Published by: World Tibet Network News Issue Id: 97/10/28

by Karen Lowe

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Oct 27 (AFP) - China's President Jiang Zemin was to leave here Monday on the next step of his landmark US tour, shrugging off his first brush with demonstrators and commemorating the US casualties of Pearl Harbor.

The Chinese have publicly voiced concern about upgraded military ties in the Pacific between Washington and Tokyo, and Jiang's gesture at Pearl Harbor was clearly made to recall a time when Japan was a significant military threat.

Jiang, 71, laid a wreath of white carnations soon after arriving here Sunday at a marble monument inscribed with the names of more than 1,000 US servicemen killed aboard the USS Arizona in the infamous December 7, 1941 Japanese air attack.

Jiang then rode on the bow of a ship with US Navy escorts out to the sunken battleship where he dropped a lavender-colored lei into the waves, noting that "it floats."

The attack drew Washington into World War ll, in which the United States fought alongside the Chinese, the last time the two countries were military allies, against the Japanese.

Protestors have vowed to dog Jiang's eight-day tour, the first by a Chinese president since China's People's Liberation Army crushed pro-democracy student demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989 with a heavy loss of life.

Outside a formal dinner at Governor Benjamin Cayetano's residence Sunday, about 200 demonstrators shouted "Free Tibet!" and "Human rights now! Holding candles aloft, they chanted "Stop the torture now" and "Tiananmen never again."

The Chinese secret service reportedly asked their US counterparts to step in and arrest the protestors but were turned down.

"This demonstration won't come close to the numbers who will demonstrate in Boston and Washington," said Claire Hanusz, local spokeswoman for Amnesty International.

Some 50 pro-Taiwanese protestors were camped outside Jiang's hotel holding up banners reading, "Dear Mr. Jiang, one Taiwan, one China is a reality" and "Say No to China."

Taiwan, which China considers a breakaway province, is a sensitive issue with Washington. The United States maintains ties with Taipei but espouses a policy of "one China."

In Washington, nine pro-Taiwan protestors were reportedly arrested outside the White House.

Jiang arrived in Honolulu earlier Sunday and was greeted with a 21-gun salute and full military honors, a precondition set by China for agreeing to the summit.

At the governor's dinner, Jiang offered a toast to strong Sino-US ties, saying they served the "fundamental interests of the two peoples and the rest of the world."

He pledged his visit to improving relations between the United States and China, which have been strained since the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

"I am looking forward to discussions with President Clinton on developing China-US relations oriented toward the 21st century, and major international and regional issues so as to usher our relations into a new stage," he said.

Jiang's visit to the United States is the first by a Chinese leader since President Li Xiannian came in 1985. Before him, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping visited in 1979.

The centerpiece of the trip will be Jiang's summit with Clinton in Washington Wednesday, the most significant outcome of which is expected to be the announcemente of a deal to phase out China-Iran nuclear cooperation, a move which would allow US companies to compete for billions of dollars in nuclear power plant equipment sales and site construction.

US and Chinese officials hope the summit will signal a closer relationship bound by broad common economic interests that would overshadow conflicts over Taiwan, Tibet, nuclear weapons and human rights.

However, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, speaking on NBC television Sunday, insisted that Washington would raise the issue of human rights with Beijing, though it will not be the focus of this visit.

Jiang was to leave here later Monday for colonial Williamsburg, Virginia and head to Washington Tuesday for Wednesday's summit.

Thursday he will tour Independence Hall in Philadelphia, then visit the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, and deliver a speech at Harvard University in Boston on Saturday.

Sunday he is scheduled to be in Los Angeles, where he will meet with industry leaders and sign some 1.4 billion dollars in contracts before returning to China.