Hong Kong Democracy Advocate to Meet Gore

President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore underscored U.S. opposition to China’s proposed restrictions on political activity in Hong Kong by announcing Saturday that they will meet with Martin Lee, head of the pro-democracy movement in the British colony.

The White House announcement came one day after a challenge from Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), who called on Clinton to meet with Lee “to show support for Hong Kong” as the colony prepares to return to Chinese rule July 1.

Tung Chee-hwa, the Beijing-backed incoming chief executive of Hong Kong, announced Wednesday that his government will impose new restrictions on political parties and public protests. In response, the White House threatened “some consequence” if China moves to restrict citizens’ rights in Hong Kong.

Gore will meet with Lee less than two weeks after the vice president’s friendly state visit to Beijing--a juxtaposition that demonstrates the inherent problems the administration faces in maintaining close ties with China while at the same time defending human rights.

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The meeting will take place at the vice president’s office in the White House, and Clinton will join the talks, a White House official said Saturday.

“They’ll be talking about the future of Hong Kong and the work that’s being done to assure a peaceful transition of power from Britain to China,” the official said.

Lee, who charges that the proposed new restrictions are aimed at him, held similar discussions Friday with Helms and other members of Congress. The date of the meeting with Clinton and Gore was not disclosed. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was already scheduled to meet with Lee on Monday, and that meeting will take place as planned.

Lee is visiting the United States on a fund-raising tour that has collected nearly $320,000 for his Democratic Party. The proposed new rules on political activity for Hong Kong would prohibit overseas fund-raising by Lee’s party.

“The People’s Republic knows the entire world is watching very closely,” White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said Friday, referring to the proposed restrictions. “We view with some concern any effort that would diminish the civil liberties and freedoms the people of Hong Kong have enjoyed. A step backward instead of a step forward would certainly have some consequence.”

Although McCurry did not explain what “consequence” he was referring to, the Chinese are depending on the United States to renew China’s most-favored-nation trade status in the next month and to support China’s entry later this year into the World Trade Organization.

Many Republicans and some Democrats in Congress are opposed to the renewal of the special trade status for China, and experts in U.S.-Sino relations are predicting that the House will vote to reject it.

Robert A. Kapp, who heads the U.S.-China Business Council, a group favoring close ties between Washington and Beijing, said he expects that congressional approval of the favored trade status and WTO membership will depend to a large extent on the continuation of political freedoms in Hong Kong.

“There is every likelihood that the transition to Chinese sovereignty will be perceived as intensely negative,” Kapp said. “All who value Hong Kong’s extraordinarily vital and valuable business environment . . . should be hoping and working for a seamless transition with a minimum of economic, social and political discontinuity, to say nothing of outright disruption.”

The situation has been further complicated by allegations, under investigation by the Justice Department and Congress, that China made illegal donations to the Democratic Party during last year’s presidential election, Kapp noted.

Times staff writer Jonathan Peterson contributed to this report.