Jiang Says He Expects U.S. to Prevent Protests

Meeting with reporters on the eve of his trip to the United States, China’s President Jiang Zemin said he was counting on the U.S. government to prevent Tibetan independence and human rights demonstrators from disrupting his summit meeting next week with President Clinton.

“I am sure that President Clinton, who invited me for this state visit, would not like to welcome me in the form of demonstrations,” Jiang told American correspondents this morning in a news conference at the Great Hall of the People.

In a gesture to appease international human rights advocates, Jiang announced that China will sign a U.N. covenant on economic, social and cultural rights.

The Clinton administration has said that signing the U.N. covenant, which has been ratified by the U.S. and about 140 other countries, would be considered a step toward resolving human rights differences between the two countries.

Asked specifically about the possible release of jailed Chinese political dissidents democracy advocate Wei Jingsheng and student leader Wang Dan, Jiang said the two men were in jail for “criminal” violations, not for their political activities. Although this does not close the door entirely on their release in connection with the summit, the possibility now seems more remote. U.S. officials still harbor hopes that one or both of the key dissidents, both said to be ailing, will be permitted to leave China under medical parole.

Anticipating the claims of subjugation and genocide he will hear from Tibetan rights demonstrators during his eight-day visit, Jiang claimed China had lifted Tibet from conditions of “feudal serfdom and slavery.” He described Tibet under the Buddhist rule of the Dalai Lama as a “theocracy” and compared the conditions of Tibetan people before Chinese rule to those of American slaves before their liberation by President Lincoln.