US OFFERS TO EASE SANCTIONS ON CHINA

Deal is Contingent on Concessions Over Rights and Arms-Related Exports

by Steven Erlanger

New York Times/The International Herald Tribune

Thursday, April 23, 1998

WASHINGTON - Encouraged by the release of the noted dissident Wang Dan, the United States is offering to lift some sanctions imposed on China after the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square. But action will be taken only if China makes additional concessions on human rights, trade and the exporting, of dangerous technologies before a US-Chinese summit meeting in late June in Beijing. Administration officials are expecting additional prisoner releases closer to the time of President Bill Clinton's trip to China. His participation in the Beijing summit meeting is by itself a considerable concession, because he will be the first American president to go to China since the killings of protesters for democracy around Tiananmen Square. Mr. Wang's release into exile Sunday was part of a deal with the Chinese, reached last month, under which Washington agreed not to support a resolution condemning China at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva. The Clinton administration is not offering to lift sanctions

that ban the sales of arms and crime-control equipment to China. I With the departure of the United States trade representative, Charlene Barshefsky, for Beijing on Wednesday, Washington is pressing for further moves by China to open its markets and reduce tariffs to facilitate Beijing's bid to join the World Trade Organization. But the new, more reformist prime minister, Zhu Rongji, may not be willing to risk market liberalization while he is seeking a way to slim large, state-run enterprises without setting off serious worker unrest. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will go to China on Sunday, and she will press Beijing to limit further its exports of sensitive missile, chemical and nuclear technologies and expertise to countries like Pakistan and Iran. Besides the commercial and diplomatic steps the Americans are offering, Washington's greatest bargaining chip is the Clinton trip itself. "Clinton seems to want his place in history as the president who normalized U.S.-Sino relations in the post-Tiana

nmen era," said the Washington director of Human Rights Watch/Asia, Mike Jendrzejczyk. "But this will require extraordinary cooperation from the Chinese government on human rights, proliferation and other issues." Although the Clinton administration has given extensive attention to its efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons, Republicans in Congress have criticized administration officials for not pushing the Chinese hard enough. The Chinese have rejected American efforts to have them join the Missile Technology Control Regime, the main international grouping that limits the exporting of missile technology, in return for additional space cooperation and the expediting of American satellite launchings, senior U.S. officials say. Beijing has promised to abide by the missile agreement, but not to join it formally. Of special concern to Washington is the export of so-called dual-use equipment and technologies that could be used by a country that might be trying to develop missiles. Annexes to the agreemen

t list items of such equipment and technology that are forbidden for export. American officials say they remain extremely concerned about Chinese help for the Pakistani and Iranian missile programs. The officials are also worried that some Chinese companies are helping the Iranian chemical-weapons program. But officials say they are satisfied with China's adherence to promises not to aid the nuclear programs of Pakistan or Iran. "There is no question that they, treat proliferation questions differently now than before," a senior American official said of the Chinese. "There are no cases now, as in the 1980's, when they were handing over the design for small nuclear weapons to the Pakistanis and giving them nuclear fuel. What we worry about now are dual-use items." Part of the deal that included Mr. Wang's release was a Chinese promise to sign the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. But administration officials are concerned over whether it will be signed in time for Mr. Clinton's visit. Tib

et is at the top of the human rights list, with Washington hoping China will resume a dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Washington is also supporting efforts to have the Chinese review the cases of hundreds of prisoners jailed for "counterrevolution," which is no longer a crime under Chinese law.