World Tibet Network News Monday, June 29, 1998

NEW YORK, June 29 (AFP) - US President Bill Clinton's televised straight-talk Saturday in Beijing has calmed fears that China would exploit the visit to cover its abysmal human rights record, the New York Times wrote in an editorial Monday. The newspaper praised Clinton's "forthright language on individual freedom and Tibet" in the historic joint press conference with Chinese President Jiang Zemin, which was aired live and uncensored throughout China. In the United States, CNN carried the entire press conference live, with ABC television carried much of the event live. Far more important than "symbolic" agreements with Beijing, like agreements to re-target nuclear missiles, was Clinton's human rights message to audiences in China and the United States, according to the unsigned editorial, which represents the newspaper's official viewpoint.

The Times said the decision to air the press conference uncensored was "a notable departure" from past practices. "That welcome innovation probably reflected China's gratitude for the Clinton administration's persistence in seeking better relations despite strong, and sometimes justified, criticism in the United States." Clinton still faces domestic problems in his relations with China, including a need to clarify Chinese funds that may have been used to influence the outcome of US elections in 1996. The newspaper, however, was not convinced by Jiang's responses to issues like human rights and autonomy for Tibet. "Mr. Jiang's responses evoked familiar justifications of past and present repression," the article read. "Chinese leaders may now be some what more relaxed about American human rights criticism, but they still run an unyielding police state." In any case "the ripple effect in China of the weekend's events should not be underestimated," the editorial read.