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-NOVEMBER, 1999-
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11/03/1999 Schroeder In China
11/03/1999 China Not Assuaged By Delay In U.S. Vote On Taiwan Security Enhancement Act
11/03/1999 Saudi Arabia, China Pledge To Boost Economic, Political Ties
11/03/1999 China Demands Arrest, Extradition Of Falungong Leader From U.S.
11/03/1999 Barshefsky Says China Must Make WTO Decision
11/03/1999 U.S.-Philippine Military Exercises Not Aimed At China

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Schroeder In China

SHANGHAI, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder kicked off his packed four-day tour of China on a commercial note Wednesday with a visit to Shanghai Volkswagen (VW), the country's top automaker.

Accompanied by a business delegation that included his Economics Minister Werner Muller and 40 industrialists, he presided over the inauguration of a technology center opened by the German automotive giant.

Shanghai VW is viewed by many as the most successful foreign joint venture in the country. It helped VW increase its share of China's passenger-car market to a staggering 56 percent last year.

Schroeder was due to speak at luncheon of the German Business Association at midday (0400 GMT) and, in a highly symbolic move, will also visit a synagogue used by Nazi-era Jewish refugees.

The Ohel Rachel Synagogue was just one used by Shanghai's Jewish community, which had swelled to about 30,000 by the end of the 1930s with the arrival of the refugees.

Schroeder will be the first German leader to recognize Shanghai's role as a sanctuary for European Jews who fled here during the 1930s to escape Nazi persecution and concentration camps.

Also in the afternoon, the chancellor is scheduled to visit the Shanghai Library to lead an unofficial discussion with Chinese academics on Sino-German relations into the 21st century.

At the end of the day, he and Muller will sit down for talks with Shanghai Mayor Xu Kuangdi, who will host an official dinner for the German delegation.

Schroeder arrived here late Tuesday after a three-day trip to Tokyo, where he expressed support for China's entry into the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations.

Asked whether China should join the G8, the German leader told a news conference Tuesday: "My answer is in the medium-term, yes, but it should respect several conditions.

"There are still difficult points such as the problem of transparency, the resolution and prevention of political conflicts, and more co-operation with other countries."

Before leaving Berlin, one of Schroeder's senior aides said the chancellor's principal message during his state visit would be "the need to establish the rule of law in China, not only from the point of view of political relations, but also for the deepening of economic relations."

Germany wants to see China become a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) "as soon as possible", the official added. China "has such political weight that it cannot be ignored."

Schroeder will bring up the question of human rights only "in the framework of a constructive dialogue," the official said.

While the chancellor was expected to raise the cases of individual dissidents, he would not make "sterile criticisms", but try to achieve progress on matters such as detention without due process.

After visiting a Siemens telecommunications venture in Shanghai early on Thursday, Schroeder will depart for Beijing, where he is scheduled to meet with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji and President Jiang Zemin.

He is due to return to Berlin late on Friday.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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China Not Assuaged By Delay In U.S. Vote On Taiwan Security Enhancement Act

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) China said Tuesday it was not at all relieved that US legislators had decided to postpone a vote on a controversial law that would strengthen Washington's military ties with Taiwan.

Lu Shuning, minister counselor and spokesman for the Chinese embassy here, said China would stay "on alert" in opposing the Republican-sponsored Taiwan Security Enhancement Act which it says would severely damage US-China ties and raise tension in the Taiwan Strait.

"We have noted the information that house Republicans have decided to delay the consideration of the act on the floor until next year, but still they have not done enough," Lu said.

The Washington Post reported earlier Tuesday that leaders of the House of Representatives had decided to postpone the vote over concerns that its passage could interfere with negotiations over China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

Late last month, the House International Relations Committee approved the bill, which proposes to increase training and military exchange programs between high-ranking officers of Taiwan and the US.

It also proposes to establish direct communication between the armed forces of both countries.

Lu restated Beijing's opposition to the law, which he said would erode the entire basis for US-China relations: the recognition by Washington that there is only one China and that Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province, is part of it.

"This is a very dangerous document," he said, maintaining that if it passed it would destabilize the entire Asia-Pacific region by creating an arms race and increasing the risk of confrontation.

