Christopher in Beijing; Mood Tense : Asia: In China for human rights discussions, he makes no statement at the airport and rejects banquet offers. His arrival is further marred by a shoving match.

In a tense atmosphere that reflected the shaky state of U.S.-Chinese relations, a somber Secretary of State Warren Christopher landed in Beijing on Friday night on a mission to try to change human rights policies in the world’s most populous country.

It was clear immediately upon Christopher’s arrival that neither the Chinese government nor the United States was in any mood for politeness, smiles or routine diplomatic formalities.

State Department officials disclosed on Christopher’s plane before landing that they had scrubbed plans for the secretary of state to make an arrival statement. They also rejected Chinese offers of a banquet on the trip and decided that he would not visit China’s best-known tourist attraction, the Great Wall.

“He (Christopher) wants to set a tone that is focused on the business he is here to do,” spokesman Mike McCurry explained.

On Friday, Chinese security officials rounded up two more dissidents, Yang Zhou and Wang Fuchen of the Assn. for Human Rights in Shanghai. Yang was released this morning.

The Chinese government had detained several other dissidents in the 10 days before Christopher’s arrival. Most of the dissidents were later released.

As Christopher was walking off the plane, a brief shoving match broke out between American and Chinese security aides.

“Is this how the visit’s going to go? Is this how the visit’s going to go?” shouted one of the American officials to his Chinese counterpart.

Christopher’s trip is designed to try to persuade Chinese leaders that they must change their policies to show “overall significant progress” on human rights, as President Clinton required in an executive order last year.

If China fails to do so, it could lose trade privileges that permit Chinese goods to be imported into the United States at low tariff rates.

Months ago, when Christopher’s trip to Beijing was first being planned, State Department officials imagined that he would calmly encourage Chinese leaders to show the United States that they are making progress.

But China’s recent arrests and detentions of democracy advocates have changed the tone and the politics surrounding the visit.

Clinton Administration officials now find themselves on the defensive, trying to come to grips with a Chinese leadership that does not seem to care what the U.S. government says or thinks about its human rights policies.

“Obviously, it’s not the same situation as it was two weeks ago,” when Christopher’s visit to Beijing was announced, Assistant Secretary of State Winston Lord said. “But the purpose of the trip remains the same: to carry our message (on human rights) directly to the Chinese leaders.”

Speaking to reporters on Christopher’s plane as it flew from Tokyo to Beijing, Lord seemed to be trying to downplay expectations for any immediate human rights improvements.

“There may be results in the wake of the trip, but not while we’re there,” he said.

Christopher is to spend today in meetings with top Chinese officials, including Foreign Minister Qichen Qian, Premier Li Peng and President Jiang Zemin.

He is scheduled to meet with American business executives Sunday and may see a group of Chinese lawyers interested in reform of the legal system.

Other American officials will hold their own separate sessions with Chinese leaders on issues such as the proliferation of weapons and defense conversion.

Christopher’s delegation includes Undersecretary of Defense Frank Wisner, the highest-level official from the Pentagon to visit Beijing since a 1988 visit by then-Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci.

While human rights issues will be the most important subject, Lord emphasized that “there will be a broader agenda,” including discussions with Chinese leaders on North Korea’s nuclear program.

Before Friday, Christopher had been in China on only one occasion, a 1985 trip with a group of lawyers while he was in private law practice in Los Angeles.

Shortly after his arrival Friday night, he went to the U.S. Embassy to get an update on the situation in China and to prepare for today’s meetings.

The embassy has a special room protected against monitoring devices, called “the bubble,” in which American officials can talk without fear of being overheard.

Christopher’s decision not to attend any Chinese banquets during his trip is rooted in the turmoil the events have caused in the last five years of high-level visits by American leaders.

When American officials invited a dissident to one banquet with then-President George Bush, it proved politically unacceptable to the Chinese regime.

In December, 1989, six months after the Chinese government’s deadly crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing, the Bush Administration dispatched National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger to the Chinese capital on a mission of reconciliation.

The two men were photographed in a warm banquet toast to Chinese leaders. The furor in the United States over the symbolism of that toast galvanized Congress to press for tougher U.S. action on human rights in China.

The most prominent critics of Scowcroft’s banquet toast included Clinton, who in 1992 accused the Bush Administration of “coddling dictators,” and Lord, a veteran Republican appointee.

“It’s pretty ironic, when you think about it,” one U.S. official said Friday. “It’s five years after Tian An Men (the 1989 crackdown on demonstrations for democracy), and the relationship (between the United States and China) is in more dire straits now than it has ever been.”