Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS 12 September 1997

South China Morning Post, 8/11/97

SIMON BECK in Washington and Agencies President Bill Clinton yesterday called on Americans to give President Jiang Zemin a warm welcome next month - and said the talks would be a time for honest and constructive dialogue. In his first public remarks aimed at setting the scene for the first Chinese state visit to the United States of the 1990s, Mr. Clinton said the Sino-US summit was an "important opportunity, not so much for grand statements and dramatic gestures as for constructive work on common challenges".

While the President's remarks to students at American University in Washington seemed to play down the prospect of major agreements from the October talks, he laid out a potential agenda that included some of his most serious concerns.

He said the two sides should discuss halting the spread of nuclear weapons, the environment, and "expanding the frontiers of free trade between us" - a veiled reference to the slow pace of talks on China's bid to join the World Trade Organisation.

"It's also a chance for us to address candidly, and to face our differences on, issues like human rights and religious freedom," he said.

The President said: "Sitting down across the table is far more likely to produce progress than pointing fingers across the Pacific.

"So when President Jiang comes here, I hope the American people will welcome him, and will say yes, we have things that we disagree with you about, but you represent a quarter of the world's people, a large measure of the world's future, and your people and our people will be better off if we find a way to forge that future together.

"America has a profound interest in seeing that China is stable, open, at peace with its neighbours."

Mr Clinton also said: "We want [China] to embrace political pluralism and the international rules of civilised conduct.

"China will choose its own destiny, but if we engage China instead of isolating ourselves from her, we can help to influence the path it takes."

The President's remarks, which seemed aimed as much at certain members of Congress as at the American people, indicate he is hoping to stave off any anti-China rhetoric or legislation from Capitol Hill until after Mr Jiang's visit.