List of Chinese Gripes Against U.S. Given Bush

Chinese leaders today presented Vice President George Bush with a list of complaints, expressing irritation over American support for Taiwan, trade protectionism and delays in technology transfers they claim are needed for China’s development.

Bush responded by saying the Reagan Administration is abiding by a pledge to reduce arms sales to the rival Nationalist Chinese on Taiwan, fight a protectionist mood in Congress and support Chinese modernization plans.

On the second day of his six-day visit to China, Bush met for three hours with Premier Zhao Ziyang and Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian, followed by sessions with Vice Premier Li Peng and Communist Party General Secretary Hu Yaobang.

Talks Called Frank

Spokesmen for both sides called the talks frank and friendly.

“Premier Zhao pointed out the question of Taiwan as the major obstacle in Sino-U.S. relations that still exists, and there are also some questions which remain to be settled between the two countries in the economic, trade and technological fields,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Yuzhen told reporters at a briefing.

Ma said Hu called Bush an old friend of China because he headed the U.S. liaison office in Peking in 1974 and 1975, before Washington and Peking established formal ties.

Emphasizing the Positive

Bush emphasized the positive side of Chinese-U.S. relations in his toast at an American banquet of beef tenderloin and apple pie in the Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, a $75-million, U.S.-Chinese joint venture named after the ancient rampart on Peking’s northern outskirts.

“Our two great independent countries do not agree on every issue, and we shouldn’t expect to,” he said in an extemporaneous toast to senior Vice Premier Wan Li, the highest-ranking guest.

At an earlier briefing, Bush’s press secretary, Marlin M. Fitzwater, said the talks with Zhao focused on trade, particularly the Jenkins bill, which would slash textile imports.

Peking claims that the Jenkins trade bill, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives and pending in the Senate, would cost China more than $500 million a year in lost textile exports.

Pressures Noted

“We understand your concern about protectionism, but remember that the pressures on the U.S. Congress are tremendous,” Bush told the Chinese, according to his press secretary’s account.

“We will try to resist those pressures,” Bush said.