Chinese Leader Visits JPL, Gets Jupiter Briefing

Chinese President Li Xiannian signaled his country’s interest in Sino-U.S. cooperation in space Monday by visiting the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena, where he was briefed on the facility’s biggest upcoming project--a mission to probe the planet Jupiter.

Li, who flew to Hawaii on Monday afternoon after touring the space research facility, was taken into an environmentally controlled “clean room” at JPL to view the spacecraft Galileo, now under construction, which is scheduled to be launched in May, 1986, and to rendezvous with Jupiter about two years later.

JPL Director Lew Allen, in welcoming Li, referred to discussions between Washington and Peking on cooperation in space exploration and said JPL would look forward to participating in such efforts.

‘No Specific Plans’

Later, in an interview, Allen said that he knows of “no specific agreed-to plans at the present time” but that discussions include the possibility of joint projects launched from the space shuttle.

Allen said a U.S. delegation that was headed by George A. Keyworth, President Reagan’s science adviser, and included officials from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration visited China last year to discuss “possible areas of cooperation in space.”

Taylor Wang, a JPL research scientist who became the first ethnic Chinese in space when he served as a specialist on a seven-day shuttle flight this spring, accompanied Li on his tour of the facility and said later that “he indicated he was very impressed by what he had seen.”

“He indicated this has been a very fruitful trip for the whole delegation,” said Wang, who met Li four times in the past eight days.

Wang said the Chinese had requested the JPL visit.

“It was their idea to come here,” he said. “They wanted to come.”

Wang added that he was “aware of the fact that both countries want very much to develop a joint (space) activity.”

“These things take time to develop,” he said. “But there’s an intent on both sides, China as well as the United States.”

Like a Courtship

Wang likened the Chinese head of state’s U.S. visit to a courtship in which special emphasis is being placed on technology.

“It’s very much a mating season, at this time, for these two countries,” he commented.

Wang said the Chinese delegation showed special interest in American patterns of training and promoting young scientists.

“They’re trying to understand how another system works,” Wang said. “In a very methodical way, they’re trying to improve the way they do things.”

Accompanying Li on his JPL tour was Vice Premier Li Peng, 56, who is responsible for overseeing the development of China’s energy and transportation sectors. Earlier Monday morning, State Councilor Ji Pengfei, speaking through a translator at a Century City press conference, labeled the Chinese president’s U.S. tour, which included a state dinner hosted by President Reagan last week, a “complete success.”

“President Reagan is still recovering from surgery, yet he has played host to President Li as scheduled,” Ji said. “We are deeply touched by that.”

Asked about Peking’s goal of reuniting Taiwan with mainland China--a topic stressed by Li in a speech Sunday night in Beverly Hills--Ji said China has set no timetable for reunification but hopes to achieve that goal “as soon as possible.”

‘China’s Internal Affair’

“We will try our best to settle this question by peaceful means through negotiations,” he said.

Asked whether China wants the United States to take any action in this regard, Ji replied: “The question of Taiwan is China’s internal affair, so we do not ask the U.S. government to do something. But as you all know, the United States has major influence over Taiwan. . . . There is much the United States can do, provided the U.S. government is willing to do it. So, in other words, the U.S. government can exercise its influence with Taiwan, but of course that would be up to the U.S. government to decide.”