"If the United States restores its relations with Taiwan to the pre-1979 levels ... the basis for China-US relations will be greatly harmed," Lu said, referring to the year diplomatic ties between Washington and Beijing were established.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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Saudi Arabia, China Pledge To Boost Economic, Political Ties

RIYADH, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Saudi Arabia and China pledged on Wednesday to boost economic and political ties at the end of a historic visit by Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

The two countries, in a joint statement carried by the official Saudi news agency SPA, also called for the international community to resolve a deadlock in the UN Security Council over policy on Iraq.

Jiang's four-day visit, the first by a Chinese president to the oil-rich Gulf state, was a "total success," it said, adding that Saudi Arabia's ailing King Fahd was invited to return the visit.

"The two sides ... declared their readiness to establish a strategic cooperation at the political and economic levels," and to step up trade and oil links.

They expressed "deep concern over the current inertia (on Iraq) and urged the international community to find a solution as soon as possible," while Baghdad was called upon to implement all UN resolutions in full.

China and Saudi Arabia also underlined their "solidarity with the Iraqi people in their suffering," in reference to the sanctions imposed on Baghdad for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

On the Kashmir conflict, they called for India and Pakistan "to resume their dialogue as soon as possible with a view to resolving their conflicts peacefully."

Jiang, who flew in Sunday on the last stop of a six-nation European and Arab tour, was to visit eastern Saudi Arabia where the kingdom's main oil and industrial installations are before returning home.

During his stay, in which Jiang met King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdel Aziz, Saudi and Chinese officials signed a memorandum of understanding to build an oil refinery in southern China's province of Fujian.

The two countries also agreed in principle for China to raise its imports of Saudi crude to 3.6 million tonnes a year, from the current annual level of 2.4 million tonnes.

Saudi Arabia has long lobbied to increase oil exports to Beijing, which became a net importer of crude in 1993 following rapid economic expansion.

Trade between Saudi Arabia and China has grown since 1995, reaching 6.4 billion riyals (1.7 billion dollars) last year. Saudi Arabia is now China's largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa.

China mainly exports textiles and electronics while Saudi Arabia exports oil and oil-related products.

Riyadh and Beijing exchanged ambassadors in 1990, setting up formal ties, two years after Saudi Arabia bought about 10 Chinese-made medium-range surface-to-surface missiles.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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China Demands Arrest, Extradition Of Falungong Leader From U.S.

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) A senior Chinese official demanded here Tuesday that the leader of the banned Falungong spiritual movement be arrested and sent to China from his U.S. home.

"Li Hongzhi should be arrested and sent back to face trial in a Chinese court," Yu Shuning, minister counselor and spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said.

Yu, speaking at a news conference to defend Beijing's widening crackdown on the sect, insisted Li is a cult leader who used mind control techniques to bilk millions of followers out of money and was responsible for the deaths of more than 1,400 Falungong practitioners whom he had convinced not to seek medical treatment.

China has presented its case for Li's arrest and extradition from the United States to the international police organization, Interpol, but Yu acknowledged the group had not responded positively.

"The secretariat said we had not presented enough evidence, but we cannot accept that," he said, adding also that Beijing did not accept Washington's demurral of the case even though there is no extradition treaty between the two countries.

"The United States is duty-bound to provide cooperation in arresting Li Hongzhi and sending him back to China because he is a criminal and an arrest warrant has been issued," Yu maintained.

China was still waiting for a "positive response" from the United States on the issue but given Washington's harsh criticism of the crackdown on the Falungong sect, such a response appeared unlikely.

In an effort to sway US public opinion against the movement, Yu unleashed a blistering attack on Li and his sect, comparing it with Japan's Aum Supreme Truth cult, the Solar Temple in Europe and the Branch Davidians in the United States.

Government action had been taken against those cults, Yu argued and the Falungong is no different.

"These days, no responsible government can ever allow cult activities like those of Falungong to go unchecked, it would be irresponsible," he said, specifically referring to the FBI raid on the Branch Davidian headquarters in Texas in 1993 to make his point.

"Even in this country the government took extreme measures against the Branch Davidians," he said of the raid, which ended in a fiery inferno that killed 80 men, women and children.

Pressed as to whether comparisons between the Branch Davidians or Aum Supreme Truth, which was behind the 1995 Sarin nerve-gas attack on the Tokyo subway and Falungong, which advocates breathing and meditation exercises and moral living, were indeed accurate, Yu appeared to take umbrage.

