World Tibet Network News Wednesday, April 29, 1998

by Lorien Holland

BEIJING, April 29 (AFP) - China and the United States declared Wednesday their turbulent relations were on the mend and the upcoming visit of US President Bill Clinton would add further impetus to their "strategic partnership."

"The United States and China have moved well down the road towards establishing a strategic partnership," visiting US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said after officially opening a hotline between Washington and Beijing.

Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said if the two governments "make concerted efforts, the visit of President Clinton will be a complete success."

But the warm words between Albright and Tang masked continued divisions between the two world powers, with China putting Taiwan at the top of its agenda and the United States listing human rights, trade and non-proliferation as areas of major concern.

"There still remain some unclear areas, and the main one of these is Taiwan," Tang said.

"This is the most important and most sensitive issue in bilateral relations," he added.

Relations between China and the United States spiralled out of control in 1995 when Washington issued a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Tung-hui in a move seen by Beijing as aimed at promoting official independence on the island.

It took two years to put ties back on an even footing, and Chinese President

Jiang Zemin's state visit to the United States in October 1997 was the first

step in the two nations' "strategic partnership" for the 21st century.

Clinton's return visit in June is expected to cement ties further and will be

the first visit to China by a US president since that of George Bush in early 1989.

Topping Clinton's agenda will be China's imprisonment of dissidents who peacefully criticise the government, fears over nuclear and chemical proliferation and the growing US deficit with China.

When asked about the lifting of sanctions imposed on China after the June 4, 1989 crackdown on students in Tiananmen Square, Albright said there was no timetable and the process would be a long one.

She gave no comment about China's human rights record, but Tang underlined

Beijing's intransigence on the issue by saying that exiled dissidents Wei Jingsheng and Wang Dan were still considered criminals by Beijing.

"Wang Dan and Wei Jingsheng have violated Chinese law. They commited crimes," Tang said in response to a reporter's question.

Both were serving terms for plotting to overthrow the government and were released on medical parole on the condition they went immediately to the United States.

Albright flew into a rainy Beijing earlier Wednesday and was scheduled to hold a working lunch with Tang to discuss issues ranging from non-proliferation to human rights, trade and the environment.

Her 48-hour visit to Beijing is aimed at clearing the way for Clinton's landmark trip to China in June.

She will also meet with Vice Premier and former foreign minister Qian Qichen,

Premier Zhu Rongji and President Jiang Zemin before flying to Seoul early Friday.

According to US officials accompanying her on the tour, Albright will focus

on nailing down a date for China's already-promised signing of the UN's International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

She will also press for the release of more political prisoners and sound out

Beijing's political will on early entry to the World Trade Organisation (WTO)

-- which the Washington has said will require a sweeping changes in its trade

policies, they said.

The US cabinet's Co-ordinator for Tibet, Greg Craig, is accompanying Albright

but only in his capacity as director for policy planning, they confirmed.

Beijing protested Washington's decision to create of the office last October,

describing the move as "interference in China's internal affairs."