Bush Stands Up to China

Bush Stands Up to China

NewsMax.com Wires
Friday, March 23, 2001

WASHINGTON (UPI) – White House officials said President Bush "forcefully raised" the issue of an American scholar jailed in China with Chinese Vice Premier Qian Qichen, who visited the White House Thursday in the first high-level dealings between the Bush administration and Beijing.

A senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vice premier and Chinese officials promised to look into whether Gao Zhan, detained for about a month along with her 5-year-old son, knew she was in violation of Chinese law when she was arrested for allegedly breaching state security.

White House officials said Bush voiced "extreme concern" that Zhan's son, Andrew, was being held in separation from his mother.

Earlier, Secretary of State Colin Powell called the case "outrageous."

"We think it's particularly outrageous that the young boy, her son, was held away from his parents, away from family members for an extended period of time," Powell said in a news conference with Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer.

That issue and China's opposition to the White House's consideration of selling high-tech warships to Taiwan largely overshadowed the rest of Bush and Qian's agenda, which also included human rights, trade and Bush's trip to Asia this fall.

Bush told Qian that his administration would be "firm" in areas where Washington and Beijing disagree.

"Any disagreements we will have, we will conduct ourselves with mutual respect," Bush said as he sat with Qian in the Oval Office.

"I will be firm, and I suspect he will be firm, in our opinions, but we will do so in a respectful way. It is in our nation's best interests that we have good relations with China."

Qian agreed.

"Where we have shared interests, we can advance our relationship forward," Qian said. "Where we disagree, we can have very good exchange of views. Some issues can be approached in the spirit of seeking common ground, while shelving the differences.

"I'm sure ways can be found to solve all the problems," Qian said

But few signs of progress emerged in long-standing areas of disagreement, such as China's stance against U.S. arms sales to Taiwan or U.S. calls for greater religious freedoms in China.

Bush Promotes Religious Freedom

"Our relationship will move forward, but it will certainly be a lot easier to move forward in a constructive way when our people with whom we conduct our affairs honor religious freedom within their borders," Bush said.

On Taiwan, White House officials said Bush and Qian discussed broadly the U.S. pending arms sale in April, without getting into specifics.

Bush said he has not made a decision on whether to sell four destroyers equipped with the advanced Aegis radar system. The system not only tracks hundreds of missiles simultaneously, but also is considered the platform in Washington for a sea-based missile defense system.

Taiwan has asked for ships in the wake of a 15 percent increase in military spending by China, which could translate to 800 missiles pointed at Taiwan by China in five years, up from 300 today.

Chinese officials say the Aegis sale to Taiwan would violate a 1982 agreement between Washington and Beijing that calls on the United States to withhold high-tech weapons from Taiwan.

White House officials said Qian did not raise the issue with Bush. But Qian, according to a State Department official, told Powell in earlier meetings that arms sales in general were inconsistent with the 1982 communiqué.

Qian said the agreement commits the United States to reduce its military aid to Taiwan "qualitatively and quantitatively." More important to the Chinese, the agreement also prohibits the sale of advanced weapons.

But the definition of "advanced weapons" has been a sticking point in Washington with the Chinese. When Taiwan received F-16 fighter spare parts and navigation systems, China's foreign ministry accused the United States of violating the joint communiqué. It will be legally even more difficult to meet the conditions of the Aug. 17 agreement this year because of the recent passage of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act, which obligates the White House to arm Taiwan at least as much as it does China and to consult Congress in arms sales to the island.

Despite the rift on the Taiwan sale, Qian invited Powell to visit China, and according to Qian he "expressed his happiness to go to China for a visit."

Bush plans to travel to China for the Asia Pacific Cooperation conference in October and will likely include an official state visit to Beijing on the sidelines of the annual meeting of Pacific rim countries, White House officials said.

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Bush Administration
China / Taiwan