-Caveat Lector-
"In 1996, while he held the Pacific command, American warships were sent
in to warn China not to use its war games to try and disrupt elections in
Taiwan."
Ex-Admiral To Become China Envoy
By SONYA ROSS
.c The Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The man chosen by President Clinton to be the next
ambassador to China is no stranger to tensions in the Pacific -- or to
strained relations with a country angered by deaths of its citizens at the
hands of the U.S. military.
The White House said Thursday that Clinton had picked retired Adm. Joseph W.
Prueher to replace Ambassador James Sasser in Beijing. The nomination would
be subject to Senate confirmation.
Prueher, 56, was commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific during a
particularly tense period in U.S.-Chinese relations, stepping down from that
post in March.
A spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Brian Cullen, said Prueher was ``honored to be
considered'' but would not comment publicly until the nomination was formally
announced.
Prueher is being called just as U.S.-Chinese relations have turned
confrontational over NATO's mistaken bombing of the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade. Three Chinese citizens were killed, and the incident triggered
angry protests across China -- protests that kept Sasser and other staff
members stuck in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as demonstrators broke windows
with rocks.
Prueher is familiar with national resentment over U.S. actions. Earlier this
year, he was selected by Defense Secretary William Cohen to co-chair a joint
American-Italian committee that reviewed flight safety procedures for
American aircraft operating from Italian bases.
Those procedures came under close scrutiny after a low-flying Marine jet hit
a ski gondola cable in the Italian Alps, sending 20 people to their deaths.
Prueher succeeded in satisfying demands for more Italian control of air
operations there but, according to U.S. officials, without compromising U.S.
military readiness.
The selection ends a months-long search in which several people were said to
have declined the post, including other former military leaders and former
members of Congress.
Jonathan Pollack, senior Asia specialist at Rand Corp., said Prueher is the
choice that Clinton should have made from the beginning, because of the
skills he demonstrated in the Pacific command.
``It's a job that depends a lot on diplomatic skills,'' Pollack said. ``Even
though we may be in something of a chill in our military-to-military
relationship with China, that gives value to having Prueher there. He knows
people in the (Chinese) armed forces, he knows the process.''
While nominating a career military leader to an ambassadorial post is
unusual, it is not unprecedented. One of Prueher's predecessors at the
Pacific Command, Adm. William Crowe, went on to become chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and then ambassador to Britain.
In February, Defense Secretary William Cohen described him as ``a man of
principle, free of self-doubt,'' a wise man with a broad mind -- and a two
handicap at golf.
``So long as Joe Prueher has been on the watch, there has never been a doubt
about America's resolve and commitment to the Pacific region,'' Cohen said.
While he held the Pacific command, Prueher worked on improving military ties
with China. But it was also during his tenure that American warships were
sent into the Straits of Taiwan in 1996 to warn China not to use war games to
disrupt elections in Taiwan.
Before leaving the Pacific post this year, Prueher said the United States was
``in for a little more difficult time'' with China regarding human rights
concerns because China had been grappling with an unsteady economy.
``Their economic problems are creating a lot of stress,'' Prueher told the
Los Angeles Times. ``When their leaders lose a bit of stability, or control
over an issue, they worry a lot, and it bleeds over to the human rights
issue, where we don't see eye to eye. Still, we must respect China's
legitimate interests.''
Prueher, from Nashville, Tenn., commanded the Navy's 6th Fleet and was U.S.
Naval Academy commandant from 1989 to 1991. He also has served as commander
of NATO's Naval Striking and Support Forces in Southern Europe.
While at the Naval Academy, Prueher came under scrutiny for his handling of a
1989 incident in which a female midshipman, Gwen M. Dwyer, was handcuffed to
a urinal and taunted by several male midshipmen after a snowball fight on
campus.
Prueher was the chief disciplinary officer in the young woman's sexual
harassment case, and her family said he did not punish the eight men involved
severely enough. Several academy officials were punished harshly -- some were
transferred out of the school.
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