![]() |
-NOVEMBER, 1995- |
![]() |
Click on the calendar date in the chart below to see articles posted for that day.
01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 |
11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
31 |
Click on the article title below to view the article. Follow the 'Back to Top' links to return here. Follow the 'Back to Article Index' links to return to the group of articles corresponding to that article's post- date.
11/03/1995 | BACK ON EVEN KEEL Jiang and Clinton Start Repairing a Battered Relationship |
11/01/1995 |
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS Managing the World's Most Important Relationship |
BACK ON EVEN KEEL
Jiang and Clinton Start Repairing a Battered Relationship
By Todd Crowell
AS INTERNATIONAL SUMMITS GO, it was a fairly modest affair. There were no trumpets and no red carpets - only two hours of frank talk in a nondescript office at New York's Lincoln Center. On a "warmth scale," the Oct. 24 meeting U.S. President Bill Clinton had with his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin probably ranked midway between the cold shoulder he gave Cuban President Fidel Castro and the bear hug in which he enveloped Russian President Boris Yeltsin. For both sides, though, that was probably the right temperature. Yet, for all their differences, there were signs that the Chinese and the Americans were making progress on improving their troubled relationship.
The June visit of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to America had sparked such a crisis in Sino-U.S. ties that few observers were optimistic about last week's summit. And the coolness of the two previous Jiang-Clinton encounters may have led both men to rein in their own expectations for this one. In fact, both appeared visibly surprised that things went as well as they did. The Chinese found the talks "candid, friendly, positive and useful." The Americans were even more enthusiastic. "The two [leaders] had their best meeting yet," declared Winston Lord, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs. He said the personal chemistry was better. A Chinese official added that the presidents even laughed together a couple of times.
For China, whether Jiang would get some satisfaction from Clinton was always the key to the summit. Many Chinese leaders had opposed the meeting, which Washington insisted could not be an official state visit. They have a low regard for the American president and did not expect concrete results, especially as the U.S. is heading into an election year. And a summit without specific accomplishments might put Beijing on the defensive and make it look like a supplicant.
In the event, Jiang received no explicit assurances that another U.S. trip by a Taiwan leader was out of the question. The Americans repeated their public position that any such visits would be "rare, private, personal and unofficial." Yet there seemed to be subtler undercurrents. Jiang made it clear to Clinton that any more trips by Taiwan leaders would be very unwelcome. Significantly, the U.S. president said he "respected" China's view on the issue. He then reaffirmed "in general terms" his administration's adherence to America's standing "one-China" policy. That meant the U.S. would continue to maintain official ties with Beijing and unofficial links with Taipei.
The Chinese said there was "some improvement" in the U.S. position regarding Taiwan. It was left to China's official Central Television to fill in details. In its report on the summit, the state-run station said the U.S. "reaffirmed its recognition" that "Taiwan is a part of China." Washington, the account continued, "stressed that it is opposed to 'one China, one Taiwan,' Taiwan independence and any advocacy of Taiwan joining the United Nations."
For the Americans, the New York summit vindicates their strategy of ongoing dialogue as a way to resuscitate relations with China. This has been evident since an August meeting in Brunei between Secretary of State Warren Christopher and his Chinese counterpart Qian Qichen. It led to further top-level talks, which culminated in the Clinton-Jiang parley. Last week, both presidents agreed to continue their dialogue at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Osaka in mid-November.
During their two-hour discussion in New York, Jiang and Clinton covered many issues besides Taiwan. They included nuclear testing and non-proliferation as well as human rights - special concerns to the Americans. Clinton inquired specifically about Chen Ziming and Wei Jingsheng, two dissidents jailed by Beijing. The presidents agreed to expand the scope of dialogue at their next encounter to such topics as curbing drug cartels, protecting international property rights and safeguarding the environment. "That Jiang was willing to put on the agenda all these other American concerns suggests that he felt reassured by Clinton on the Taiwan question," says a Hong Kong sinologist. Clinton also stressed that America was not trying to "contain" China.
