The New York Times

Friday, December 10, 1999

Yeltsin, Jiang End Summit With Joint Stand Against U.S. Domination

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING -- Russian President Boris Yeltsin and his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin, wrapped up a two-day summit on Friday, declaring their countries' commitment to oppose foreign intervention on behalf of human rights.

"No country can interfere in another sovereign country's attacks against domestic terrorism," said a summit-ending statement issued by the leaders.

The statement underscored how close the fierce Cold War rivals have become this year, propelled by their opposition to NATO's war to stop ethnic purges in Kosovo and sharp Western criticism of Russia's military offensive in Chechnya.

Having collected unequivocal support from Jiang on Thursday for Russia's Chechen campaign, Yeltsin promised Russian backing of China's claim over Taiwan.

"Russia supports China's principled stand on the Taiwan issue. The People's Republic of China supports the Russian Federation's attack against Chechen terrorist and separatist activities," said a separate communiquDe released with the joint statement.

Jiang told Yeltsin that with Beijing's Dec. 20 recovery of the Portuguese colony of Macau, the Taiwan issue will become "still more pressing," the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

Their joint statement was filled with criticisms, both veiled and obvious, of the United States. Earlier, Yeltsin, in a meeting with Chinese legislative leader Li Peng, lashed out at President Clinton for criticizing Russia's war in Chechnya, bluntly reminding Clinton that Russia remains a nuclear power.

In a dig at U.S.-led NATO's war with Yugoslavia over Kosovo, the statement railed against unnamed countries that weakened the United Nations by seeking "excuses" to intervene in other nations' domestic affairs.

"Using power, even threats of force, instead of international law, they cite 'human rights is higher than sovereignty' and 'humanitarian intervention' to harm the sovereignty of independent nations," the statement said.

It also warned against U.S. plans to set up a national anti-missile shield, and Russia backed China in opposing the inclusion of Taiwan in any regional anti-missile umbrella.

The two sides also expressed "deep regrets" over the U.S. Senate's refusal to approve a treaty banning nuclear tests and spoke out against the "reinforcing and expanding of military blocs," an apparent reference to NATO's expansion that Russia has opposed.

The statement added, however, that Chinese-Russian cooperation was not aimed at third countries but was intended to protect their "vital national interests."

Despite their budding cooperation against perceived U.S. global dominance, China and Russia both depend heavily on their economic ties with the United States.

In Moscow, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin struck a conciliatory note, noting that Russian and U.S. leaders enjoyed "very good relations," the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. He claimed that Yeltsin's outburst in Beijing was not meant "to bring about a period of coolness in our relations with the United States."

Yeltsin, who returned to Moscow on Friday, made the 26-hour visit to Beijing just three days after leaving a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia.

"We all begged him not to go, and we all begged him not to leave the hospital so soon and go to work. Well, you know it is useless to ask, it is his style of work all his life," Yeltsin's wife, Naina, said in remarks broadcast on Russian television late Thursday.

During Yeltsin's visit, the two countries signed three accords defining the countries' 2,630-mile border and joint use of disputed islands.

Weapons sales also were an important topic in the leaders' talks. Moscow agreed to deliver another batch of top-of-the line fighter jets to China in a $1 billion deal, a Russian news agency said on Friday.

The Interfax report quoted Yeltsin's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko as saying that arms trading companies of both nations had struck the deal on selling Sukhoi fighters to China shortly before Yeltsin's visit.

Prikhodko refused to elaborate on the jet sale, but an official with the Russian Trade Ministry said the contract envisaged the delivery of several dozen modern fighters.