World Tibet Network News Thursday, June 25, 1998

MELBOURNE, Australia, Thu Jun 25 1998 (The Age) -- President Bill Clinton predicted today he would make headway in solving Asia's financial woes during his state visit to China while pressing Beijing on human rights and "autonomy with integrity" for Tibet.

"I think we'll make some progress in dealing with the Asian financial challenges, I hope we will," he said in a pre-departure interview with three US-based journalists barred by Beijing from covering his visit.

Clinton listed securing China's help in redressing Asia's stock market and currency meltdowns as among the substantive goals of his nine-day visit during which he will hold talks with President Jiang Zemin in Beijing.

He said he also expected progress in curbing the spread of nuclear weapons, boosting bilateral scientific cooperation and dealing with unspecified energy and environmental issues.

"And I hope, whether it's obvious or not at the end of the trip, that we will advance the human rights dialogue," he told correspondents of Radio Free Asia, a government-funded corporation that broadcasts to authoritarian-ruled Asian countries.

Clinton said he thought Chinese leaders "made a big mistake" by cancelling visas for reporters from Radio Free Asia, which beams Mandarain-language newscasts to China against Chinese wishes.

"It was particularly troubling to me that they ... thereby denied themselves getting any credit for having given visas to people that they traditionally had not given visas to," he said.

Clinton spoke at the White House less than an hour before leaving for China on the first visit by a US president since the Chinese army's June 1989 crushing of democracy demonstrators centred in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. He is travelling with a contingent of about 250 representatives of US and foreign news organisations.

In the interview, Clinton spoke at length of his hope to persuade Chinese rulers to resume long-stalled talks with the Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibet.

In explaining US goals for the Himalayan region, he used the phrase "autonomy with integrity," a new formulation of the US position. The United States recognises what China calls the Tibetan autonomous region as part of China.

"I just think they could get more good will in the rest of the world, for less effort, by doing the right thing on Tibet than nearly any other issue," he said.