Washington apparently accepts that Jiang is the successor to Chinese patriarch Deng Xiaoping and believes he will hold power for quite some time. But the relationship still lacks real warmth. Last week, a senior U.S. official explained the Clinton administration's refusal to make the New York meeting a state visit by saying that such occasions were reserved for "our closest friends and allies."
With presidential politics heating up in the U.S., Clinton probably wants to keep some distance from Jiang to avoid being labeled "soft" on China by his challengers and critics. Prevailing anti-Beijing sentiment came to the fore recently during hearings by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms on the nomination of former senator James Sasser as ambassador to China. The nominee was challenged to explain why he had reversed his position on linking "most-favored-nation" trading status for China with progress on human rights there, as well as his remark that Beijing has the legal right to dissolve Hong Kong's recently elected legislature after 1997. The committee withheld its expected approval and Sasser was unable to attend the summit as America's new envoy.
Sino-U.S. relations are still colored by the Tiananmen crackdown of 1989, which in a curious way impinged on the parley. The presidents were scheduled to meet in a room at the stately New York Public Library, which was holding an exhibition titled "What Price Freedom?" Among the displays were videos, photos and artifacts of the Chinese army's suppression of demonstrators in Beijing. When the Chinese found out, they asked that the venue be changed to a "more neutral" location.
China had hoped that the summit might soften the American position on its accession to the World Trade Organization. But Jiang was apparently able to obtain little on that score. The Americans oppose Beijing's entry under the relatively liberal rules for developing nations on the grounds that it is already an export powerhouse. But insiders believe that Washington will likely refrain, at least for the moment, from fresh initiatives to open China's markets. It does not want to further strain the relationship with another bruising trade action along the lines of the row over copyrights early this year.
Despite China's $38-billion surplus, trade is currently the least contentious issue facing the two countries. Chinese leaders gave U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown a warm welcome during his recent visit to China and Hong Kong. Jiang received him personally, and later Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen Jian said that the trip had been "positive and helpful in gradually improving and developing Sino-U.S. ties." For his part, Brown characterized America's relationship with China as its "most important." Clearly, the Chinese and the Americans get along best when they are talking business.
Reported by David Hsieh/Beijing and Sam Gilston/Washington
Back to Top
Back to Article Index
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Managing the World's Most Important Relationship
DURING HIS RECENT VISIT to China, U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown characterized his country's ties with Beijing as the most important bilateral relationship in the world. He is right, for with the dawning of the "Pacific Century," the interaction between the giants on both sides of that ocean will have a growing impact on the rest of the world. How to manage the often-contentious relationship will become an ever weightier theme in international affairs. And unless China and America find a way to do so peaceably and effectively, the nations of Asia, in particular, will not be able to sleep easy.
The challenges are manifold. When they met in New York two weeks ago, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his U.S. counterpart Bill Clinton talked about establishing a "hotline" to facilitate communication. Such a move would make Zhongnanhai as accessible to the White House as the Kremlin. But it would also symbolize, perhaps unintentionally, the fragile and cagey relationship between the two powers. Their frequent spats - whether over trade, human rights or Taiwan - have eroded trust to the extent that the recent summit can only be a first step on a hard road to reconciliation.
Indeed, the basic differences between China and America are such that clashes seem preordained. One is the world's oldest continuous civilization, with a family-oriented culture that is almost reflexively conservative and respectful of authority. The other is the globe's youngest major civilization, which celebrates the individual and cherishes idealism, innovation and iconoclasm. Yet it is the older nation that is experiencing a resurgence, while the younger one is settling a bit uncomfortably into a less vigorous maturity. The bitter confrontations of the Cold War, though now over, have also left a legacy of mistrust between the leader of the capitalist world and the largest country that remains nominally communist.
