The New York

Friday, October 29, 1999

Senators Show No Resistance to Choice for Envoy in China

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- Adm. Joseph W. Prueher drew a warm bipartisan reception from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday during a hearing on his nomination to be the United States Ambassador to China.

"Ma'am, you could go home and pack now," the committee's chairman, Jesse Helms, told Admiral Prueher's wife, Suzanne.

Admiral Prueher promised the committee that, if confirmed, he would advance human rights concerns with Chinese leaders while trying to keep his "powder dry" on contentious issues.

The diplomatic post has been vacant since James Sasser left in July. Helms, a Republican from North Carolina, scheduled a session for next week to vote on the nomination.

Admiral Prueher, 56, retired from the Navy in May after a 39-year career, including time as the commander of United States forces in the Pacific. He held that post in early 1996 when President Clinton sent American warships to the waters near Taiwan after provocative Chinese missile firings during Taiwan's presidential election campaign.

That part of his r sum provoked initial reservations among Chinese leaders, who are still angry over the American bombing of their embassy in Yugoslavia on May 7. But it may have helped him with committee hard-liners like Helms.

Admiral Prueher told the committee that the 1996 showdown made it clear to China that the United States was prepared to uphold its commitment to the defense of Taiwan, as spelled out in the Taiwan Relations Act of 1972.

Committee members pressed Admiral Prueher on his views on Taiwan. Some conservatives in Congress want to increase military ties with Taiwan, a position that has infuriated Beijing.

But Admiral Prueher said the United States should adhere to the stance that has guided and helped stabilize relations with China and Taiwan for decades.