-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.aci.net/kalliste/ <A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A> ----- US vs. China Albright Gets Frosty Reception in Beijing Jiang laughed at Clinton THE FROST in Beijing will be diplomatic as much as climatic for Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, who arrived in the Chinese capital last night. Sino-American relations are getting worse by the day, and there will be no ersatz bonhomie, as there was when Bill Clinton received the red-carpet treatment from China last June. Instead, there will be cold hard debate about widening disagreements on Taiwan, trade, human rights and weapons proliferation. In June, Mr Clinton criss-crossed the country on a wave of goodwill, speaking hopefully of a "strategic partnership" between the two nations. But even then there were signals that a slide was on the way. In a televised press conference with Jiang Zemin, the Chinese leader, Mr Clinton raised the subject of Tibet and spoke warmly of its exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. When Mr Jiang rocked back laughing heartily, White House officials interpreted it as a sign of new informality and warmth. Old China hands knew differently: it would have been seen by the Chinese as their leader laughing mockingly at the absurd foreigner. Now, Mrs Albright has to go and pick up the pieces of the Sino-American relations. Her timing could not be worse. On Thursday, the Senate voted 99-0 for a motion urging America to push a resolution condemning China's human rights record when the United Nation's human rights committee meets next month. The US State Department human rights report yesterday accused China of "killings, torture, forced confessions and detention of dissidents" during 1998. Since the Clinton visit ended, China has clamped down on dissent - banning the fledgling China Democracy Party, detaining members ahead of a planned national congress, and jailing three prominent dissidents including the veteran Xu Wenli. Britain is coming under intense pressure to reverse its decision to refrain from condemning China, breaking ranks with the EU if necessary. The Government's position is particularly difficult, since it is supposed to have introduced a new "ethical foreign policy" since the 1997 election. Mrs Albright is flying into a bitter row over her department's decision, last Tuesday, to refuse the Hughes Corporation an export licence for a �270 million advanced new communications satellite. The Department fears the satellite contains technology that could be "reverse engineered" to allow the Chinese to improve the accuracy of their long-range missile systems. China angrily condemned the decision, saying it "will have a negative effect on normal China-US economic and trade exchanges and cooperation". The satellite row comes at a time when Washington has been pressing Beijing to open its markets wider to US products and reduce its �40 billion trade surplus with the United States. The row has also come as China and America are trying to agree on terms for Chinese admission to the World Trade Organisation: China wants this done by the time Prime Minister Zhu Rongji visits Washington in April. Mrs Albright will also have to tackle the sensitive subject of Taiwan. A Pentagon report yesterday concluded that China's build-up of high-tech weaponry has shifted the balance of forces across the Taiwan Strait, destablising the region. * David Rennie in Beijing writes: Chinese dissidents yesterday cancelled a national meeting planned for today until Wednesday in the central city of Wuhan following the wave of detentions of members of the China Democracy Party in the run-up to Mrs Albright's visit. The London Telegraph, March 1, 1999 ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
