranged from clean coal technology to alternative fuels to nuclear energy.

There was a brief discussion, as well -- and you'll forgive me, I'm going to go through my notes here -- they talked about North Korea, as well, making sure that we continue to maintain pressure on the North Koreans to find a diplomatic way to ensure a non-nuclear Korean Peninsula, and also David Hicks, the Australian citizen who has been held in Guantanamo. The Prime Minister expressed his desire to make sure that Mr. Hicks gets tried, and the President did, as well.

That's sort of the basic readout there. A series of meetings with the Prime Minister -- the President, the Prime Minister and the Communist Party General Secretary in Vietnam. Do you have the names of all, or should I read them out for you? Okay, I will assume that that means that -- so you've got the book.

All of the conversations really followed a similar track. First, the Vietnamese were very eager to talk about economic reform in the country and building closer ties with the United States, in terms of enhancing economic cooperation. Obviously, PNTR was a big part of that. The President stressed his determination and his support for PNTR -- determination to get it passed. WTO accession, he congratulated the Vietnamese on that. They continue to maintain that this is the beginning of a longer reform effort, and they certainly are eager to have American cooperation on that.
I'm going to flip through my notes here. Again, you've got general readouts. One of the things the President said -- and I know that there's been a lot of interest in his reflections on being in Vietnam -- one of the things that he did add to what he had told you earlier, and he's said this on a number of occasions -- not only did he appreciate the friendliness of the people, but he also thought it was important for the American people to understand how eager the Vietnamese are to build closer relations with the United States -- he said that that might come as a surprise to the American people -- and reassured them about the importance of trade and closer ties.

Also he said that it's important for the Vietnamese people to know that the United States "wants you to succeed." He said he's impr essed with the reforms that have taken place, but also understands that reform is hard. On the other hand, as you have a growing level of affluence, there is going to be a corresponding pressure for increasing economic, political and religious freedoms. And the President stressed the importance of working on the human rights front, because that was going to be important for the long-term success of Vietnam.

One of the other things that the Vietnamese also were at pains to say is -- and this is a pretty direct quote from the Chairman of the Communist Party, the General Secretary -- he said we want to, "put aside the past and look forward to the future." That is a theme that we heard from all three of the Vietnamese leaders. As far as they're concerned, they do not want to dwell on the Vietnamese War, although there are ongoing issues, in terms of dealing with some of the aftermath of the war. But the most important thing for them is to build closer ties, and that not only involves the economy, but also security, cultural exchanges -- the President at one point saying that he would welcome having more Vietnamese students coming to attend college in the United States.

And I think that generally covers sort of the basics. Dave, do you want to give us a quick readout on what to expect for tomorrow?

MR. McCORMICK: Tomorrow the morning begins with several bilats and a couple specific events that the President has scheduled -- a bilateral with the President Republic of Korea, a meeting with several ASEAN leaders, a visit to the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, and then an embassy greeting, followed by a lunch with the Prime Minister of Japan.

The APEC leaders summit begins with the first session tomorrow afternoon, and that first session is focused primarily upon the core economic agenda, trade liberalization. We would expect that there will be a very robust discussion of Doha -- our preliminary discussions with a number of the countries involved in the trade minister meetings over the last day or two -- I think that will be a very fruitful discussion, and voicing a common commitment to restart Doha.

There will also be a discussion of the free trade agreement or the concept of a free trade agreement for Asia Pacific. And as the President foreshadowed in his speech in Singapore, this is an idea that a number of Asian countries, Asian leaders and business leaders have voiced over the last several years. It's something that the President has said is really a significant idea worth real consideration, and I expect there will be a good discussion of that, as well as an assessment of where we are among APEC members on the realization of the Bogor goals, and aspirations that were set and what the path ahead is on realizing those objectives.

Day two of APEC, Sunday, will focus on other dimensions of prosperity. APEC has captured a number of key themes; obviously the core of this is the economic agenda, but there's also been a focus over the last four or five years on the security dimensions that are so critical to economic prosperity. So avian flu, AIDS, secure trade -- these are issues that certainly will be discussed on day two. I also expect there will be a very good discussion of North Korea. The President has foreshadowed that in all of his discussions, all of his bilaterals. I expect that that will be part of the dialogue.
And there will also be a very, very good conversation, I suspect, around APEC reform and the investment and resources and focus that the members of APEC will bring in the future to ensure that APEC continues to be even more robust in the future in terms of realizing a common set of Asia Pacific objectives.

Why don't I stop there.

MR. SNOW: Okay. Just a couple of other obvious points that I skipped over with the Vietnamese meetings, and let me stress these. The President, as I mentioned, talked about trade; also health cooperation, especially with regard to HIV/AIDS and avian influenza. It's important not only as a template for how to deal with some of these problems, especially how the Vietnamese have been very proactive in taking on HIV/AIDS and avian influenza, but it also sets a good example within the region.
On the MIA issue, he thanked the Vietnamese for strong cooperation and hopes for further cooperation with regard to archival investigations, and also thanked them for not only the strong statement, but also their cooperation in working on the North Koreans. The President stressed that we do not have complaints with the North Korean people; in fact, we want to help them. They're starving and oppressed, he said, and the most important challenge now is to get the government to renounce nukes.

And with that, we'll take questions.

Q Tony, I have one for you, and one for David. The one for you is, did the President give the Prime Minister a gift today for his birthday?

MR. SNOW: No. At least there -- but on the other hand, we have a state dinner tonight; maybe there will be something then.

Q And tomorrow, at ASEAN, do you expect either Thailand or Burma to be present in the room with the President?

MR. McCORMICK: Certainly Thailand I expect to be there. I'm not sure --

Q I know there was talk of the Vietnamese of trying to get Burma into this meeting, over objections from the United States. Do you know if that --

MR. McCORMICK: Not to my knowledge. I don't know.

MR. SNOW: Don't know. No? Gordon Johndroe says Burma will not be there. We will count that as definitive.

Q What will be the message to the Thai Prime Minister, given the recent coup?

MR. SNOW: Well, what we have said is we expect and encourage Thailand to return to democracy as soon as possible. That's been the message from day one; that hasn't changed.

Q Did the North Koreans express -- did the Vietnamese express any opinion about the U.S. view on North Korea?

MR. SNOW: Yes, they share it. They do not want a nuclear peninsula and they have been supportive of our view, and the President thanked them for that.

Q Do we know the agenda of the President's meeting with President Putin on Sunday?

MR. SNOW: Well, obviously, there will be discussion -- generally, the war on terror. There will clearly be discussions of Iran. But I think rather than my trying to set an agenda for the two, we'll let the leaders do that and once they've done it, we'll tell you about it.

Q Are there plans for a North Korea statement out of APEC this year?

MR. McCORMICK: Certainly that will be an agenda item and there was discussion of whether there will be an actual statement or not. To be determined.

Q Tony, further on North Korea, can you be a little more specific than you were in the gaggle this morning about exactly what standard you expect the South Koreans to meet on the U.N. sanctions? You seemed to suggest this morning that they may not be living up to it the way that the U.S. government would like to see --

MR. SNOW: David, rather than trying to presage the conversations the President will be having with President Roh, one thing the United States does expect is that all parties to the six-party will be working for full implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718. And if there are areas of disagreement, I'm sure that they will be covered in the bilateral. But I'm not going to get ahead of the conversation

between the two.

Okay. Thank you.

END 5:31 P.M. (Local)