Mr. PELL. Mr. President, I rise today to call attention to yesterday's summit meeting between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin in New York.

Last summer, relations between the two countries fell rapidly and unexpectedly to their lowest point since the Tiananmen massacre, largely over the visit of Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui to Cornell University, his alma mater. Most of us in the Senate, myself included, supported that visit as a private one for a distinguished alum. I continue to believe that the Chinese leadership in Beijing overreacted to the visit and allowed the bilateral relationship to unravel unnecessarily. I was sorry that Beijing chose to react to Lee's visit by withdrawing the Chinese ambassador to the United States, suspending ongoing bilateral discussions on proliferation, canceling visits of United States officials to China and visits of Chinese officials to the United States, and by canceling bilateral discussions with Taiwan. But now, after several months of discord, it appears we have the opportunity to bring some stability back to the relationship and I support the President's decision to hold this summit in New York.

I did not believe that this summit meeting would produce a significant breakthrough on any of the issues with which we continue to disagree with Beijing, including Tibet , ballistic missile proliferation, nuclear testing, suppression of dissent in China, and trade issues. It did not. Recent press reports state that Chinese leaders had demanded certain concessions from the United States, such as written assurances that members of Taiwan's top leadership will never again be granted a visa to the United States or that the United States will refrain from criticism of China's human rights record in international fora. The administration rightly gave no such assurances. These are important policy issues, with significant domestic and international ramifications for both governments. Both governments seem convinced that the other is being unreasonable and obstinate. It is unrealistic to expect any major accords could have come under current circumstances.

This is an unfortunate state of affairs between two of the world's most influential countries and hopefully a passing one. But for the time being we must focus on keeping the relationship steady and effective. That is why a summit meeting between the two presidents was so important at this time. The United States raised all of the issues that we believe to be important and let the Chinese leadership know our commitment to them, and we should continue to do so. But it was also right to listen to President Jiang's concerns and to strive for mutual understanding, if not mutual agreement. Those who criticize our President for failing to win major concessions likely fail to recognize the realities of the current relationship and the necessity of strengthening contacts at all levels that will outlast this period and carry forward a stronger relationship in the future. I commend the President for holding the summit yesterday and hope that this meeting will mark the beginning of a more solid and productive period of

United States--China relations.