"This is a cult which endangers the health and mental fitness of the practitioners and destructs social order and stability," he said flatly.

"That's why the government has taken measures."

Thousands of Falungong followers have been arrested in China since it was banned in July following a 10,000-strong peaceful demonstration by the group in Beijing in April.

Last month, after the National People's Congress revised a law to make leaders of Falungong and other groups labeled cults liable for prosecution for endangering national security and other crimes, arrests began again in earnest with some reports saying several thousand followers had been arrested.

Yu maintained that rank and file members of the group would not be punished if they gave up Falungong, but followers who gathered outside the Chinese embassy here to protest, said giving up the practice was not an option in some cases.

"Some people don't want to and why should they have to," said one. "We're not doing anything wrong, just exercising."

Chinese authorities have called Falungong the biggest threat to communist rule since the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests which were brutally crushed by China's military.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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Barshefsky Says China Must Make WTO Decision

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) China needs to make a "basic decision" as to whether it will join the World Trade Organization (WTO) or "remain in something of a holding position," US Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said Tuesday.

Barshefsky told the Senate Banking Committee the United States had "reengaged" with the Chinese and would be continuing discussions with them.

But she added: "The accidental bombing (of the embassy) chilled relations with China for five months ... virtually all negotiations with the Chinese were put on ice by the Chinese."

Speaking to press after the meeting, Barshefsky said: "I think China will need to make the decision whether to move forward in the serious way it has previously demonstrated, and obviously we will await that decision."

Her comments underline the fact that China and the United States have not yet agreed on China's conditions for entry, despite secret contacts between Washington and Beijing.

A New York Times article Tuesday said both US President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin had engaged in an "intense set of interactions" following their last telephone contact on October 16, citing a senior US official.

Barshefsky declined to comment on the article that said Clinton was seeking to secure a WTO deal in time for this month's WTO ministerial in Seattle, United States.

She said she did not sense much progress had been made at this time between China and the other countries concerning WTO membership.

China has been negotiating with the United States and the European Union for years on its desired membership with the WTO, but the talks have snagged on China's unwillingness to fully open up sectors of its protected economy.

If China agreed terms with the EU and the US before Seattle, it would be able to take part in the next round of WTO trade liberalization talks due to start November 30 in Seattle, Washington state.

China and the European Union held talks on the issue in Geneva this week.

A deal failed to materialize during Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji's visit to Washington in April.

Issues under discussion in China's bid to join the WTO include telecommunications, financial services, textiles and sanctions in retaliation for the dumping of Chinese exports.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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U.S.-Philippine Military Exercises Not Aimed At China

MANILA, Nov 3, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) Planned joint military exercises between the Philippines and the United States are not aimed at China, presidential spokesman Fernando Barican said here Wednesday in response to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

"The planned military exercises to be conducted by the Philippines and the United States this February are not directed against any country and neither are they addressing a specific country as the 'imaginary enemy'," Barican said in a statement.

Filipino military officials said the joint exercises are to be held on and off the western Philippine island of Palawan, which is near the Spratlys archipelago claimed in whole or in part by Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Manila has accused Beijing of occupying and expanding structures on Mischief Reef, which is within the Philippines' 200-mile exclusive economic zone, rattling bilateral ties.

China last week called on the Philippines to remove a naval ship from the Second Thomas Shoal, some 20 nautical miles from Mischief Reel, but Manila refused the request saying the ship was undergoing repairs.

Barican on Wednesday admitted the Philippines had an agreement with China not to hold military exercises "targetting the other as the imagined enemy," and also gave assurances the planned war games "will not pose a threat to any country in the region."

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said in Beijing on Tuesday that China was against the Philippines and the United States holding joint exercises aimed at their country.

Barican made no mention of China's request that it be allowed to observe the joint Philippine-US training exercises, which was made possible after the Filipino Senate in May ratified a visiting forces agreement with Washington.

Earlier, Philippine defense chief Orlando Mercado said it was up to the United States to decide if China could observe the exercises.

The military has given assurances the exercises would not spill into disputed territories in the South China Sea such as the Spratlys.

By Agence France Presse

From Inside China Today

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