Gore Visit Helps Thaw Sino-U.S. Ties

Declaring that his “mission was accomplished,” Vice President Al Gore on Saturday wrapped up an eight-day Asian trip that appeared to have taken the chill off U.S.-Sino relations after more than seven frosty years.

“It’s obvious in the aftermath that the Chinese feel, as we do, that we have new momentum in the relationship,” Gore told reporters after greeting U.S. troops at Yongsan base in South Korea. “And we feel it will allow us to make more progress in areas like human rights, trade and [nuclear] nonproliferation.”

Official Chinese newspapers made much of the Gore trip, and President Jiang Zemin was effusive in his comments about the back-to-back visits by Gore and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.).

“We are pleased to see that Sino-U.S. ties have gradually resumed stability following a period of ups and downs,” Jiang said during a meeting with Gingrich. “It is sunshine after the rain.”

Gore was the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit China since the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square in June 1989. So, for Americans, the sight of their leaders sharing champagne toasts with hard-line Communists--or reviewing the Chinese troops--was a rarity.

Granted, that champagne toast--with Premier Li Peng in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People--was somewhat stiff. Grave-faced, Gore toasted at hip level, balked when a grinning Li raised his glass to clink it with his and then splashed champagne when he finally relented to Li’s persistence.

James R. Lilley, a former ambassador to China and a longtime China scholar, said Gore’s trip should not be assessed by awkward video clips. Instead, he said, the trip should be judged by whether the U.S. sees progress in coming months on its foreign policy objectives.

Some possible developments on the horizon--in human rights and trade--that would indicate improvement in U.S.-China ties include:

* A new willingness by China to make the tough economic choices--like privatizing its unprofitable state factories--that are necessary in order to join the World Trade Organization. China wants the United States to sponsor its membership, which would give it first-class trading status and more favorable tariffs.

* Greater openness to U.S. goods and services in China.

* The release of some political prisoners. China has silenced virtually all dissent by imprisoning, exiling or otherwise repressing those who openly oppose the government, according to a recent human rights report by the State Department.

* The ratification of international human rights charters by China.

* The adoption of legal reforms, granting greater individual and civil rights.

* Permitting the people of Hong Kong to retain their economic and political freedoms as their homeland reverts to Chinese rule July 1.

U.S. Ambassador to China James R. Sasser, who accompanied Gore during his meetings Wednesday and Thursday with Chinese officials, said he is optimistic, in large part because Gore was so effective with the Chinese leaders.

For a month before his trip, Gore read extensively about Chinese history and foreign policy and met with scholars and historians. His speeches were peppered with translations from Chinese poetry--both ancient and modern. Chinese speakers were impressed that he pronounced the leaders’ names correctly.

“I really thought he did the best job I’ve ever seen anybody do out here,” said Sasser, who has known Gore for many years. “The Chinese were very impressed.”

Although most of Gore’s time in China was spent in meetings with Chinese officials and question-and-answer sessions with Chinese intellectuals and U.S. business people, at times he seemed to switch into campaign mode.

He stopped to shake hands with American tourists during a visit to the Shanghai Art Museum and gave what sounded like a stump speech at a reception for the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai--with his beaming wife, Tipper, beside him.

“The trip here is very important because American relations with the Chinese are very tense,” said John Lashbrook, 52, a lawyer from Chicago teaching law in Shanghai. “Right now a lot of Americans want to make China the bad guy.”

Gore’s trip to China was flanked by short visits to Japan and South Korea, where he met with leaders and reaffirmed ties. In South Korea on Saturday, he visited with U.S. troops stationed near the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea that was created after a 1953 truce ended the Korean War.

Dressed in khaki slacks and a jacket and hat supplied by the troops, Gore peered through binoculars at the North Korean side of the zone about 160 feet away.

“It’s still real here; the Cold War survives,” Gore said. “But perhaps not for long, because their system is collapsing.”

Times staff writer Rone Tempest in Beijing contributed to this report.