Despite the resulting frustrations, both nations have a large and rapidly expanding stake in harmonious ties. The Chinese recognize America as the premier source of the technology and investment they need to modernize and strengthen their country. And for the U.S., China is potentially the biggest market of the next century as well as a pivotal collaborator on key international issues. Both know that peace serves not only their interests but also that of the entire Pacific region.
How can China and the U.S. manage their relationship better? Above all, each side must seek a greater understanding of the other's special characteristics and learn to treat them more sensitively. American politicians need to realize that few things are as important to China as its sovereignty and territorial integrity. The country only recently suffered a period of great internal division, arguably fanned by foreign intervention and domination. Taiwan is both a result and a reminder of that time. Until Beijing and Taipei themselves decide on a path to reconciliation, the island's fate will remain a uniquely delicate issue in which outsiders involve themselves at great peril. America's younger politicians need to be reminded that the communiqués on which U.S.-Chinese ties are founded acknowledge unequivocally that there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of it. If the Americans continue to sell Taipei weapons or permit visits by its leaders, they will never have a smooth relationship with Beijing.
Human rights is another minefield. The situation in China is undoubtedly cause for concern - and to speak out against abuses of civil liberties is an essential element of the American character. Yet a nation as proud as China, which is now emerging from a long period of humiliation by foreign powers to reclaim a leading role on the world stage, simply will not heed anything that smacks of lecturing. Sometimes, Beijing will even act against its own interests simply to spite the lecturers.
Americans need to realize that China today is much freer and less repressive than it was just 20 years ago, primarily because of its rapid economic development. Rather than loudly confronting Beijing at every turn - and risking a backlash against their cause - Americans who want to boost human rights in China should work to expand commercial and cultural contacts. In time, these will help catalyze the desired changes. For their part, China's leaders should ease frictions with the U.S. on this score by being more accommodating of their own people's growing desire for a more relaxed society.
Beijing needs to learn more about America in other respects. It should understand that the U.S., as a democracy, speaks with a multitude of voices. Many parties mold the country's positions and policies, often after much debate and compromise. And because political careers depend to a large extent on public perceptions, populism is a persistent temptation. So China should not react oversensitively to the inflammatory rhetoric of some U.S. senators and congressmen. Beijing also needs to realize that if an American president sometimes seems weak or indecisive, it is partly because he has to share power with other elected representatives of the people - a concept still alien to China's own leaders.
In both countries, political realities pose additional obstacles to entente. China is still settling a leadership succession, while the U.S. is gearing up for its own - next year's presidential election. In each capital, a muscular posture toward the other side is widely, though mistakenly, viewed as strong statesmanship. Another potential flashpoint is China's expanding trade surplus with the U.S. Expected to exceed $38 billion this year, it is second only to Japan's. Since reducing large trade deficits has been a priority with the Clinton administration, more fireworks may lie ahead.
For all the difficulties, recent developments have been encouraging. Mr. Jiang and Mr. Clinton, who succeeded in breaking the ice in New York, will continue their efforts to boost the relationship this month at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Osaka. Movement in another sensitive area suggests that the favorable momentum is building. Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary William Perry announced that a senior American delegation of military experts will visit China to resume the nations' suspended dialogue on security matters.
Another positive sign may be Mr. Clinton's nomination of Mr. James Sasser, a confidant and former senator, as his next ambassador to China. Though he is no sinologist, the nominee will have the president's ear - a quality the Chinese appreciate. They were dismayed that America's last envoy, China specialist Stapleton Roy, was unable to exert much influence on the White House.
Though most Asian countries will be happy to see better Sino-American ties, one that may worry is Japan. Long an ally of the U.S. and a rival of China, it will need reassurances from both Washington and Beijing that its interests would not be jeopardized. Otherwise, Tokyo may rearm - rapidly and formidably. Good working relations among the three great powers of the Pacific are indispensable to lasting peace and stability in the region.
Back to Top
Back to Article Index