Afternoon press briefing from 19 March 2008
Briefing from the Prime Minister's Spokesman on: Tibet, Defence, Government cars, FSA and National Security Strategy
Tibet
Asked about the Prime Minister meeting with the Dalai Lama, the Prime Minister's Spokesman (PMS) replied that as the Prime Minister said in PMQs earlier today, he spoke to the Chinese Prime Minister Mr Wen this morning. As we had been saying earlier in the week we had been speaking to both the Chinese Embassy in London and our Embassy had been speaking to the Chinese Government in Beijing on a daily basis since the trouble broke out in Tibet towards the end of last week. As the Prime Minister said, Mr Wen reiterated the commitment he had made to dialogue between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama as long as the Dalai Lama was clear that he respected that Tibet was part of China, and that he did not condone violence - and the Dalai Lama agreed with both of those two points. So in principle we think that there is a possibility of a resumption of dialogue between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama, which is something that we and the rest of the world would like to see.
Asked if the Prime Minister told Premier Wen that he would be meeting the Dalai Lama and what was the response, the PMS replied that it was for the Chinese to speak on behalf of Premier Wen, but the Prime Minsiter did say to the Chinese Prime Minister that he would be meeting the Dalai Lama.
Put that when Chancellor Merkel met with the Dalai Lama, there was a freezing in relations between Germany and China and were we not concerned that similar would happen, the PMS replied that we had a good and constructive relationship with China, and we hoped that this good and constructive relationship would enable both sides to raise difficult issues.
Asked if the Dalai Lama would be met as the leader of Tibet, or as a spiritual leader, the PMS replied that he would be met as a spiritual leader.
Put that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary had both visited China recently, and asked if it was right to assume that Britain was now able to exert considerable influence on China having built up such good relations, the PMS replied that we wanted a good and constructive relationship with China. The Prime Minister attached a great deal of importance to his visit to China because of the importance that he attached to the bilateral relationship with China. But as part of that of course we would be prepared to raise difficult issues as appropriate, in a mature way.
Asked what changed the Prime Minister's position on meeting the Dalai Lama, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary's view was that the priority during this period of tension in Tibet was to ensure that we kept all of the focus on urging restraint on both sides so that a peaceful resolution could be found. We had been in discussion with the Chinese, the Prime Minister had spoken to the Chinese Prime Minister, and in light of those developments the Prime Minister now felt that it was the right time to confirm that he would be meeting the Dalai Lama.
Asked if we accepted that Prime Minister Wen has said that he did not accept that Dalai Lama thinks that Tibet should be a part of China, the PMS replied that as Wen Jiabao said in his press conference as recently as the 18th March, the door of dialogue was still open to the Dalai Lama so long as he gives up the position of Tibet's independence and so long as he recognised Tibet and Taiwan as inalienable of the Chinese territory. The Dalai Lama had also said that he was not calling for an independent Tibet, so we think the conditions are in place for a resumption of dialogue between the Chinese authorities and the Dalai Lama and his representatives, and this was something that we would like to see.
Asked if we now agreed with the French Foreign Secretary that there was now a case for not attending the Olympic opening ceremony, the PMS replied that our position in relation to the Olympics had not changed, and we did not support a boycott of the Olympics.
Asked when the Dalai Lama would be coming to London, the PMS replied that he thought this would be in early May.
Asked if it was still the Prime Minister's plan to attend the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the PMS replied that this was correct.
Defence
Asked if the Chiefs of Staff had been "kitted up" and in to see the Prime Minister, the PMS replied that if this referred to the piece in the Evening Standard, we did not recognise that story. The Ministry of Defence was currently focused on a planning round to make sure that resources are allocated in line with defence priorities. Such reviews were carried out every two years or so, this was a perfectly routine process and it was not unusual for stories of this nature to appear when such discussions were underway.
Asked if the Chiefs of Staff had been in to see the Prime Minister, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister was in regular contact and regularly met with the Chiefs of Staff as people would expect.
Asked if they were in uniform, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister regularly met with the Chiefs of Staff, and he was sure he would be happy to meet them however they were dressed.
Asked if it was true that two senior officials from the Army had threatened to resign over this, the PMS replied that we did not recognise the story in the Evening Standard today.
Government Cars
Asked about the story of a Cabinet split over Government cars, the PMS replied that as he said this morning when asked the question, over the last two years the Government Car Agency had moved to greener cars resulting in a 30% reduction in average emissions from Government cars. We would now accelerate the pace of transition to low-emissions vehicles, but of course we would have to take into account operational and security requirements.
Asked if a Minister wanted to drive a British car, would he be allowed to, the PMS replied that we had to take into security and operational requirements.
Asked if an "expendable" Cabinet Minister would be allowed to choose a British car, the PMS replied that these things were looked at on a case by case basis depending on the security and operational requirements.
FSA
Asked for the Prime Minister's view on the FSA investigation into whether people had been deliberately spreading rumours and shortening stock, the PMS replied that the Prime Minister thought this was a matter for the FSA.
National Security Strategy
Asked what role the Prime Minister envisaged for the National Security Forum and when the new members would be appointed, the PMS replied that we hoped to appoint new members shortly. The role of the National Security Forum, as the Prime Minister said in his statement today, was to advise the recently constituted National Security Committee. At the moment there were a number of experts that were consulted informally by the relevant people in the Cabinet Office and elsewhere, and we wanted to put that onto a more systematic footing.
Asked why we needed a forum as well as a committee, the PMS replied that the committee was comprised of the people who take decisions and were responsible for protecting the public, and included the Prime Minister, Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, as well as senior members of the police and the agencies. A forum was the advisory body - they were the experts, but not the people who were accountable or responsible for taking the decisions.
Asked why none of the counter terrorist intelligence units were based in Scotland, the PMS replied that these were operational matters for the police and others. As we said yesterday, there was very close cooperation between the UK government between the devolved administrations on counter-terrorism matters, as we saw in July.
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