Clinton Calls for Cooperation with China

Clinton Calls for Cooperation with China

By Stephen Weeks

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Former President Clinton (news - web sites), in strikingly friendlier tones than the new U.S. administration, said on Thursday that ``getting the China relationship right'' was key to ensuring stability and prosperity in Asia.

``When I was president I spent a lot of time and energy on building a positive relationship with China,'' Clinton told several hundred business leaders in Hong Kong.

There will always be ``difficulties and bumps in the road in our relationship,'' Clinton said, but he stressed that ``engaging China was the best way to ensure stability.''

Since the administration of President Bush (news - web sites) took office in January, U.S.-Sino relations have been marked by frosty exchanges and rising tensions over a variety of disputes.

Relations have been battered by a U.S. spy plane standoff, a major U.S. arms package for Beijing's arch-foe Taiwan and the detention of several U.S.-based academics in mainland China.

Bush ordered a review of all U.S. government contacts with China after an 11-day face-off over Beijing's detention of 24 aircrew following the April 1 collision between the U.S. plane and a Chinese fighter off China's coast. To free the crew, Bush struggled to formulate an apology for the death of a Chinese pilot and the unauthorized entry of the U.S. plane into China for an emergency landing. The two sides are still haggling over the return of the plane.

Clinton recalled a military incident with China in May 1999 during his presidency.

``The terrible accident in which American planes bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, something I still profoundly regret,'' he said. The bombing occurred during the NATO (news - web sites) alliance's military campaign against Serbia in the Balkans. Clinton also ordered two aircraft carriers to storm into waters near Taiwan in 1996 when China was staging war games near the island, which Beijing considers a renegade province.

Cooperation, Not Confrontation

But Clinton appeared to caution the Bush administration against its initial tough stand and confrontational relations with the communist giant.

``The important thing ... is not to assume the relationship is inherently adversarial but instead to take what we know is true. That the world will be a better place over the next 50 years if we are partners, if we are working together,'' Clinton said, while passing over most of the thorniest issues.

While the Bush administration has kept China at arms length, Clinton met for an hour with China President Jiang Zemin (news - web sites) on the sidelines of the conference on Wednesday and both sides noted after the talks the importance of a constructive relationship.

Reflecting strong emotions on both sides over the U.S. plane incident, and U.S.-Sino relations in general in recent months, no pictures of the private meeting have been released.

One of Clinton's last major diplomatic achievements in office was securing U.S. approval for China to enter the Geneva-based WTO, crowning his efforts to bind U.S.-China trade closely.

``It is imperative to complete China's accession to the WTO at the earliest possible date,'' he said.

Despite U.S. approval, China is still negotiating a number of WTO issues and some analysts fear that the cool relations with the Bush administration could further delay its entry.

Clinton said securing entry into WTO, which sets out global trade rules, would tie China closer to the rest of the world and ''ensure the continued advance of prosperity, stability and personal freedom.''

Clinton was due to deliver the keynote speech at a gala dinner for a business conference on Thursday evening in Shanghai.

His last visit to China was in late June 1998, the first by a U.S. president since the Tiananmen massacre in 1989 put a deep chill on Sino-U.S. relations.