World Tibet Network News Thursday, June 18, 1998

WASHINGTON, June 16 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told skeptics in the US Senate on Tuesday that President Bill Clinton will not blindly support Beijing during his upcoming visit to China.

"Engagement is not endorsement," Albright said during testimony before a Senate appropriations subcommittee.

By bringing to China "a message of support for democracy, the rule of law and human rights," Albright said, Clinton will express what the Chinese government has barred its people from saying.

"We continue to have sharp differences with China on human rights, Tibet and other issues, but we also believe that the best way to narrow those differences is to encourage China to become a full and responsible participant in the international system," she explained.

Albright addressed congressional critics who say Clinton should not visit Tiananmen Square where hundreds of dissidents were slaughtered in 1989.

Clinton's presence at Tiananmen "will ensure that the world does not forget, as it must not forget, the terrible suppression of peaceful political expression that occurred there," she said.

Several Republican senators criticized Albright for refusing to

sanction China for selling arms to Iran and underminining efforts to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Albright acknowledged that while Washington remains concerned about the problem, China had made strides in the direction of

non-proliferation, especially in the nuclear arena.

Clinton was set to arrive in China on June 25 for a nine-day visit, the first by a US president since George Bush traveled there in February 1989, just before the Tiananmen Square massacre that led to eight years of tension between Beijing and Washington.