Bill Clinton: “Let me answer first. First of all, there's quite a difference between the generalized Arab boycott of Israel, which we…”

“Let me answer first. First of all, there's quite a difference between the generalized Arab boycott of Israel, which we have worked to bring to an end, simply because Israel existed, and the Helms- Burton bill, which provides the President some flexibility in its administration and which is directed against the only country remaining in our hemisphere which is not a democracy and which passed in the aftermath of Cuba's flagrant shooting-down of two airplanes, American airplanes, in international airspace and killing innocent civilians, most of whom were American citizens. And so the two things are entirely different. I'm very sensitive to the whole question of extraterritoriality. We are reviewing that. But we think that the Cuban--the persistent refusal of Cuba to move toward democracy or openness and the particular problems that causes for countries in our hemisphere, and for the United States especially, justified the passage of the bill, which I signed into law. Now, they were asked questions, too. I hope they can remember. President Santer. The question about China--we have trade relations with China. That is not the normal way to go ahead--but I am not aware that there could be from our side some questioning about--that's incrimination on the European side. I do not know what are the causes for this incrimination. We are establishing our trading relation with China, as with other countries, on behalf of negotiations. And these negotiations have to come to an end, but otherwise, I do not see that there would be any harm done through the negotiation to the United States in this case. Prime Minister Prodi. Concerning the STET case, STET is an Italian telephone company who bought shares of a Mexican company owning shares of--having Cuban interest. And so they didn't even know about the Cuban interest. And so I limited myself to collect news and knowledge about the problem, and I think that in due time we shall try to defend our interest, because it is a very indirect involvement with Cuba. So I didn't even know about that. President Clinton. Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International]? Bosnia”