Shultz Suggests a Warming of Sino-Soviet Ties

In a significant shift in U.S. policy toward China, Secretary of State George P. Shultz told Chinese officials Thursday that the United States is improving its relations with the Soviet Union and suggested strongly that China should do so too.

During a banquet toast on the opening day of a round of talks with Chinese officials, Shultz focused on “the parallel efforts of our two countries to reduce tensions with the Soviet Union.” Normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union, he said, is “a prospect that can be welcomed. . . .”

That marked a dramatic turnabout from the late 1970s and early 1980s, when U.S. and Chinese officials joined in denouncing the Soviet Union and stressing the importance of what they called “strategic cooperation” against Soviet “hegemony.”

Change in ‘Triangle’

Shultz’s speech, delivered in the wake of the recent summit meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, pointed to a change in what has often been called the “strategic triangle” of relationships among the United States, the Soviet Union and China.

The secretary of state appeared to hold out for China an important role in working together with the United States and the Soviet Union to help keep peace in Asia and to help solve regional problems such as the future of Cambodia.

During his first day of talks here, Shultz also spoke in general terms with Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen about the problems caused by the spread of ballistic missiles in the Middle East, according to U.S. officials.

But an American official who attended the session said Shultz did not make any direct protest to the Chinese foreign minister about China’s sale of intermediate-range missiles to Saudi Arabia or its reported deal to sell new short-range missiles to Syria.

The secretary of state has other meetings today with China’s top leaders, including Deng Xiaoping, chairman of China’s Central Military Commission, in which Shultz could raise again the subject of Chinese arms sales in the Middle East.

Ties Already Improving

In encouraging China to improve its ties with the Soviets, the Reagan Administration was indicating its acceptance of a process that is already under way. U.S. officials said this spring that they expect the world’s two largest Communist nations, which were on the verge of war two decades ago, to take new steps soon toward a restoration of their political relations.

For most of the past decade, China has said its relations with Moscow are clouded by three “obstacles”--the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Soviet troops stationed near China’s borders and Soviet support for Vietnamese troops in Cambodia.

Noting that the Soviet Union is now withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan, Shultz, in his banquet speech, told Chinese officials:

“Your country is seeking elimination of the remaining obstacles in the way of Sino-Soviet relations, a prospect that can be welcomed to the extent that it strengthens an environment of security and stability for all the countries of Asia as they try to focus their energies on national economic construction.”

Discuss Cambodia’s Future

A senior U.S. official said Shultz and the Chinese foreign minister discussed Sino-Soviet relations during their three hours of talks Thursday. He would not give any details of what was said.

Shultz and Qian were also said to have talked at length Thursday about the future of Cambodia.

According to an American participant in the talks, China voiced support for the U.S. position that the Khmer Rouge leadership, which China supported during the brutal Khmer Rouge rule of Cambodia from 1975 to 1978, should not become the “dominant” power in Cambodia after Vietnamese troops pull out of the country.

Qian also suggested that some of the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge, such as Pol Pot--who headed the regime a decade ago and is held responsible for the deaths of more than 1 million people--might “retire” from the organization.