World Tibet Network News Sunday, June 28, 1998

BEIJING, Sunday June 28 (AP) - While exulting about the open debate on human rights President Clinton has brought to China, administration officials stressed Sunday that it will take a long time for China to approach real democracy. "We have a long way to go," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters. She admitted that beyond Saturday's extraordinary exchange between Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin about China's suppression of the 1989 democracy movement, there has been little progress on human rights issues. White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger said a democratic China "may be a ways off." He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that personal freedoms - to choose a job or a school - have increased dramatically in recent years, but "when it comes to public expression, public dissent, this is still quite a repressive government. "But he said the impact of the news conference exchange on human rights, carried live on Chinese television, was "rather stunning." On Sunday Clinton carried

his message on personal freedoms to thestate-controlled Chongwenmen Church, Beijing's largest Protestant congregation.

Speaking after a sermon about unity in the church, Clinton said: "I would like to add only one point: I believe our faith calls upon us to seek unity with people across the world, of different races and backgrounds and creeds." China allows the practice of religion, but within the tight strictures of government control. Groups that express allegiance to foreign organizations, such as the Vatican, or preach a political message, face suppression. After the church ceremony, the president, accompanied by first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and their daughter Chelsea, spent the day sightseeing, visiting the imperial courtyards of Beijing's forbidden City and touring the Great Wall that snakes through the Chinese country side north of the capital. Berger said that Clinton and Jiang privately talked at length about Tibet and the desirability of a dialogue between exiled religious leader the Dalai Lama and Chinese authorities. Jiang, at their news conference, also raised the possibility of such talks. "I think this is

something we are going to continue to pursue. We have a very strong belief that the distinct identity and cultural uniqueness should be preserved and that the Dalai Lama has a particular role as a religious leader in Tibet that ought to be recognized," Berger said.

Republicans have been sharply critical of Clinton's China policy and his tripto China, but one GOP leader offered some praise for the president's performance. "The president has to do something a long those lines," Sen. Fred Thompson,R-Tenn., said of Clinton's comments on human rights. "I was glad to see him do that. He needed to do that, but it frankly was the least he could do under the circumstances," Thompson said on "Fox News Sunday."