U.S. Institute of Peace Peace Watch

The Clinton-Jiang Summit

The polarized atmosphere in the United States toward China limited progress in negotiations between Clinton and Jiang during the Chinese president's visit.

hinese president Jiang Zemin's nine-day visit to the United States in October failed to strengthen the base of political support in the United States for normal relations with China, says Richard H. Solomon, president of the U.S. Institute of Peace and former assistant secretary of state for Asian and Pacific affairs. "Congress and the media are still skeptical if not hostile to the Chinese."

Indeed, Solomon notes, Hollywood, more than the administration, set the public agenda for the relationship between the two leaders by releasing the films Seven Years in Tibet and Red Corner during Jiang's visit, thus heightening public concern on human rights issues, especially regarding Tibet. "President Clinton still faces the challenge of trying to rebuild a normal relationship with China from a fragile base of domestic political support," Solomon says.

Summit Issues

While Clinton and Jiang arrived at several promising substantive agreements during the summit, Solomon notes, the primary significance of their meeting was the re-establishment of presidential-level dialogue that has not existed since the 1989 Chinese crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. Despite some talk at the summit about a "constructive, strategic partnership" between the two countries, with the Cold War over, China is positioning itself to deal flexibly with a multipolar world, Solomon says. Russian president Boris Yeltsin's trip to China on the heels of Jiang's trip to the United States and Prime Minister Li Peng's subsequent trip to Japan emphasize this foreign policy objective.

The summit indicated that the United States and China have different political agendas, Solomon says. The Chinese--in addition to establishing a multi-dimensional foreign policy--sought to use the summit to help consolidate Jiang's new leadership position, which grew out of the recent Chinese Communist party congress, and to lay the basis for sustained economic growth through active foreign trade and the attraction of foreign investment.

The U.S. agenda, on the other hand, focused on human rights concerns, anti-proliferation of nuclear and missile technologies, and economic and trade issues. The major achievement of the summit for the United States was the Chinese agreement to stop sharing nuclear technology and missiles with Iran in exchange for allowing the U.S. nuclear industry to build nuclear power plants in China.

A week after Jiang returned home, the division in the United States between those supporting a long-term policy of "constructive engagement" with China and those demanding sanctions on human rights and economic abuses erupted in Congress. The House of Representatives passed a tough, nine-bill package introduced by Republicans which contained a comprehensive array of sanctions against China. The Senate won't consider the bills until 1998, and Clinton has said he opposes most of the measures. However, Solomon concludes, they signify the ongoing struggle in American society over relations with China and deep concerns about how one of Asia's greatest powers will use its growing strength in the world.

Richard H. Solomon

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