THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

           PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES ADMIRAL JOSEPH W. PRUEHER AS
             U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

     The President today announced his intent to nominate Admiral Joseph

W. Prueher to be U.S. Ambassador to the People's Republic of China.

Admiral Joseph W. Prueher, of Nashville, Tennessee, is a retired Navy admiral and former Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific Command, from which he stepped down in February 1999. For over three years, Admiral Prueher served as the senior U.S. military commander in the Pacific and Indian Oceans and their littoral areas, where he led the largest U.S. Unified Command, directing Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine operations. He reported to the President and Secretary of Defense through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was accountable for U.S. collective defense arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region. In this capacity, he worked with Asia-Pacific civil and military leaders to promote security and cooperation in the region. On May 1, 1999, Admiral Prueher completed a thirty-five year career in the Navy. Currently, Admiral Prueher is a consulting Professor and Senior Advisor for the Stanford-Harvard Preventive Defense Project.

Admiral Prueher received an M.S. in International Relations from the George Washington University and a B.S. in Naval Science from the U.S. Naval Academy. He has published numerous articles on leadership, military readiness, and Pacific region security issues, and has received multiple military awards for combat flying as well as Naval and Joint Service. Additionally, he has been decorated by the Governments of Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, and Indonesia, and is an Honorary Officer in the Military Division of the Order of Australia.

Admiral Prueher and his wife, Suzanne, currently reside in Alexandria, Virginia.

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