Baker Defends U.S. Warming Toward China

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, defending the Bush Administration’s attempt to repair its relationship with China, said Sunday that continued isolation of the Beijing regime would only “compound the tragedy” of the bloody repression of the pro-democracy movement.

Baker said President Bush decided to send White House national security adviser Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger to China to revive the “geopolitical and geostrategic” relationship between the two nations.

The trip, which shattered Bush’s ban on high-level visits, was not announced until Scowcroft and Eagleburger were already in China on Saturday. Nevertheless, it drew a chorus of criticism from Capitol Hill, where the prevailing sentiment calls for toughening, rather than relaxing, sanctions against the Beijing government.

Appearing on the ABC-TV program “This Week with David Brinkley,” Baker said Scowcroft and Eagleburger emphasized U.S. concern about human rights in their talks in China. But he said it is time to restore a more normal relationship between Washington and Beijing.

“I don’t think the American people would want to see their government compound the tragedy of Tian An Men Square,” Baker said. “It is our judgment . . . that that is what would happen if we try to isolate China.”

He said that Washington continues to maintain economic sanctions against China, but “it is a question of moving responsibly, reasonably and with due regard for human rights to try to preserve a relationship.”

Baker said that Chinese students “absolutely” will be permitted to remain in the United States until it is safe for them to return home despite Bush’s veto of legislation, passed overwhelmingly by Congress, to suspend the requirement that students return to China after completing their studies.

About 70% or 80% of the estimated 40,000 Chinese students in this country have visas saying they are sponsored by the Chinese government--although many students say their tuition and expenses actually are paid by U.S. universities or private sources--and thus are subject to the requirement to return home for two years.

Baker was interviewed just hours before he was scheduled to leave on a weeklong trip to Europe for consultations with U.S. allies about the fast-changing situation in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze, interviewed on the CBS-TV program “Face the Nation,” said Moscow is ready for a totally new relationship with the United States in which the superpowers no longer regard each other as adversaries.

Underlining the comments of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev at the Malta summit, Shevardnadze said, “The Soviet Union is ready to no longer regard the United States of America as its adversary, and we are ready to state that publicly.”

Asked if he envisioned the U.S.-Soviet relationship as one between friends, Shevardnadze said, “Like partners and like friends.” Then he added: “Friends sometimes have arguments, too.”